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The following is clear by the middle of the year: This year will definitely be good for a few surprises: Some tools will be presented which will be introduced in the market either this year or in the coming year.
We’re looking forward to inspiring you at the trade fairs in autumn. For the GaLaBau fair in Nuremberg/Germany as well as the bauma fair in Munich/Germany we’ll have some convincing news. Please pay us a visit at these two trade fairs!
In order to make room for our further developments, we’ve entered the final planning stages of our new building this year. The latter could not be started as planned due to the crisis.
We actually managed to come out of the crisis in a stronger position owing to our outstanding team. We could finish the development of the first second generation RotoTop® . Our RotoTop® RT.062 is made of aluminium, therefore correspondingly light-weight and equipped with 6 and 8-way rotary joints.
Even in the Covid year of 2021, we did absolutely not stay put, but rather rethought our production and put all our processes and products to the test. While doing that, we hired new employees for all areas, amongst them Thorsten Schick, a former sales employee, who has now come back to our future-oriented company as the head of sales.
In order to be able to render the big machines more flexibly, first testing is done with our RotoTop® RT.301 HD mounted to a 53-t-excavator.
In this year, we designed, due to frequent demands from our customers, our BankettLöffel® , based on our well-tested ProfilLöffel®. It is characterised by its smooth operation when towed and its robust construction. A special characteristic, however, is a detachable corner piece, which ensures that you can actually work as far out as under the guardrail. We consciously designed only one corner to be detachable and reach perfect stability through the outer frame without material being compacted on the inside. In combination with the rotary drive’s rotation, this bucket reaches a top performance.
Based on all the experience and feedback from practical use, the ProfilLöffel® ‘s side plates were re-engineered to ensure an even better material flow.
Introduction of the RotoTop® RT.091 for tool carriers ranging from 6 to 10 tonnes of operational weight. It is made of aluminium and features a 6 or 8-way rotary joint.
Continuous optimization of our products is one of the most important tasks for us. Therefore, this year we have set ourselves the task of optimising the flow of all rotary joints.
We are pleased about the introduction of our RotoTop® RT.031 which is our first RotoTop® with an aluminium housing. It is extremely light-weight and therefore designed for compact excavators with an operational weight of 0.8 to 3.9 tonnes.
We have the largest rotary joints on the market. Even in long-term use we would like to prevent overheating of attachment tools which require a lot of oil. This is why the 7-way joint is followed up with development and introduction of the 6 and 8-way rotary joint this year.
We only develop new products if they result in savings of at least 25 percent. In order for our customers to experience these effects first hand when thoroughly testing our tools or to be able to learn their handling, we open our Holp testing arena with 13 stations in 2014. This is where our trainings take place and where our customers can test under real conditions.
Further expansion of the RotoTop series with the introduction of our RotoTop® RT.251 suitable for machines with an operational weight ranging from 18 to 27 tonnes.
By introducing the ProfilLöffel® bucket, we designed another attachment tool with which you can work safely and precisely and therefore economically in confined spaces.
We quickly recognized that the quantity of hydraulic oil provided by the tool carrier must also reach the attachment tool via the rotary drive in order to provide full power and avoid overheating: For this purpose we developed and introduced the 7-way rotary joint.
By introducing the RotoTop® RT.301 we make it possible for machines ranging from 25 to 36 tonnes to work more efficiently with pure rotation.
It is, especially in gardening and landscaping, that such flexibility is required that only a rotary drive on an excavator can provide. Our new RotoTop® RT.061 is suitable for machines from 3.5 to 6.5 tonnes.
Our company survives the world economic crisis in unchanged size. This is only possible thanks to our loyal regular customers who, even in bad times and with entrepreneurial vision, work on jobs using our RotoTop®.
Our RotoTop® prove to be successful in first tests with rock cutters and are globally distributed via the distribution networks of rock cutter manufacturers. In Germany, a lot of convincing still has to be done by our strengthened sales force at this time. Many entrepreneurs do not really trust a “wrist” rigidly mounted on the excavator or do not see the sense in large rotary joints yet. Despite this, the company continues to grow by ca. 30 percent annually at this time. However, the customers who could be convinced by the product soon bought rotary drives for further machines after their first purchases.
In order to be available for as many excavators as possible, the rotary drive is also being developed for excavators with an operational weight of between 7 and 12 tonnes: Our RotoTop® RT.121 is introduced to the market.
Shortly after, we begin development of our tilt rotator RotoX® for those fields of application where even more mobility is required and the construction height is not as crucial.
With the development of the RotoTop® RT.201 rotary drive, we turn the idea that pure rotation is mostly sufficient in a robust and well-thought-out product. The rotator based on a self-locking worm gear is first presented to an interested expert audience at the 2007 bauma. In the years to come, we followed it up with seven additional sizes. All of these were designed with the goal of always being the smallest, the lightest in weight and the most robust while providing the attachment tool with the full oil quantity of the carrier machine, possibly free of any losses.
The development of the "QuickOn® tongs” and the following patent application solves an everyday problem for machine operators that has already "cost the lives" of many attachment tools. Hard-to-release couplings are often worked with a hammer when changing attachment tools under time pressure. This results in damaged connections and hydraulic oil leaks . With our QuickOn® tongs you can effortlessly couple and decouple.
Only shortly after, the newly developed MultiGrip® bucket is introduced in the market.
This bucket combines the characteristics of a backhoe and a grapple. It works just like a hand on the excavator and brings about better safety and more speed when loading.
In this year, Günter Holp registers his second patent: The KranFix® quick-coupler system enables you to quickly change rigidly mounted and swinging attachment tools on the crane. With this system, owners of forestry cranes achieve significantly better usage rates, can do more work with just one machine and thus only have to accept significantly lower downtimes for their machines.
Günter Holp travels Denmark and Sweden as a demonstrator for Arden Equipment dealers. During demonstrations of the Holp VarioLöffel bucket with tilt rotators, he manages to make first contact with operators in Sweden. He learns that even at this time in Sweden, tenders stipulate that at least one excavator with a tilt rotator must be kept on site at every construction site. This represents further motivation for Günter Holp to develop a tool with pure rotation for the German market.
From 2001 onwards, the Holp GmbH is regularly present with its products at trade fairs in Germany such as the bauma in Munich.
Only a year later, Günter Holp registered his first patent: The "VarioLöffel®" – a drag-ditch-bucket which features a second opening and therefore makes possible precise operations with clear performance increases.
Günter Holp takes over the management of the company and at the same time focuses on other activities. The Swabian company from then on strongly focuses on developing new attachment tools, while the earthworks operations are kept on simultaneously.
Also in 1992, the first test runs with tilt rotators take place. When a cylinder damage occurs during a test run, Günter Holp continues to work with rotation only. That's when he finds out that the predominant number of necessary excavator bucket movements can be performed with rotation only. An idea has been born.
This year at the latest, it becomes clear: Günter Holp inherited his father’s inventor genes. As he reaches certain limits during his work, Holp develops a new drag ditch bucket. He uses this bucket for his own operations in order to get them done more quickly and more efficiently.
Günter Holp in 1991, following a not so successful manoeuvre with a caterpillar: If you want to become a good operator, you must also test your own limits from time to time...
The one-man business becomes a family business.
Günter Holp joins the company, which, at the time, still is a classic earthworks company. But soon after it becomes clear: This is not just about excavating. The Holps have a clear objective: Simplify work with excavators and make it more economic.
Over the years, Franz Holp turns into a proper Swabian inventor and, for that reason, crucially participates in the further development of the Liebherr B-Serie PR 721 caterpillars. Decades of practical experience in the handling of caterpillars help him find solutions viable for typical working days. In this picture you can see the Liebherr caterpillar with a Büffel dozer blade, tested by Franz Holp in real operating conditions: Use in the forest for stump clearance used to be the maximum requirement for caterpillars and operators at that time.
By then, Franz Holp could look back on over 25 years of experience in handling construction machines. He decides to go independent as an entrepreneur in earthworks, roadmaking and maintenance work.
The caterpillar “Büffel”, then the most innovative caterpillar from Aalen/Germany was part of his machine pool right from the start. Even though there are, at this time, already caterpillars with single-lever controls by Büffel, which, however, could not be afforded by the young entrepreneur. He had to make do with outdated technical equipment during the first years. Work in the forest at that time was very tough, as the caterpillars must be turned all the time and steering had to be done via the brakes. From 1981 onwards, Franz Holp has the modern single-lever controls which is a big relief.
The very first beginnings: Franz Holp starts his work life in a classic way as a “machine greaser”, i.e. starting from 4am he has to grease machines on the construction site and warm them up so that everything is ready when the operators begin work. Maintenance and servicing are still very time-consuming at this time. If, for example, the chain of the caterpillar jumps off, 4 to 5 employees are busy for a day until the machine is up and running again and work can continue.
Then one day there is a shortage with the operators so that young Franz gets the chance to fill in on one of the machines. After a short time it becomes clear: He is a natural. Hence, he takes on his first jobs in forestry and roadmaking at a young age and uses a Hanomag K8 caterpillar for that. Already then, he was wondering how such tasks could be done in a quicker and better way.