Strong machines and best service form golden combination. 'Komatsu man at heart'

In the background we hear the familiar sound of a machine doing its job. We speak to Wim van Wijncoop, director-owner at W. van Wijncoop Machineverhuur, as he performs his role as a machine operator. Van Wijncoop is Komatsu man at heart, he tells us. "I worked with this beautiful brand back in 1988 as a salaried employee and have never been disappointed. In my career I have seen many Komatsu's pass by. We ourselves currently have two crawlers of this brand in our machine park, a 25- and a 30-tonner."

Wim van Wijncoop has been using Komatsu machines in his company since 1995 and has been doing business with BIA Netherlands, the current distributor of the Japanese brand, since 2004. "The nice thing is that the reliability and strength of Komatsu is reinforced by the reliability and service level of BIA Nederland. We perform most repairs and maintenance internally. When our mechanic has questions, he can turn to BIA Netherlands for them. In no time at all, a mail comes back with instructions or a solution to a problem. And if he still cannot solve the problem, someone from BIA Nederland jumps in the car to help us on location. BIA Netherlands really supports our technical service to perfection."

Many running hours, no problems

Van Wijncoop used to do about 15,000 hours with a machine. Now he wants to hit 25,000 running hours with the Komatsu's he has. "That should be easy to do. The machine I'm on now already has 22,000 hours on it. Of course, that has to do with performing proper maintenance and replacing wear parts on time, but we've been running 22,000 hours virtually trouble-free."

According to Van Wijncoop, the Komatsu machines excel in power. "I can read and write with them. Due to staff shortages, I now only have two Komatsu's running here; we also have machines from other brands. Due to manpower shortages, I went back on the machine myself.
Actually, that's wonderful to do. Our other machinists also prefer to work with Komatsu by the way."

Outstanding service

"Of course, we have been enjoying the excellent service of BIA Netherlands for a long time, at the risk of becoming normal," Wim says with a wink. "When I once had problems with one of the other brands, we were helped so badly by the supplier of that machine that my eyes were opened. We were literally made to face the facts: good service is golden. The last thing we
wanting is standing still. BIA Netherlands understands that like no other and we blindly rely on their support."

When asked what will happen when the Komatsu's do indeed hit the 25,000-hour mark, Van Wijncoop replies, "There is a good chance that I will then look for young Komatsu's that BIA Netherlands has in its rental fleet. Relatively new machines where the head is just finished. In any case, it will be Komatsu's again!"