THE first SANY SY390 40-tonne tracked excavator to arrive in the UK has been sold to MacInnes Bros after the Benbecula-headquartered construction business spotted it at ScotPlant 2022.
The machine has been put to work on the Western Isles, involved in quarrying applications as well as construction projects.
The model has a Cummins Stage V engine delivering 252kW power, a maximum digging depth of 7,125mm, and maximum digging reach of 10,830mm. Features include air conditioning, air suspension seat with adjustable armrests, 10” touch display, two cameras, and LED work lights.
Nathan Donnelly, regional sales manager at SANY UK, told Project Plant that the machine stands out thanks to its ‘exceptional’ power.
“The excavator is Ideal for any muck-shifting application or quarry work,” he explained. “MacInnes Bros will be running either one of their heavy breakers off it or a crusher bucket. It will also be used for site clearance and rock breaking within construction sites.
“The rock on the Western Isles is totally different from the rock you find anywhere else. It’s so dense and heavy that they felt the power of the 390 was what was needed in order to break through that.”
Nathan revealed that the machine is the fourth SANY model to join the MacInnes Bros fleet. The firm had the confidence to invest in a larger excavator from the manufacturer following the success of three smaller ones.
“They originally purchased an SY26 (mini-excavator),” Nathan added. “At the start of this year they bought two SY135 models. They’ve been suitably impressed with the SANY brand and what it has to offer, along with its commercial appeal, and have decided to add the 390 to their fleet.
“The market is becoming more accustomed to the machines and certainly more accepting of the SANY brand. I believe the confidence that we are showing in our machines with our market-leading five-year warranty is giving customers the confidence that they can also trust in the brand, even if they’re not totally familiar with it.
“The repeat business we are seeing from customers like the MacInnes Bros and others that started with a small machine and then ventured into the larger ones tells us that the quality of the excavators is speaking for themselves.
“Although we’re in a market at the moment where supply for certain other OEMs is difficult, if a machine isn’t what a customer expects it to be, they won’t come back and buy a second one just because you have the stock. Therefore, the fact that customers are coming back to us shows us these machines are standing up to the name that we are giving them in the market.”
The deal for the SY390 was initially discussed when representatives from MacInnes Bros ventured onto the SANY stand at ScotPlant and saw it for themselves.
Nathan said this deal – and others – proves the value of live exhibitions despite the fact everyone has adapted to new ways of working since the pandemic.
“It shows that this industry is still very much a face-to-face, touch and feel industry,” he explained. “The virtual world, in terms of meetings, isn’t really for the construction industry.
“The benefit we saw from ScotPlant was incredible. We were obviously very fortunate to have such a good stand and were able to showcase our entire machine range available to the UK market at that time.
“This wasn’t the only success we had over the two days on the stand and it proves the value of the likes of ScotPlant, Hillhead and the Black Isle Show.”
Iain MacInnes from MacInnes Bros told Project Plant that due to the diverse nature of the firm’s work – which ranges from civils to construction to quarrying – the firm required a 40-tonne excavator that was robust and could perform well with different attachments. He cited the company’s positive experiences with SANY machines and the team, as well as the five-year warranty, as key considerations.
“We’re Western Isles-based, so downtime for us is a massive thing,” Iain explained. “It’s not simple for an engineer to come out from a Glasgow-based office within 20 minutes. We need the reliability that SANY provides.
“The machine’s been performing well. The operator is very happy with it; it has a very comfortable cab. A key thing for our operators is the fact you can pre-programme five different attachments into the computer so it’s quite an easy changeover.
“Due to the nature of our sites, we do need to have that adaptability within our plant.”
