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Executive Report: Milwaukee’s stand on HAV EHN’s power tools specialist, Phil Mist, reports on Milwaukee’s latest initiatives. Milwaukee, the only power tool manufacturer attending the Hire Show this month, says that the message it will promote revolves chiefly around what it is doing to advise the industry about hand arm vibration (HAV). The company is submitting equipment for testing by OPERC (the Off-highway Plant and Equipment Research Centre) at Loughborough University, and the centre’s co-founder, Dr David Edwards, will be on the Milwaukee stand to answer questions about the testing programmes that have been developed. The Show gives the company, whose previous owner, Atlas Copco, sold it to Techtronic Industries Co (TTI) in January 2005, the opportunity to further raise its brand profile. There had been some confusion in the marketplace between the Milwaukee name, adopted by Atlas Copco for the overall power tools division, and its AEG brand for industrial equipment. To complicate matters even further, the Milwaukee company in the UK is also responsible for the sales and marketing of the Kango brand. Despite these machines having been almost ignored until comparatively recently, the Kango name simply refuses to die. Perhaps the most famous power tool brand of all time, and certainly one of the oldest, Kango gained a reputation for tools that were often years before their time and were long lasting. Kango has become a generic term used by many hire customers. Who has not used, or heard somebody else use, the expression ‘I want a Kango please’, when in reality they probably want a hammer drill of no particular type. The Kango K900 and K950 hammers have, since their introduction only a couple of years ago, become highly popular, owing to their low vibration emission levels. The in-line design of the more famous models in the Kango range of machines has over the years enabled operators to drill or break concrete and other hard materials without having to bend double. The more upright position that can be adopted when using a K900 or K950 makes drilling or demolishing material more comfortable over longer periods of time. The Milwaukee range of smaller PHE hammers, which incorporate a combination of US and European technology, have become well respected in the UK. The tools incorporate active damping to reduce the amount of impact returning to the operator through both the side and rear handles, and this helps to increase productivity. Perhaps more important still, this improves the ergonomics of the equipment and makes it easier for the operator to use the tool, especially when using it for significant periods. Also to be displayed at the Hire Show will be a number of other low-vibration tools, amongst which will be the company’s range of AGV angle grinders. All of these have an auto-balancer installed on the spindle, which is designed to help balance the bonded abrasive wheel or diamond blade, even if it is badly balanced. In addition to reducing the vibration experienced by the operator, Milwaukee claims that the auto-balancer system improves safety. Milwaukee’s recently launched 28V Lithium-Ion cordless system will be prominent on the stand. Providing 28V, the batteries are said to weigh slightly less than 18V NiCd and NiMH cells. They can provide twice the run time and are designed to give fade-free performance. If you want to learn more about this new range of tools, or about the programme of vibration testing that had already been carried out on Milwaukee tools before the company reached an agreement with OPERC, then you can access the web site of the independent company that carried out the programme (www.kema.com). • T
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258346 Executive Hire News › Archives › January 2006 › Executive Report › Milwaukee's stand on HAV
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