A new Kato 20-tonne crane has been added to the fleet of Hawke’s Bay heavy equipment hire company Diack Brothers.
Director Chris Diack says the Kato CR200Rf, supplied by Titan Equipment, is proving a “versatile” addition.
“We do a lot of inside installations for wineries and processing plants, which was one of the reasons we chose this crane.
“Its short jib enables it to work in some quite low-roofed buildings,” he says.
The CR200Rf is also expected to be a solid workhorse when it comes to the firm’s telecommunications work, given its 28-metre, six-section super boom.
“The extra reach on a smaller crane is ideal as we quite often have to work in some tight spaces to get the telecommunications guys up to the top of the towers.
“This crane also has excellent manoeuvrability, with its four wheel steering allowing it to turn quite sharply.
“This is ideal for working in the city or on other tight jobs such as swimming pool installations on private property, when we can’t get a big crane in to do the job. It’s a very versatile machine.”
The Diack Brothers fleet has grown significantly since it was first established in 1962 with one mobile crane to service Hawke’s Bay contract building businesses. It now includes a variety of mobile and truck-mounted cranes, servicing a range of industries.
The Kato CR200Rf replaced one of the firm’s existing 20 tonne cranes, which had served it well for over 25 years.
“The new Kato has more sophisticated electronics and a lot more safety features than our older machines.
“The new clearance sonar system is a good example, which detects a person or object within a certain range of the crane’s working distance.”
Other safety features include a 15% increase in roof glass size to provide a clearer view, and a multiple-view colour monitor, which checks blind spots and winch condition.
The load factor and working range are limited to ensure safe margins during operation.
Improved operator comfort is another feature of the CR200Rf.
“Kato make their cabs for the Europeans, who tend to be a bit bigger, like us. This makes the machines more comfortable to operate,” Chris says.
Before purchasing the crane, Chris and brother Dean Diack visited the Kato factory in Japan, with Titan Equipment’s national crane sales manager Kirsten Davidson, where they saw the new crane on the production line.
“It was very good of them to invite us over, and the experience gave us a totally different perspective of the machine, which took four days to build,” Chris says.
A few minor adjustments to the set-up of the factory model have been made to duplicate the other cranes in their fleet.
“We’ve bought six Kato cranes in total and all of them have come from Titan Equipment.
“They are great to deal with and their back up and service is excellent.”
Chris says he recommends the Kato cranes after years of working with the brand.
“They’ve given us no trouble at all, apart from normal wear and tear. We’ve hardly put a spanner to our Kato cranes in 20 years.”
