1990
While equipment built to accommodate urban environments, by generating less noise, vibrations and emission, became more common, super sized equipment that could withstand harsh working conditions in places like giant mines were also developed.
Large mines and rubble sites began to use 78 through 100-ton class Dump trucks in order to improve productivity. To cope with this change, the demand for larger Wheel loaders increased, Komatsu started developing them with the purpose of improving productivity by reducing the number of loadings. Despite its large size, WA900-1 was easy to operate with good mobility, maintaining the same cycle time as WA800 that was one class below.
To improve mobility, a steering lever, "Joy Stick Steering" became available as an option with this product instead of the traditional round steering wheel. Bucket capacity: 13m3
Wheel loader
It was 1949 when the first wheel loader was manufactured in Japan, however, it was not until mid 1960's when Komatsu entered the wheel loader market aligning with International Harvester. From JH series in the beginning, to the 500 series, to Komatsu's original WA series, our wheel loaders have met the needs of construction sites by scaling up, coping with the environment and adopting advanced technology such as mechatronics and IT.
