Why does Japan maintain its excavators so well? The answer is....

In developed countries, cars are not treated as cars and construction machinery is truly regarded as construction machinery. However, in China, the situation is exactly the opposite. There is too much emphasis on car maintenance and too little attention paid to the maintenance of construction machinery. There is a popular saying in the construction machinery industry: Chinese people treat excavators as if they were oxen, while the Japanese are just the opposite, treating them as if they were masters.

This is not an exaggeration. Not long ago, I talked about this topic with a friend from the industry. He, who has been working in a well-known Japanese company in the industry for many years, gave me an interesting example: "Do you know how Japanese people take good care of excavators?" I have witnessed with my own eyes that they lay carpets in the cab, take off their shoes when getting in the car, and operate with white gloves on. Every day after finishing work, they clean the excavator thoroughly. They are just like their own sons!"

The author was left speechless. Is this still a tool for work? In China, not to mention giving excavators a bath, it's hard to say whether the operators themselves will take a bath after a tiring day at work. Are the Japanese too serious? Why are you so concerned about a money-making tool?

After some investigation, the author found that apart from the common "high quality" and cleanliness of the Japanese people, the national system and the stage of industry development are also important factors contributing to Japan's emphasis on excavator maintenance.

From a systemic perspective, excavators used on construction sites in Japan need to undergo annual inspections. Those that fail the annual inspection are not allowed to continue operating. Under the strict requirements of the mandatory system, it is inevitable to attach importance to maintenance. Meanwhile, according to the usage requirements in Japan, if the working time of an excavator exceeds 5,000 hours, it will be forcibly sent to a service point for maintenance. Just this one requirement is far beyond the reach of Chinese operators.

2. Judging from the usage of the products, Japan has completed the industrialization stage. The workload and intensity of construction machinery in Japan are much smaller than those in China. In Japan, workers must rest after working for 8 hours, just like truck drivers in Europe. They are forced to rest after working hours and no one does it even if they are paid more. However, in China, once an excavator is purchased, people are eager to work continuously for 24 hours a day. Recover the cost as soon as possible and earn more money for the boss. The equipment in Japan does not operate beyond its capacity, which greatly reduces the maintenance and upkeep pressure on excavators.

From the perspective of maximizing the full life cycle value of equipment, if Japanese excavators are scrapped, due to environmental protection requirements, a large amount of taxes have to be paid to the government. Therefore, Japanese excavator owners often prefer to maintain the equipment well so that it can be pushed to the second-hand market and leasing companies as soon as possible when it is in the appropriate working years. This not only accelerates the replacement frequency of excavators, Always use cutting-edge products with the latest technology and have no worries.

4. From the perspective of the demand constraints in circulation, Japanese excavators usually enter the second-hand machine market, rental market and other fields after working for three to five years, often less than 5,000 hours, or are directly exported to developing countries. Second-hand excavators exported through regular channels in Japan are prohibited from being exported if they fail to meet customs inspection standards. This is to maintain a good business reputation and seek sustainable development. It is both environmentally friendly and can relieve the sales pressure of new domestic models, enabling the domestic market to enter a virtuous cycle.

5. From the perspective of the credit system, the credit system in Japanese society is highly developed. Whether it is daily consumer goods or industrial products, there are basically no counterfeit goods. Once consumers purchase counterfeit goods, they can Sue the merchants in court, and the counterfeiters will face the risk of bankruptcy. No wonder in Japan, there's no need for a deposit or advance payment when ordering food or anything like that. They have credibility to back it up. Similarly, in the construction machinery market, the quality of excavator parts is top-notch. They are mostly original factory parts and the prices are relatively transparent. Therefore, the parts used for maintenance are of good quality and less likely to cause related problems.

6. In terms of the strength of service providers, Japanese service providers are more mature, with highly specialized maintenance techniques and hardware such as testing equipment at the world's leading level, which can fully guarantee the quality of products after maintenance and repair.

From the perspective of the operators' usage habits, the Japanese are indeed quite conscientious and responsible about the equipment. They strictly follow the operation requirements for operation and maintenance, conduct regular inspections and maintenance, and are meticulous, thus maintaining a good condition of the equipment.

According to a fault repair statistics from a certain second-hand excavator sales market in Japan, 70% of excavator faults are caused by poor maintenance and management. The other 30% of faults are mechanical faults, overloading of the machine, and other faults, etc.

The ultimate goal of regular maintenance and servicing of excavators is to reduce machine malfunctions, extend the service life of the machines, improve work efficiency and lower operation costs. "A workman who wants to do his job well must first sharpen his tools." It seems that in terms of the "Scientific Outlook on Development" of construction machinery, we still need to learn a lot from Japan.