40 years of hydraulic breaker innovation

World-leading and highly-respected brand in hydraulic attachment industry, Rammer is celebrating its 40th birthday this year. The success was born in Finland and is now a global brand, part of Sandvik, one of the world’s largest producers of capital equipment for mining. The growth, success and popularity of the Rammer brand has been built upon a foundation of innovation and 40 years on, the company continues to innovate. It has continued to enhance its position as the world-leading hydraulic hammer brand; it has added a comprehensive range of demolition attachments to its product line; and it has maintained its position as the world’s preferred provider of pedestal-mounted breaker boom solution.

With its familiar red and white livery, the Rammer name has become synonymous with innovation.   And for good reason. When the company unveiled its first hydraulic hammers, it created not just a product but an entire operating principle; something the company has repeated several times over in the four decades since. Indeed, the growth, success and popularity of the Rammer brand has been built upon a foundation of innovation; innovation that has spawned countless developments that were pioneering in their time but which are now considered the industry norm. Such innovations include:

• Constant Blow Energy
• Idle blow protection
• Attachment-mounted dust suppression
• Automatic lubrication
• Remote hammer monitoring and management

These innovations helped revolutionise the operating practices of Rammer customers across the world to such a degree that even the names of these innovations – Ramlube, Ramjet, Ramses – have become an integral part of the industry’s language and a benchmark by which other breaker brands are judged.

The anniversary year is full of celebrations. On March 1, IM attended an event in the factory when Sandvik handed over the 3,000th pedestal-mounted boom solution to the customer. Representative of the South-African dealer Hydraulic Hammers, Jaco Claassens, was happy to handover the boom to the end-user representative Sibusiso Nkosi, Gold Fields, South Deep mine. “We have already four Rammer M-series breaker boom systems running in our mine which are all operating with BR2577 hammers. This milestone boom # 3000 is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2018” said Nkosi.

The boom manufacturer Rambooms has been a strategic partner of Sandvik Mining and Construction over decades. The Rammer breaker boom M550 with hydraulic hammer 2577 have been built to take heavy loads in quarry and mining applications. The boom weight is 6,400 kg and maximum reach 7.9 m. Horizontal 5.9 m and vertical reach 5.0 m. Recommended hammer weight is 1,000–2,000 kg, which means Medium range hammers starting from Rammer model 1655 to 2577. Rammer dealer Hydraulic Hammers in Johannesburg, South Africa has been a long-term Rammer dealer. The company itself was established by Peter Harrison in 1985. They have sold M550 boom unit #3000 to Gold Fields, South Deep mine, the one of the largest gold mines in South Africa with the world’s second largest known gold orebody.

Rammer’s success was born in Finland but, the company says, “it has spread across the world thanks to the support and dedication of worldwide dealer and distributor network. Most importantly, that success has been built upon the input, feedback, loyalty of end users and customers in every corner of the world. From the very outset, Sandvik has been a listening company; one that is prepared to seek and take design and development advice from the individuals that know market, industry and application needs best – Its customers. So, while Rammer’s birthday will be marked by a party in Finland where it all started, the 40th anniversary of the company’s formation is cause for a global celebration.”