“As always, we use the bauma world trade fair as an international showcase for the latest developments from the R&D departments at our Japanese headquarters,” explains Hanns Markus Renz, Business Director D-A-CH at Kobelco’s European subsidiary Kobelco Construction Machinery Europe BV (KCME), headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands. This is particularly evident this year in the numerous “pavilions” at the Kobelco stand, where visitors can gain direct insights into current projects, e.g. alternative drives or the new “K” system functions with which the manufacturer is making the operation of its excavators even safer and more efficient. “A lot of this may sound like the distant future, but the assistance systems are already being used successfully in Japan and are also installed in the models we are showing in Munich.”
Kobelco also focuses on the greatest possible practical relevance in the line-up of exhibits from its range of tracked excavators with operating weights from 1 to almost 140 tonnes: Kobelco underlines the great flexibility of its excavator technology with application-oriented work equipment and, in particular, with a large number of attachments. “Across all classes, we usually offer the highest quality design of basic equipment and kinematics. The extra power and the user-friendly control of our working hydraulics do the rest for the famous ‘shovel more’ or the even more powerful attachment scissors – and this coupled with exceptional fuel efficiency,” says Hanns Markus Renz.
Wide range of products for efficient demolition
This is particularly evident in the field of demolition technology: Kobelco has long been a leader in its home market of Japan and now also scores reliably in European demolition with its OEM technology. The latest 50-tonne SK400DLC-11E from the highly flexible Kobelco longfront series, which is equipped with NEXT interchangeable booms, will be on display in Munich with a maximum pin height of almost 25 m and a tool weight of 2600 kg. The Kobelco SK300NLC-11E with new straight boom and the Kobelco SK520NLC-11E with 8 tonne demolition shear mounted directly on the boom, which was only presented last year, promise efficient work in ground attack.
The prototype of the Kobelco SK135SRDLC-7 demonstrates the potential that Kobelco sees particularly in inner-city demolition: Based on the corresponding short range model, the excavator with a maximum weight of 18.5 tonnes and a pin height of 11.5 m can also be used on very narrow construction sites, and this with efficient tools with an attachment weight of up to around 1.5 tonnes.
K-Innovation capitalised
“K-LOAD”, “K-EYE PRO” and “K-DIVE” are the names of the new assistance and control systems from Kobelco, which are designed to contribute to more efficient and, above all, safer construction site operations.
The K-LOAD real-time weighing system enables the excavator operator to record the bucket load seamlessly and without interruption directly during excavation or when loading trucks. This significantly speeds up loading processes without the risk of overloading or underloading.
The K-EYE PRO anti-collision system has been proving its worth in Japanese construction practice for over a year now: three precision cameras continuously monitor the excavator’s working environment. AI-supported software analyses the image data and reliably distinguishes between harmless objects and people at risk. If a person moves into the danger zone, K-EYE PRO triggers an audible and visual alarm for the excavator operator and the surrounding area, reduces the boom and swing speeds and brings the machine to a standstill if necessary.
It put Kobelco in the final for the bauma Innovation Award 2025; at the trade fair it will be presented “live” and with access to real machines in Europe and overseas: the Kobelco remote control platform K-DIVE. Several years of development have gone into the system, which enables complete and precise remote control of Kobelco excavators with a wide variety of work equipment via a 1:1 excavator cockpit with numerous screens and real-time transfer of all operating data and control commands. Areas of application include contaminated work areas – however, the ability to switch quickly between several target machines also enables the targeted deployment of highly qualified excavator operators in several machines at the same or even different locations.
“Green solutions”
With their high fuel efficiency across all performance classes, Kobelco crawler excavators are already making a major contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in construction operations. And all Kobelco excavators are already approved for operation with renewable HVO fuels made from hydrogenated vegetable oils, which further reduces the CO2 footprint.
As a direct contribution to cleaner, quieter and generally more sustainable construction sites, the Japanese manufacturer is presenting two battery-powered electric excavators: the Kobelco SK20SRe (engine power: 12 kW/operating weight 2.0 t) and the 9-tonne SK90SRXe (53.7 kW) are still being shown in Munich as advanced prototypes and will go into practical trials immediately after the trade fair.
A real highlight in the Kobelco pavilion is the presentation of an electric excavator with a hydrogen fuel cell. This highly innovative technology was developed in particular for the emission-free operation of heavy construction machinery and thus represents another important step towards carbon neutrality in the construction and extraction industry.
Booth FN1016/1
