A major driver of productivity and safety on modern construction sites is minimizing operator downtime during excavator attachment changeovers. Traditional manual pin swaps can take up to 30 minutes and present significant workplace safety hazards when operators use heavy tools outside the cab. By contrast, fully automatic, hydraulic pin-grabber quick couplers compliant with ISO 13031 allow operators to change compatible buckets, tilt units, and rippers in 7 to 10 seconds without leaving the cab.
Dublin-headquartered Geith, with over 260,000 couplers in field operation, is expanding its variable pin-center technology and hydraulic tilt lineup (including the GT02 for 1–2 tonne compact excavators) to meet rising demand across mature Western markets and rapidly expanding fleets in Eastern Europe and international territories.
Interview with Gerry Kealy, Sales manager & Valeria Cazacu, Sales and Marketing at Geith.
A brief description of the company and its activities
Gerry Kealy & Valeria Cazacu: Geith is an Irish engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1959, the company specialises in the design and manufacture of excavator quick couplers, buckets and attachments.
For more than six decades, Geith has focused on developing solutions that improve the safety, productivity and versatility of excavators. The company supplies products to customers across Europe and a range of international markets, supported by European production and warehousing facilities.
What are the main areas of activity of the company?
G.K & V.C: Geith’s main area of activity is the design and manufacture of quick couplers and attachments for excavators. Its core products include hydraulic, manual and tilting quick couplers, as well as buckets, tilt buckets, rippers and other excavator attachments.
Geith dealer network is supported by sales, Customer service and technical service from Geith HQ. The company works closely with its dealer networks to monitor market requirements and forecast changes in demand. This information is used as part of Geith’s Sales and Operations Planning, or SIOP process to maintain appropriate stock levels and reduce the risk of products being unavailable.
Common quick couplers, buckets and attachments for leading excavator brands are held in stock in Europe. When a required product is not available from stock, Geith’s European manufacturing facility can configure couplers, buckets, rippers and other attachments for specific excavator requirements within a competitive lead time.
What’s the news about new products/services?
G.K & V.C: In 2026, Geith has experienced increased demand not only for quick couplers, but also for buckets, tilt buckets and other excavator attachments manufactured by the company.
A particularly significant area of growth has been demand for Geith’s pin-grabber style quick coupler. This design provides a combination of safety, versatility and compatibility. Its variable pin centre pickup enables the coupler to pick up a range of compatible buckets and attachments, rather than requiring a specially designed bucket for each coupler. We have seen a big increase in our hydraulic tilt coupler, available from 1 to 20 tonne, which includes our ISO13031 compliant hydraulic pin grab coupler as standard, Tilt couplers increase the working range of the excavator, in safe and controlled manner. Geith has recently introduced its GT02 tilt coupler for 1 to 2 tonne excavators with 30mm attachment pins. Utilising the proven Geith QC25-30H variable pin centre ISO13031 complaint hydraulic coupler, the GT02 facilitates a huge increase in working range and versatility of these smaller excavators, which is especially important as they are normally used in tighter spaces on house and building sites.
What are the ranges of products/services?
G.K & V.C: Geith manufactures a broad range of excavator quick couplers and attachments. Its quick coupler range includes:
- Hydraulic quick couplers from 1 to 90 tonne excavators
- Manual quick couplers from 1 to 25 tonne excavators
- Tilting quick couplers from 1 to 20 tonne excavators
- Geith also manufactures a range of excavator attachments, including:
- Heavy Duty, Rock and Extreme duty excavator buckets
- Hydraulic Tilt buckets
- Rippers
- Other attachments configured for different excavator models and applications
All Geith quick couplers are compliant with ISO 13031, the international safety standard relating to quick couplers used with earth-moving machinery.
Geith’s premium hydraulic quick coupler includes a variable pin centre pickup system. This allows the coupler to connect to a range of buckets and attachments, including attachments originally made for other excavators, rather than only those designed specifically for the excavator on which the coupler is mounted. Having multi pin diameter design increased the range of buckets and attachments that can be pick up.
The coupler also allows suitable buckets and attachments to be reversed. This enables operators to work with an attachment in the shovel position without requiring modification to the attachment.
Geith provides stock availability through its European warehousing operation and product configuration through its European manufacturing facility.
What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
G.K & V.C: The quick coupler market differs considerably by region. The United Kingdom, France, Iberia, Ireland, Australia and the United States are considered mature quick coupler markets, where quick couplers are already fitted to a high proportion of excavators.
At the same time, demand is growing in emerging quick coupler markets, including Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Many excavators in these regions still operate without a quick coupler, which creates significant potential for further market development while increasing machine safety and productivity.
Geith has experienced a recovery in demand since 2023. Like many manufacturers, the company saw a significant rise in demand during the period following the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by a slowdown in 2022. Demand subsequently began to rebound from 2023 onwards.
In 2026, Geith has seen record demand across Europe and other markets for its quick couplers, buckets, tilt buckets and additional attachments.
What can you tell us about market trends?
G.K & V.C: One of the most significant trends over the past decade has been the increasing adoption of quick couplers across developing markets.
Markets such as Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary have shown growing demand for the Geith-style pin-grabber coupler. Customers are increasingly seeking couplers that provide:
- Safety: A proven triple-locking design that is compliant with ISO 13031.
- Versatility: Variable pin centre capability that allows the coupler to pick up a range of buckets and attachments from other excavator brands and sizes.
- Reversibility: The ability to reverse suitable buckets and attachments without requiring modifications.
- Compatibility: Greater flexibility compared with local or bespoke coupler designs that require specially manufactured buckets or attachments.
Another major trend is the increasing focus on productivity and operator safety. Labour and general construction costs continue to rise, making it increasingly important for contractors to reduce machine downtime and use their equipment efficiently.
A quick coupler eliminates the need to change buckets and attachments manually. Attachment changes can occur as many as 40 times per day in some applications. A manual changeover can take up to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the excavator. Using a fully automatic hydraulic quick coupler allows a suitable bucket or attachment to be changed from inside the excavator cab in approximately seven to ten seconds.
This also provides an important safety advantage. Every time an operator leaves the excavator cab to use a sledgehammer or other tools during a manual attachment change, there is an additional opportunity for injury. A fully automatic hydraulic quick coupler enables the operator to change compatible attachments using in-cab controls or integrated factory-fitted excavator controls. For excavators which are not factory fitted with a hydraulic coupler control system, Geith can supply an easy install (5-6 hours) hydraulic kit and fully safety easy to use compliant control box.
What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
G.K & V.C: One of Geith’s most innovative products is its premium hydraulic pin-grabber quick coupler. The product combines a number of important features within one proven design:
- A triple-locking safety system
- Compliance with ISO 13031
- Variable pin centre pickup
- The ability to pick up a range of compatible buckets and attachments
- The ability to reverse suitable buckets and attachments
- Fully automatic operation from inside the excavator cab
- Attachment changes in approximately seven to ten seconds
The variable pin centre feature is particularly valuable because it increases the range of compatible attachments that an excavator can use. The excavator is not limited to one dedicated bucket or to attachments manufactured specifically for one coupler configuration.
The ability to reverse suitable attachments also provides additional flexibility, allowing the excavator to operate in both conventional digging and shovel positions without modifying the attachment.
The design has been proven over several decades, with more than 260,000 Geith hydraulic couplers currently operating in the field.
By reducing the time required to change attachments, Geith’s quick coupler helps customers achieve a faster return on investment from their excavators. It enables one machine to perform a wider variety of tasks safely and efficiently, effectively turning the excavator into the “Swiss Army knife” of construction machinery.
What estimations do you have for the second half of 2026?
G.K & V.C: Demand in 2026 has been very positive for Geith, with strong interest in quick couplers, buckets, tilt buckets and other excavator attachments. Based on the recovery observed since 2023 and the strong demand recorded during 2026 so far, Geith expects customer interest to remain positive during the second half of the year.
Continued opportunities are expected in both mature and emerging quick coupler markets. In mature markets, customers remain focused on safety, efficiency, reduced downtime and the ability to use excavators for a wider variety of applications. In emerging markets, growth is being driven by the increasing adoption of quick couplers and a transition from local bespoke systems towards versatile pin-grabber designs.
Geith’s European production and warehousing capabilities will continue to support this demand. Through its forecasting and SIOP process, the company works with its sales teams and dealer networks to identify likely increases or decreases in demand and maintain minimum stock levels for commonly requested products.
The objective for the second half of 2026 is to continue fulfilling the majority of common customer requirements directly from stock, while using Geith’s European manufacturing capacity to configure specialised couplers, buckets, rippers and attachments within competitive lead times.
