Kobelco plans new US excavator factory

2200 Kobelco Construction Machinery is planning to build a new excavator factory in the US. The facility will be located in South Carolina and will become part of the existing US subsidiary, Kobelco Construction Machinery USA (KCMU). With the new facility, the firm’s operations in the US will be reorganised to include production as well as sales. The factory will be built on a 340,000m2 site close to Spartanburg, with production initially focussing on the 20tonne excavator segment and aiming for a capacity of some 1,800 machines/year initially. The proximity of the site to I-20 and I-85 means it has good road transportation and is also comparatively close to Savannah Harbour, in the neighbouring state of Georgia. The area has a number of manufacturing operations focussing on the vehicle and aviation sectors, so KCMU hopes to be able to draw from a ready pool of skilled personnel used to high quality manufacturing.