Equipment report

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.

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 groupwide effort into growing its market share in North America. Kobelco says 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.

Atlas Copco discontinues mobile crushing and screening business

Atlas Copco, a provider of productivity solutions based in Stockholm, Sweden, has discontinued its Powercrusher business, in which it had manufactured and sold mobile crushers and screeners for the quarrying, civil engineering and recycling industries.

Atlas Copco says it will stop the manufacturing in the plant in St. Valentin, Austria, during 2015. The company also notes that it will arrange for customers getting aftermarket service support for the existing fleet in the future.

“We are discontinuing this business as it does not fit strategically for us,” says Johan Halling, president of Atlas Copco’s Mining and Rock Excavation Technique business area. “We will ensure existing Powercrusher customers will continue to have their equipment serviced in the best way.”

The Powercrusher business has about 70 employees.

Atlas Copco’s Mining and Rock Excavation Technique business area provides equipment for drilling and rock excavation, a range of related consumables and service through a global network. The business area innovates for sustainable productivity in surface and underground mining, infrastructure, civil works, well drilling and geotechnical applications.

Principal product development and manufacturing units are located in Sweden, the United States, Canada, China and India.

Liebherr names Heavy Machines distributor in eastern and southern U.S.

Liebherr Construction Equipment, based in Newport News, Virginia, has a new stocking-distribution agreement with Heavy Machines Inc. of Memphis, Tennessee, for the state of Maine; the Memphis, Tennessee, area; and a territory that includes Louisiana and the Shreveport, Louisiana, trading area.

Heavy Machines, founded in 1971, supplies heavy-duty and special-purpose equipment for mining, log handling, scrap handling/recycling as well as other material handling applications. The company’s product lines include new and used excavators, wheel loaders, shredders and grinders.

“Our focus is to add value to our customer’s businesses and to build long-term relationships through equipment sales, customer service and industrial services,” says Rich Wilson, CEO of Heavy Machines. “The new agreement with Liebherr will allow us to continue to focus on our diverse range of niche markets and continue to fulfill our customer needs for specialized equipment.”

Heavy Machines has 166 employees, including 70 field service technicians, spread across seven stores covering 12 states.

The company has a 33,000-square-foot rebuild facility and a 16,000-square-foot parts distribution center in Memphis; as well as shops and parts facilities at branch locations. Heavy Machines represents Liebherr Construction Equipment in its Memphis; Skowhegan, Maine; and Shreveport and Sorrento, Louisiana, stores.

Liebherr Construction Equipment is a subsidiary of Liebherr-International AG, based in Bulle, Switzerland.