Elisabethenfehn, 40 km to the east of Oldenburg, is the home of the Haak group of companies. Steffen and Torben Haak run the business of 70 staff, that has a broad base in the areas of recycling, container services, filling sand, road construction, civil engineering, pipeline construction and demolition. The business relationship began with the senior in 2004 and after handover to the sons, the Haak brothers and Hyundai Baumaschinen Nord in Bad Bentheim have successfully maintained the relationship.

 

Steffen Haak says: "My father bought a used Hyundai excavator and ordered the spares from Willem Akkermans. This quickly became a good relationship, and my brother and I then, in the course of optimizing the vehicle fleet, concentrated, mainly with HBN, on the brand Hyundai Construction Equipment." Today the large fleet has over 20 Hyundai machines. At present, this includes, among others:

  • a wheeled loader HL960 (20 t, 3.3 m3)

  • three HX220 crawler excavators (22 t)

  • one HX260 crawler excavator (26 t)

  • five R25Z mini-excavators (short swing excavators)

  • three R17 mini excavators

  • one HW145-9 wheeled excavator

  • one HX145 LCR short-tail crawler excavator (14 t)

  • one 730 wheeled loader

All Hyundai machines are very well looked after at Haak and operated by regular drivers including the mini excavators. That is important since this uses the multiple functions and ensures very high availability of the machines. Haak does 95% of all contracts with the public sector. Steffen Haak notes: "Especially in work for the public sector it is important to have reliable machines. Our young and technically always up-to-date Hyundai fleet is in operation within 80 km of Emsland, in East Frisia and in Saterland - all machines have conspicuous markings, so they are also a poster for our business. One of the really big contracts was in 2019 the complete redevelopment of the external facilities around the customs house in Leer - a big contract lasting five months. Wind farms also ensure usage of the machine fleet."

Steffen Haak again: "At a high level, most construction machines are technically similar.
The dealer makes the difference with marketing, demonstrations and the equipment that we request. When the machine is in use, the cooperation begins since maintenance, servicing and repairs, and supply of spares must be correct - the resale value also plays a part."

The brothers Haak keep the machines for four to six years in the fleet. Then they have done about 6000 hours and they are used for less demanding activities or sold. Verachtert quick connectors, Hi-MATE data communication and, in the Hyundai wheeled loaders the all-round vision system AAVM are typical equipment features of the safety- and convenience-oriented group.

In the workshop, Peter Haak is the first contact person for sales and technology of HBN - he maintains and repairs the machines after the guarantee ends. "Here too," says Bram Akkermans, "it is important that we supply spares to the customer overnight - the stock of spares in the workshop is agreed with us since the longer the advance notice for ordering spares, the better the price for the customer." Steffen Haak praises in general the good
and frictionless supply of spares from Hyundai. That is no surprise since the main European warehouse is in Tessenderlo in Belgium.

The operator selects the working pressure and oil flow for up to 10 attachments via the LCD display. The AAVM (Advanced Around View Monitoring) system and the Moving Objects Detection system that warn about people in the working area considerably increase the safety of the machine – optional equipment subsidised by the Employer's Liability Insurance Association (BG). The HX220 comes as standard with the Hi-MATE electronic evaluation system, which transmits machine data and consumption values via UMTS on request, thus enabling the operator to monitor the machine data continuously.