January 3, 2000

Equipment companies brighten work sites with new colors

Stan Hayes wouldn't be surprised to see one of his customers driving a chartreuse pick-up.

But he would be shocked if the same customer walked in and bought a teal excavator.

"We're slow when it comes to changes like that," said Hayes, president of Tacoma's Rhine Equipment Co. "We have teal machines to rent, but when customers go to buy a machine, most prefer yellow."

Demolition Man recently dispatched a teal Kobelco excavator to a downtown Seattle site.

Yellow is, after all, the industry standard in construction equipment -- from compact excavators to 300-ton haul trucks.

In recent years, though, companies like Komatsu and Kobelco have introduced lines of small purple and teal excavators, breaking tradition with the yellow standard.

The machines, such as the Komatsu PC27R-8 compact excavator and the Kobelco 200 Series 5 excavator, were introduced in the Japanese and European markets before arriving in the U.S. several years ago.

But popularity overseas is no guarantee that American buyers are ready to switch colors just yet.

"We don't get a lot of positive comments," said Hayes, referring to the purple and teal models. "We re-paint them sometimes."

American-based companies such as CASE and Caterpillar appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach to offering more than the standard yellow with black lettering.

"Obviously, Cat lags behind the competition as far as updating styling goes," said Gary Bryant, manager of corporate industrial design for Caterpillar. "Colors have never really been our strong point."

Bryant said "corporate guidelines" have ensured that Cat Yellow remains the standard for Caterpillar. "Color is just not a factor because everyone knows Cat Yellow. They'll always know what Cat stands for."

While Cat may lag behind in color changes, Bryant said the company places an emphasis on cabin design and ease of operation. "Cosmetic changes are secondary to ergonomic and environmental improvements for the operators," he said.

Improving visibility and designing controls allowing the operator to be "at one with the machine" are priorities for Cat, he said.

The same is true with many construction equipment manufacturers these days, according to Gregg Montgomery, president of Montgomery Design International in Westmont, Ill. While some safety issues were an "afterthought" for machinery designers 30 years ago, Montgomery said safety and operator comfort have become increasingly important in recent years.

"There's certainly a lot of attention to layout of controls and ease of use," said Montgomery, whose company provides design consulting to CASE and Komatsu. "We get into color coding, where, for example, red controls are for anything that makes the machine move."

This advanced concept design was prepared by Montgomery for Cat, featuring a "high drive triangular track" for the bulldozer.

Montgomery uses software to evaluate equipment designs, measuring such things as the amount of force it takes to actuate a lever. More sophisticated lighting systems and sloping hoods for greater visibility are also critical in new designs, he said.

"Operator comfort is a high priority," said Chuck Tschanz, vice president of Komatsu's U.S. Technical Center. "Joy sticks are adjustable for best comfort and viscous cab mounts reduce vibration in the cab."

Other amenities include window heaters, space for lunchboxes, electronic diagnostic monitors and, in some machines, global satellite positioning systems to help owners locate rentals. Additionally, Komatsu and other companies are using environmentally friendly water-based paints and recyclable plastics.

"The major advancements and thrust of our investment is toward useful features beneath the veneer of styling," Tschanz said. "The main thing I want to emphasize is that styling is always secondary to function."

Tschanz downplayed Komatsu's decision to market teal mini-excavators in the U.S., conceding that the "color issue" has given distributors and buyers "pause for reflection" about whether the market is ready for anything beyond yellow.

"Dealers mostly roll their eyes at the Komatsu colors," said Mark Killpack, senior vice president of sales for The CIT Group, a leading equipment financing company. Killpack speculated that women operators in Japan prefer more variety in colors, prompting Komatsu and Kobelco to respond with purple and teal.

"Apparently they're much more liberal in how they paint the machines in Japan," said John McFarland, owner of Demolition Man, a Tacoma demolition company.

Montgomery Design International produced a mock-up for the interior of a Caterpillar D-250 dump truck, featuring improved visibility and control placement.

McFarland recently dispatched a teal Kobelco 200 excavator to a job site in downtown Seattle. McFarland bought the excavator used, and said he had no qualms about the color.

"I think the machine kind of speaks for itself in how much work it gets done," he said, noting that the Kobelco is dependable and fuel efficient. "It is eye-catching."

Tschanz said Komatsu has kept its large equipment the standard yellow, since mining trucks, for example, are "laboring away from public view."

"Mini excavators tend to be working in very urban settings, so styling is of some significance," he said.

Like moving advertisements, construction equipment in urban settings can boost a company's profile on a "subconscious level," according to Montgomery. Breaking tradition by using teal or purple equipment shows that the user and manufacturer are hip.

"It's presenting your company as up-to-date and forward thinking, because you own that equipment," he said. "The type of equipment you use could say something about your firm. Once somebody does something like that, other companies tend to follow."

But in the short term at least, we'll probably only see purple and teal on small equipment used in urban settings. "On small equipment, colors seem more in place," said Tschanz. "They blend in with the urban environment."