July 2020 | Page 60

INDUSTRY PEOPLE Super Giants are made for the rough New Zealand terrain. for the civil division. My focus is to get that brand even more established in the civil sector.” “We have taken what we know from the previous piledrivers that had been developed under the KingHitters (also a Fairbrother Industries company) and Fence Pro brands and amalgamated them into one really good machine.” Clients who buy the Hooper brand comment that it’s “over-engineered”. That might sound like a negative, but in reality it’s the act of designing a product to be more robust than it needs to be, so that failure of components is minimised. The other aspect is to keep it simple enough so that repairs and replacements are not overly complex. Hooper products also come with their own bearing system with its own two-year warranty, which means servicing the gear is low-drama for all involved. It’s the discs too that have become a feature of the civil work Hooper is embarking on. Work is continuing “New Zealand terrain is a rugged individual, and the gear can handle that.” to occur around the country; there is a steady supply of civil activity in Auckland, including the Puhoi Expressway, but contractors have specialist needs that can be met by Hooper too. New Zealand terrain is a rugged individual, and the gear can handle that. For example, the Super Giant discs used for either farming or civil projects are made for “bush and bog” and are often nicknamed that because of their reputation for being able to break the land initially in very rough and severe conditions. Other equipment such as post rammers, can be attached to either a digger or a tractor and this configuration is becoming more common. The simple design also allows a switch between tractor and excavator. Another product, the Hooper Pile-X-550C is a specialist digger-mounted pile-driver that will work with any excavator. It is ostensibly very simple to attach and operate. The pile driver only requires a hydraulic circuit 58 CAM July 2020 www.cammagazine.co.nz