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An EX30, mini excavator, with specifications for spinach, at work in Holland
Breda, which is about 10km south from the mini excavator factory of Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe), is a typical city in the south of the Netherlands. The city has a population of about 170,000 people. The city holds a carnival around February every year to pray for the arrival of spring, fruitfulness and fertility. Here in Breda, an EX30, mini excavator, with specifications for spinach is used for harvesting and packing spinach.
Map of Holland
Carnival
EX30, mini excavator, with spinach specifications (front view)
It cuts the spinach at the bottom with a cutter attached to the front.
EX30, mini excavator, with spinach specifications (view of the right side) The spinach is cut and transferred backwards on a conveyor belt.
Weighing device
Spinach transferred on the conveyor belt is weighed with a weighing device.
EX30, mini excavator, with spinach specifications (rear view)
Two people on the platform do the packing work.
Mr. Berrie, a Dutch farmer, devised the spinach specifications. Mr. and Mrs. Berrie grow spinach, leeks and lettuce and sell them to supermarkets. Previously, they used to harvest the spinach they grew in a field of 20 acres (1.7 times the size of Tokyo Dome, about 8 ha) manually, using a grass cutter, and sold the spinach from April to December. Mr. Berrie suffered terrible backache after this work, so he consulted with doctors and discussed the matter with his friends to try to find a solution to the problem. As a result, Mr. Berrie devised a machine based on an agricultural machine (for seeding spinach) manufactured by Ortomec, an Italian firm. In 2005, Mr. Berrie purchased a used EX30 (manufactured 1997), recommended by a local Hitachi salesperson, and he remodeled the excavator to the spinach specifications. Using this machine, the work volume increased to 255 containers (4 kg of spinach in each container) per hour, up from 135 containers per hour before starting to use the machine, which is an increase of 70 percent. During the harvest period between April and December, the machine operates for two hours from 4:00 am to 6:00 am, five days a week. Naturally, Mr. Berrie's backache has completely cleared up!
Grass cutter (machine previously used)
Mr. Berrie (right) and Mr. Joep, a Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) salesperson (left)
The spinach specifications were devised by one of our customers. We will continue to strive to understand the requirements of customers and to raise customer satisfaction.
Message from Mr. Berrie
Please eat a lot of nourishing spinach, which is full of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.
