Aichi finds niche at Bauma

Japanese aerial platform manufacturer Aichi Corp may have delayed the development of its ‘global' product line - customers will have to wait a bit longer for its rough terrain scissors and articulated booms - but it decided to make its Bauma stand interesting by showing some ‘niche' products that have long been available in Japan.

Most obvious here was the Skymaster WZ09ASM, a 800 kg cage capacity self-propelled boom that has the ability to work in the vertical or horizontal plane using a single control.

"The WZ09 is a proven machine in Japan", said Ken Nezuka, Aichi Corp executive officer and president of Aichi USA, "Customers like the vertical and horizontal controls, and it is good for tunneling work."

The heavy carrying capacity allows workers to have tools and small compressors in the platform while they work. It's a big machine - it weighs around 6.8 t and it measures 2.2 m (W) by 2.8 m (H) by 3.8 m (L). It is also expensive; "I'm afraid to give the price!" said a laughing Mr Nezuka.

Also on the stand was a tiny vertical mast machines, the tracked, 3.8 m platform height RM04B, another machine in production in Japan for over a decade. This weighs 636 kg and has a platform capacity of 200 kg.

Completing the niche platform picture were several modified Aichi tracked booms. Aichi's Netherlands-based ‘master' dealer, Aichi Sales Europe (ASO), has added 500 kg capacity cages to its standard models by removing the fly jibs and using the reduction in boom weight to increase the carrying capacity.