We Don’t Just Supply Construction Equipment – We Build It For Your Purpose!
I know a lot of my fellow New South Wales counterparts might not like this statement but I have to be the first to admit that when it comes to manufacturing of earthmoving attachments and buckets there are some great things happening north of the border. On a recent trip north to Queensland with the EEM team, including operator Heath Thompson, we found that ShawX Manufacturing is one such impressive example.
ShawX is owned and operated by Ken, Donna and Brett Shaw. This family-run business has gone down the road of quality, not quantity, and unique customisation as opposed to generic mass-produced equipment for their ever-growing loyal customer base, with bucket loads of orders coming in from around the nation.
Having the confidence to go against industry trends towards cheaper imported products and utilising co-owner Brett and Kenny’s own personal experience operating machinery, ShawX has opted for added strength and better design. This combination provides buckets and attachments with more breakout force and efficiencies, which in turn means machine wear and tear is significantly less and you’ll use less fuel in the process. It is this thirst for quality, innovation and service that proves ShawX’s reputation for providing longer lasting, more efficient equipment and a better return on investment.
Arriving onsite on the outskirts of Brissie, Brett was available to fill us in on the innovations and enhancements that have been taking place in recent times.
Brett shared, “There’s a few big things, and a lot of little things, that we have changed to improve the buckets and attachments. These changes have come through sitting in a machine day in, day out and thinking, ‘I wish the bucket was just shaped like this or could just do that’.
“More specifically we have made the buckets low in the head so they bring the front pin closer to the edge, which gives you great breakout and performance. We made them long in the front, which makes it very easy to flick that last bit of rubble that nobody knows what to do with into the bucket. Clean up a breeze!
“We have also changed the radius of the back of the skin, which is adding to the lifespan of the bucket. Operators were finding the lifespan of a normal bucket to be around the 1000-hour mark, but through the strengthening of the bucket and the changes we have made we are finding our buckets are lasting considerably longer than with heavy use.”
I could see our operator Heath was chomping at the bit to jump into the machine and get a feel first-hand of how these bucket improvements will affect or improve the experience for the operator, so we gave him a few hours to settle in and see exactly what was going on.
When we managed to drag Heath out of the machine after he had inspected the buckets and attachments up close, he shared, “At first sight the shorter head and longer front of the bucket was pretty obvious, but on closer inspection there are some significant additions on these buckets that aren’t so obvious but really important to mention. There is a three point head with three points of boxing, which a lot manufactures these days aren’t doing because of added cost and time in manufacturing. All this added steel stops the bending and the bowing that can occur with inferior products.
“The strengthening of the main box at the top of the bucket has added substantial strength – it really has been beefed up. Owners of the machine will be happy that the bucket design and manufacture are doing a lot of the hard work as opposed to the machine itself,” said Heath.
“For me I guess it really comes down to the quality of the bucket itself because a great design with more steel in the right places means I won’t need to service or refurbish anywhere near as much, which means less downtime and more money in my bank account at the end of the week.” Heath went on to add, “You only have to look around the site to see some pretty unique items and attachments that are obviously one-off custom designs for specific tasks that have been created.
“After chatting with Brett he shared that a lot of their customers come to them with sketches and designs to create one-off tools or attachments, or to add certain new elements to existing products to add functionality and enable them to tackle specific challenges that pop up. That level of innovation and customisation isn’t something you see every day,” said Heath.
As Australians, we love a family business doing well and ShawX definitely fits that mould. From mud buckets to significantly larger breakout buckets and anything you have been conjuring up in your mind over the years, don’t hesitate to give Brett a call because they are more than happy to work with you to achieve your goal.
[colored_box color=”yellow”]For more information visit www.shawx.com.au[/colored_box]