Åkermans H-Series Excavators

In 1988, the Volvo Michigan Euclid Group (now Volvo Construction Equipment) acquired an interest in Åkermans and took full control in 1991. Across Europe, Åkerman excavators had a largely enviable reputation until the mid-1980s. They were a premium product and sold as such, although a lack of product development and the increasing number of sophisticated and lower cost products from Japan proved challenging. An effort to break into the North American market in 1981, with the purchase of cable excavator producer Hein-Werner and subsequent manufacture of certain H (crawler) and M (wheeled) models until 1991, came at significant financial cost. Åkermans was a relatively small company and lacked the economies of scale, resources and distribution to establish a firm foothold, especially when Japanese designs were proving popular. Volvo Construction Equipment had global ambitions and in 1998 purchased Samsung Heavy Industries to acquire its range of hydraulic excavators, thus production of Volvo’s EC130 to EC650 excavators ceased soon after at the Eslov factory (formerly belonging to Åkermans) in Sweden.

A number of Åkermans hydraulic excavator designs were legendary and for the first time, through previously unpublished images and informative text, the H9B to EC650 models, built from 1973 to 1999, are showcased here.