You’d have to have lived in a cave in the arse end of no-where with no internet/TV/contact with other humans for the last 50 years if you haven’t heard of Volvo in the UK but you would be surprised how long Volvo has been associated with excavators. Most people of a certain age would think Volvo started building excavators when they acquired Pel Job and Samsung but you’d be wrong, the first excavators associated with Volvo were Akerman’s. Now before you fall off your chair and start thinking about Dean Ackerman, the well-known Volvo salesman from Wales and how he must of sold his family business to Volvo for millions you’re wrong. Regretfully, especially for Dean, he didn’t which is probably why he’s selling Volvo’s today instead of lying on the beach in Barbados sipping cocktails. Akerman’s was founded in Sweden 1890 and the first Akerman excavator rolled off the line in 1939 when the 8 tonne Akerman 300 wire rope excavator was produced. I’m glad to say the current 8 tonne Volvo, the ECR88D Pro has come on a bit since then and there isn’t a bit of wire in sight.
Akerman produced the world’s first wheeled excavator in 1974, the H9M and then the smaller H7M followed in 1977 and then in 1990 Akerman was absorbed into Volvo, the first Volvo branded machine appearing in 1997.
Next on the acquisition trail was to purchase a mini-digger manufacturer and in 1995 the French manufacturer Pel-Job was acquired. Pel-Job had a large UK market share and the sight of an orange Pel-Job working was a frequent one, especially amongst utility contractors. They gradually changed from Pel-Job orange to Volvo yellow and then in 2000 they lost the Pel-Job model numbers and became the standard Volvo ones e.g, the EB350 became the EC35 and became 100% branded Volvo. To this day the majority of Volvo compact excavators are still made in the old Pel-Job factory in Belley, France with the exception on the Volvo ECR58F and the Volvo ECR88D Pro.
