About us

The Innovation of UP/DOWN Hammer

Yrjö (Ykä) Raunisto is the son of an earthmoving contractor. He was operating Cat D8 by himself in fifties, just being 7 years old. As graduated mechanical engineer he worked his first professional years as the technical Director of Hitachi Finland and Åkermans. His entrepreneur carrier started 1984 by importing NPK breakers. In 1987 his Company was the first to import Kobelco excavators in Finland. Just after 4-5 years of operations both products had reached the second position on the market. This was due to very advanced “TSS” (Trouble Shooter Salesman) system.

HOW SIDE-GRIP WAS INNOVATED?

In 1988 Yrjö´s company introduced NPK excavator mountable sheet-piler in Finland. Before NPK, 99% of all sheet-piles driven in Finland were vibrated with crane suspendable. Because of 50% lower piling costs NPK got very soon 70 to 80% of the Finnish market.

In 1990 the Technical Director Wirkkunen from Pekkinen Oy (a contractor company) took contact with Mr Raunisto. His comment was: “NPK is an excellent machine, but if the pile is longer than 8 meters, we have to take again a crane suspendable and it is costing money. Do something Ykä!”. In1991 the Side-Grip idea was innovated, and the rest is successful history.

  • Side-Grip made the job in average 40% cheaper. It was also safer and more versa tile
  • We sold it to 42 different countries and in some countries Side-Grip made 60 to70% of all Sheet-piling jobs

    HOW 2ND GENERATION SIDE-GRIP RAMEC WAS INVENTED?

    During the years customers/operators told their observations like:

    1. “After I changed from Side-Grip to End-Grip the pile penetration was 20 to 25% more” – why?
    2. “Why the pile is shaking so much during the vibration?”
    3. “The pile grips (pads) are sliding too easily. This means extra service costs”
    4. “The vibra bearings are getting very hot just after driving with full power in 20 to 25 minutes”
    5. “The automatic steering should be much more precise/accurate. Without auto-steering there is a lot of absorbing rubber and arm-welding costs”

     

    We wrote down all technical/commercial challenges and 2nd generation Side-Grip was innovated like:

    1. “Centric system” solved problems 1, 2, 3 and 5
    2. Integrated lubrication and cooling system solved the vibra bearings overheating problems
    3. And we addressed all problems one way or another. We also worked with the wish list

    HOW THE UP/DOWN hammer was innovated?

    Most piling contractors reported:

    1. “The harder the ground the more power is needed, so now and then the working performance drops dramatically, or we even have to take an 400-800hp competitor”
    2. “If the pile is 2 to 6 months in clay or silt (cohesive soil) we do have great difficulties to extract, even with 400 to 800hp vibrator”
    3. “If we are using a vibrator to drive into silt (“London clay”) the ground vibration caused by the pile is driving the “lubrative” water out, and the soil is very badly compacting itself. We are only with high cost getting the piles deep enough”
    4. “With Side-Grip the foundation piles working costs will drop 50 to 80%; but we have to take a drop hammer to hit the “final hits”
    5. “If the foundation pipe meets a stone, the pipe is bent and very often we cannot get it extracted for reuse”

    Like developing the 2nd generation Side-Grip we listed all above mentioned challenges problems and RaMeC UP/DOWN hammer was developed. It solved all above mentioned challenges and very economically.

     

    In addition:

    a) Strongest hydraulic. breaker was innovated

    b) The SOLE hydraulic hammer on the market hitting in UP direction was innovated

    c) We invented totally new way to break stones and boulders (we call it “shock wave” system)