Swedish excavator attachment manufacturers Steelwrist and Rototilt have partnered to develop their ambition of achieving global interchangeability between work tools with integrated oil couplings within the Symmetrical Standard.
The two companies say that, as full automatic quick couplers for excavators continue to grow and more manufacturers release solutions, the question about interchangeability between different manufacturers has become an increasingly important issue.
They add that their shared ambition for a global standard is based on Symmetrical Quick Couplers (S-type), the well-known open industry standard which is the world’s fastest growing type of excavator quick coupler.
The main goal of the symmetrical standard is to safeguard interchangeability between manufacturers of quick couplers, tiltrotators, buckets and work tools. Rototilt and Steelwrist say that one reason for its success is that it is open and not controlled by a single specific manufacturer.
Anders Jonsson, CEO of Rototilt Group, commented: “When we now launch and extend our QuickChange range of Full Automatic Quick Couplers it was only natural to build on the Symmetrical standard, which we have followed [for] 20 years, that was already compact, relatively light weight and robust. With the addition of oil couplings and an electrical interface it will be unrivalled on the international market.”
The underlying reasons of forming an Alliance will be to increase safety, flexibility and efficiency for excavator owners, excavator operators and ground personnel as work tool interchangeability is ensured between different manufacturers products; to strive for a competitive and open industry standard that is not controlled by a single producer; and to make it cost efficient to retrofit adaptor brackets to used and new buckets and work tools.
The ambition of an alliance is that it should be open to join for other manufacturers that have developed compatible solutions.
“We clearly see that there is a need for the alliance, as our SQ range have been booming since we launched almost three years ago,” said Stefan Stockhaus, CEO of Steelwrist. “The main reason why we have been working to create the Alliance is that we do not believe in locking customers into proprietary solutions that they must live with forever.”
The two companies say they will provide more details later in the Spring of 2020 prior to the Svenska Maskinmässan industry show on June 4-6 in Stockholm, Sweden.
