Volvo CE opens Chinese technology facility

7659 Volvo Construction Equipment has carried out the official opening for its new technology centre in Jinan, China. The 50,000m2 facility is located in China’s Shangdong Province, China and will focus on developing products and components for customers in emerging markets. The centre combines design offices with workshops and facilities for testing both complete machines and components. Currently there are more than 150 employees working at the facility, the majority of which are local engineers, but employee numbers are set to grow and the site can accommodate up to 450.

The Jinan Technology Centre includes test track, design offices and two testing buildings which include component and prototype assembly workshops, as well as areas for testing the performance and structure of equipment. While the new facility was under construction, the team at the Jinan Technology Centre produced positive results from a temporary location. The L105 wheel loader is the first Volvo CE branded machine to be developed specifically for emerging markets. It was developed over 25 months and launched at the end of 2012. Future projects at the site include developing excavators, wheel loaders and road and utility products specifically designed for emerging markets.

“Emerging markets present an attractive and growing opportunity for Volvo CE to provide customers with high quality products that are tailored to their specific needs,” said Mats Sköldberg, president of Volvo CE Technology, China. “Volvo Construction Equipment specifically chose to invest in the city of Jinan. China is the biggest, and now perhaps the most important, market for us and we know that it is vital to have a design and manufacturing presence where the machines are used. With this new facility we will be able to provide machines tailored to the needs of the marketplace and deliver them to customer specifications in a shorter lead time.”