Tokyo, Japan October 10, 2019 —- Bradken Pty Ltd (“Bradken”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6305; “Hitachi Construction Machinery”) which manufactures parts for mining equipment, recently began manufacture and shipment of genuine bodies which is designed about 10% (about 3 tons) * lighter than conventional models by Hitachi Construction Machinery for rigid dump trucks, at the company’s factory in Ipswich (Queensland, Commonwealth of Australia).

Two EH5000AC-3 rigid dump trucks equipped with the first dump bodies manufactured by Bradken are scheduled to be delivered from Hitachi Construction Machinery Australia Pty Ltd to Bengalla Mining Company Pty Ltd, an Australian mining company which supplies thermal coal.

Australia is blessed with an abundance of iron ore, coal, and other mining resources. Hitachi Construction Machinery has already delivered a great number of ultra-large hydraulic excavators and rigid dump trucks to mining companies. In addition, Hitachi Construction Machinery strengthened its solution business for the mining industry by acquiring Bradken, a local supplier of mining equipment, expendable parts, and maintenance services, in March 2017.

Dump bodies are attached to the vehicle bodies after the vehicle body is assembled. However, due to the shipping costs and delivery times, it was common in the past to mount dump bodies designed and manufactured by local manufacturing companies instead of supplying them from the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group. However, after receiving requests from customers for dump bodies suited to Hitachi Construction Machinery vehicles, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Bradken worked in collaboration to set up a system for manufacturing dump bodies designed by Hitachi Construction Machinery at Bradken’s Ipswich factory.

In order to increase the load capacity of rigid dump trucks and improve the productivity at mining sites, it was necessary to make the dump bodies as lightweight as possible. Therefore, Hitachi Construction Machinery designed a new dump body which is about 10% (about 3 tons) * lighter than conventional models. In addition, Bradkens Ipswich factory worked on manufacturing in accordance with quality standards of Hitachi Construction Machinery in production techniques and quality control, etc.

As a result, Bradken is supplying lightweight dump bodies which are suited to Hitachi Construction Machinery vehicle bodies and address the customer issues of “improving productivity”.

Since it became a consolidated subsidiary, Hitachi Construction Machinery has been engaged in strengthening Bradkens profit structure In addition, Hitachi Construction Machinery has created new forms of synergy by utilizing Bradkens globally expanding maintenance services and sales network to build relationships with new customers for Hitachi Construction Machinery.

This recent initiative combined the technology capabilities cultivated by Hitachi Construction Machinery and Bradken to achieve the rapid delivery of lightweight genuine dump bodies of Hitachi Construction Machinery Group to the Australian market.

Going forward, both companies will combine their know-how and strengths to expand the product lineup of expendable parts at not only the Bradken Ipswich factory but other bases as well.

*The figure is based on a weight comparison of dump bodies EH5000AC-3 previously supplied by Hitachi Construction Machinery to the Australian market with the newly designed dump bodies.