Kobelco to build $41 million production facility in South Carolina

Kobelco Construction Machinery USA, Houston, has announced its plan to construct a hydraulic excavator production facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The company says its market development has been proceeding at a faster rate than expected since its re-entry into the U.S. market in 2013. A production factory in North America will allow Kobelco to reduce the production lead-time of machineries for its U.S. customers and improve its capabilities for meeting market needs, the company adds.

Site preparation for the U.S. production facility will begin in April 2015 and is expected to be completed in December 2015. Kobelco’s $41 million investment will involve the development of a 156,000-square-foot production factory, a 17,000-square-foot office building, a testing area and machinery parking. The facility will sit on approximately 85 acres of land with space for future production capacity expansion, and will have access to major domestic ports, including Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, the company says.

With an estimated annual capacity of 1,800 units, the factory will begin mass production in January 2016. Kobelco says it plans to begin its production with standard machines weighing 20 tons and larger and will increase the product line offerings and capacity in accordance with market development. Future production plans at the facility are expected to include most of Kobelco’s excavator models.

“We are very excited to begin a new phase of our growth in North America,” states Pete Morita, president and CEO of Kobelco Construction Machinery USA. “The announcement of our new manufacturing facility follows the move last fall into our much larger and enhanced new North American headquarters and parts distribution facility in Katy, Texas, as part of our plan for long-term dedication to our dealers and customers.”

By taking full advantage of its U.S. production facility, Kobelco says it will further enhance its service functions, reinforce its foundation in the North American market, continue increasing the presence of Kobelco hydraulic excavators, and put a group-wide effort into growing its market share in North America. Kobelco say it has aggressively put forth effort into building its distribution network, and as a result, the company says it has solidified dealer agreements with some of the top heavy equipment businesses in North and South America.

The development of Kobelco’s North American production factory will reduce operational burden on the Itsukaichi factory in Hiroshima, Japan, while also allowing for the reorganization of Kobelco USA into a company with integrated production and sales, Kobelco says. After the production of standard models for the U.S. is transferred to Kobelco USA, the Hiroshima factory is expected to continue maintaining full production in order to accommodate the expansion of newly developed areas, centering on Europe, the Middle East and the Near East.

Kobelco Construction Machinery USA produces a full range of crawler excavators in the 3,000-pound to 184,000-pound classes for the rental, landscape, construction, aggregate, roadbuilding, material handling, site preparation, recycling and ancillary markets, including zero tail swing, standard, long-reach and compact models.

More information is available at www.kobelco-usa.com.