The Break Fast Show #912

In today’s show: We get a sneak preview of the next generation Develon excavators; we’re going underground to see an all-new diesel electric mining truck from Sandvik ; Bell makes the grade; and JCB takes us behind the scenes to see the building of its largest Loadall.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: The silent sacrifice of demolition and construction workers.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!
Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

Time to pull the cord…?

I’d like to tell you a story. It is a story that can trace its origins back to a Toyota factory in Toyota City, Japan in the 1950s. Our tale centres around an engineer named Taiichi Ohno, who is remembered as the man who shaped Toyota’s production system.

Now, as in all factories, there was a constant pursuit of ever-greater efficiency at this particular Toyota factory. And that was a problem. You see, efficiency and output climbed higher every day, but mistakes piled up too, with minor defects snowballing into costly recalls. The workers noticed these issues, but stopping the production line was unthinkable. And yet, good old Taiichi Ohno spotted a solution to these growing problems. And that solution was the workers themselves.

He proposed a simple solution. A solution he called The Andon Cord. Any worker, at any time, could pull that cord and halt the entire line to fix an issue or a defect on the spot, rather than allowing it to progress down the production line.

The Andon Cord worked. It didn’t just change Toyota; it changed manufacturing around the world. The success of the Andon cord was not due to technology but rather the culture of ownership it fostered.

Successful though the Andon Cord concept was in the sphere of manufacturing – and then later in software development, health care and customer service – it would not and could not work in the UK demolition and construction sector, even though the industry is plagued with defects that cost it upwards of £20 billion per year in reworks.

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The Break Fast Show #911

In today’s show: We’ve got a pre-Bauma sneak peek at a new Wacker Neuson wheel loader; we’re taking a special delivery from LiuGong; and we have a battle of the Bauma beasts between Komatsu and Liebherr.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Is it time to pull the cord?

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

The sting in the CMA tail

Industry braced for feeding frenzy.

Quite why it has taken more than two years, I have no idea. Maybe if your company has a market capitalisation of almost £11 billion, the recovery of a trifling £2.4 million is something you do when you have some spare time on your hands; when you are bored; a mere bagatelle.

But the news that Hong Kong-based developer Circadian Limited has launched a legal action against Carey Group will have sent shockwaves through the UK demolition industry this morning.

Circadian alleges that it was overcharged to the tune of £2.4 million for demolition work in 2014 at its scheme to redevelop Lots Road Power Station in west London. This project was one of a number of contracts in which the Competition and Markets Authority uncovered evidence of bid rigging, collusion and cover pricing.

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Waze to avoid financial fallout

When construction giant Carillion collapsed in 2018, it did so with debts of £2 billion owed to more than 30,000 suppliers. By the time that ISG folded in 2024, it had amassed debts of more than £1.1 billion. At the time of the collapse, it was about to post a pre-tax loss of £138 million. Closer to home, when demolition contractor Squibb Group went under, it did so owing more than £24 million.

In each instance, creditors had little prospect of recouping any of the monies owed.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Over the course of the past year or so, around 5,000 UK construction companies have slipped beneath the surface. Many of these will have done so with debts, some of them hefty. Those debts will have had a significant impact upon the entire supply chain, from plant hirers and scaffolders to piling contractors to recruitment companies.

Now I could ramble on about how this typifies the boom and bust cycle of construction. I could hold forth on how this is a reflection upon the wafer-thin profit margins within the sector. I could wax lyrical about how none of these major collapses has led to any kind of shift in the way in which this industry does business. And I could also question just how many of the directors involved in all of this bounced back, seemingly unscathed, to start afresh while their supply chain was left to carry the can.

But I am going to take a different approach in this instance. And for my inspiration, I am going to use the satellite navigation app, Waze.

This long-form article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article and many more besides.

Carey facing post-CMA claim

Two years and a handful of days after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) handed down fines of £60 million to 10 NFDC member companies involved in a big-rigging, cover pricing and collusion scandal, it appears that the story is not yet over.

Construction Enquirer is reporting this morning that Hong Kong-based developer Circadian Limited has launched legal proceedings against UK construction firm Carey Group, alleging it was overcharged by £2.4 million for demolition work at the Lots Road Power Station redevelopment in West London.

Carey was the owner of Scudder, one of the 10 companies implicated in the CMA investigation. The Scudder name has since been absorbed into the Carey group.

The claim, filed under the Competition Act at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, argues that cartel-like pricing arrangements inflated the cost of construction services beyond fair market levels.

“The Cartel Arrangements caused the price of construction services to be higher than they would otherwise have been,” the legal filing states.

Circadian Limited is a subsidiary of CK Asset Holdings Limited, a major property developer listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of £10.9 billion.

Construction Enquirer quotes one “industry expert” saying: “There will be a lot of people keeping a nervous eye on how this pans out because it could set a precedent for other developers to launch similar claims.”

The Break Fast Show #910

In today’s show: Liebherr technology does more with your engine power; we’re breaking with Montabert; ground engaging tools, Sandvik-style; and a seismic shift in compaction technology.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Waze to avoid the fallout from a company collapse.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!
Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

A pilgrimage of plant

Once every three years, they come. From over a hundred nations, from the frozen north to the burning equator, they make their way to Munich. A million strong, they arrive at the Messe Munchen exhibition centre, drawn by something greater than mere curiosity. This is not just an exhibition. This is Bauma. And for those in the demolition and construction industry, it is more than a trade show. It’s a pilgrimage.

They come to stand in the shadow of giants. Towering cranes stretch toward the heavens like the spires of imaginary cathedrals, their booms reaching into infinity, their steel forms etched against the sky as if in silent prayer. The faithful gaze upward, dwarfed by the sheer scale of human ingenuity, feeling the same reverence one might feel when standing beneath the arches of a great temple. This is a sacred space, a place where faith in machines, in industry, in progress, is reaffirmed.

Massive dump trucks crouch like mythical beasts, waiting to be tamed. Excavators, their arms outstretched, promise power and precision beyond imagination. Each machine is more than metal and hydraulics. To those who gather, they are symbols: of progress; of strength; of the very foundation upon which the world is built. They are relics of past triumphs and harbingers of the future, as if forged by the gods of industry themselves.

This long-form article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article and many more besides.

The Break Fast Show #909

In today’s show: A record-breaking blast from the US; a crawler carrier built for the harshest conditions; the future of paving with Dynapac; and we’re going deep on large Cat wheel loaders.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Bauma – A pilgrimage of plant.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show; the world’s only daily LiveStream show dedicated to demolition, construction and construction equipment.

In each interactive episode, we’ll deliver your daily fix of news, views, video and comment from across the sector and around the world.

Take part in our Question of the Day, try to identify the Mystery Machine, and be sure to stick around for Mark’s Morning Monologue and the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.

The Break Fast Show #908

In today’s tech-focused show: Komatsu’s Intelligent Machine Control just keeps getting smarter; Caterpillar tech mitigates machine collisions; Liebherr grants operators the gift of vision; and Wacker – Still doing what it does best.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: What’s NOT in the headlines.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show; the world’s only daily LiveStream show dedicated to demolition, construction and construction equipment.

In each interactive episode, we’ll deliver your daily fix of news, views, video and comment from across the sector and around the world.

Take part in our Question of the Day, try to identify the Mystery Machine, and be sure to stick around for Mark’s Morning Monologue and the chat in our after-show discussion session, The Craic.