The contractor, based at Burry Port in Carmarthenshire, bought the 52-tonne machines from Mason Brothers, its local Doosan Heavy dealer.

Hy Impact Breaking mounts large attachments on them, such as Fractum impact breakers and hydraulic breakers. It uses these to recycle steel slag and scrap in the steel industry and crushing reinforced concrete in the demolition industry.

Tony Richardson, owner of Hy Impact Breaking, says: “I worked closely with Hywel Mason at Mason Brothers to choose the right Doosan machine to meet our specification.  The Doosan DX520LC excavator is an excellent all round machine that is not only a very reliable carrier for the Fractum breakers but also for the large hydraulic breakers and buckets we employ in the different areas of our work.  The success of the Doosan DX520LC model as part of our fleet is demonstrated by our purchase of a fourth machine, making us the largest operator of this model in the UK.”

The new EC27C is the latest machine to join McNeill’s contracting fleet, replacing one of the first of the EC27Cs to be sold in Great Britain some four years ago.

This latest edition coincides with proprietor Danny McNeill’s son Grant joining the family business, having graduated from university and spending some time with Tarmac’s National Contracting Division.  Grant says he is keen to play his part in expanding the business portfolio of clients and indeed projects, which currently include: The Highland Council, Scottish Water, NHS Highland, Forestry Commission and long term sea defence contracts.

Hartinger and Enercon each sent out their massive Liebherr LTR 11200 cranes for the Saterland wind farm that is currently being built near Papenburg in Germany.

Bauma is not just the largest construction trade show in the world; it is also the world’s biggest assembly of capital equipment. It is held every three years in Munich. Last time, in 2010, despite the eruption of a volcano in Iceland making air travel impossible within northern Europe for much of the week, some 420,000 visitors were registered from 200 countries. This time it seems possible that visitor numbers could top half a million. The only constraint is hotel rooms within commuting distance.

If you have been to Bauma before, you will know exactly what to expect. If you haven’t, and you have any interest in construction technologies, you should. More than 3,300 exhibitors will be occupying a bigger-than-ever 570,000 square metres of exhibition space dedicated to the latest construction equipment, components and processes.

In short, Bauma is ridiculously big. Do not expect to see everything, even if you plan to visit for all seven days. It is best to do some homework before you go. Work out what and who you want to see, and plan you route around the showground. Consider swotting up on key industry issues. A key theme for Bauma 2013 is engine emissions regulations and how equipment manufacturers are meeting the requirements of Stage IIIB and the very similar US Tier 4. For the uninitiated, we suggest a crash-course in the relative merits of diesel particulate filters (DPFs), exhaust gas recirculation (CEGR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR). Most machines will use one or more after-treatment technologies to remove carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), soot/particulate matter (PM) and mono-nitrogen oxides (NOx) from their fumes. There is a notable exception in the JCB machines powered by its Ecomax engine.

Doosan say “Both new excavators offer the strength and productivity needed for heavy duty work such as large-scale earthmoving, moving rock, pulling down buildings, secondary breaking, loading haulers and pipeline projects found on quarrying and mining, highway, aggregate, demolition, utility and general construction projects.”

Secifications for Doosan DX490LC-3 crawler excavator