{"id":3286,"date":"2016-05-23T15:31:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minutes.machine.market\/?p=3286"},"modified":"2016-05-23T15:31:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:31:35","slug":"worlds-largest-excavator-buckets-made-by-hi-spec-manufacturing-weighing-44-tons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/worlds-largest-excavator-buckets-made-by-hi-spec-manufacturing-weighing-44-tons\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the world’s largest excavator buckets made by Hi-Spec Manufacturing, weighing 44 tons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chronicle Live UK<\/a> reports a family-run business based in Sunderland, UK has been tasked with manufacturing the largest ever excavator buckets to come out of the UK, in deals worth almost \u00a32m.<\/p>\n

In November last year, Hi-Spec Manufacturing<\/a> \u2013 a division of\u00a0 MST Parts Group<\/a> \u2013 secured a \u00a31.6m contract with a leading dredging company requiring four buckets for use with a DFY Flushing Backacter 1100.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The

The powerful BA 1100 in action.<\/p><\/div>\n

It has already produced three \u2013 two of which are 20m cubed in size and a considerably larger bucket measuring five metres tall and weighing 44 tonnes. The latter is due to be collected shortly.<\/p>\n

A further so-called \u2018ripper bucket\u2019 of 9m cubed, then, will complete the order.<\/p>\n

Dredging companies use excavators through mounting them on large vessels.<\/p>\n

Hi-Spec Manufacturing\u2019s latest order follows another, worth \u00a3300,000, from a different company for a single bucket destined for use with the biggest backhoe excavator in the world, the Caterpillar 6090<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Hi-spec

Hi-spec Manufacturing in Sunderland is producing the largest excavator buckets in the UK<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rory Whitehall, a director at the company, said: \u201cWe usually work with the likes of Hitachi<\/a> and Komatsu<\/a>, focusing on areas like quarrying and construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut every now and then, these massive dredging companies will come along with these big orders – and that\u2019s always good news for us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MST Parts Group was established in 1971 by Mr Whitehall\u2019s grandfather, Kenneth Whitehall<\/p>\n

Three years ago, the company separated its parts reselling business from the manufacturing side, now based at the Pallion shipyard in Sunderland.<\/p>\n

Mr Whitehall, who said he felt \u201cvery proud\u201d that his family\u2019s business was now the only one in the region involved in the manufacture of large-scale buckets, explained that it took around 14-16 weeks to make each one through a process requiring high levels of skill.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, the dredging companies will send us designs as a starting point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have our own in-house design team and we\u2019ll be asked to change this or that, make this lighter or that lighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we\u2019ve got the sign-off on the design, we\u2019ll order our Swedish steel – the best in the industry – in different thicknesses, which will be cut into sections like flat-pack furniture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that is ready, fabrication can begin and that point everything is welded by hand, taking care the steel is heat treated to the right temperature.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The shipyard, he explained, was an ideal location for such work as, when the buckets were finished, there was sufficient space to move them into place using large cranes.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to get the welders and develop them to high standards is a big part of what we do,\u201d Mr Whitehall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are lucky in a sense; there\u2019s not much work going around for welders at the moment due to the fortunes of subsea oil and gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also got a good team in place.\u201d<\/p>\n