NORCROSS, Ga. (Dec. 28, 2021) — Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas, Inc., recently announced that its parent company, Hyundai Construction Equipment (HCE), plans to invest $170 million in its Ulsan, South Korea, factory to increase production capacity by 50% and simplify its manufacturing processes for increased efficiency.
With this investment, the company will increase its capacity at Ulsan, its major production base, to 15,000 units of construction equipment. This investment, to be spread across 4 years, is the largest since the company’s launch as a newly established corporation in 2017.
“This increase in manufacturing capability means that Hyundai will be able to address global growth in construction activity,” said Stan Park, president of Hyundai Construction Equipment Americas. “For North America, this positions us to better meet demand arising from planned investments in infrastructure expansion.”
HCE’s investment is focused on restructuring production lines to maximize and expand production capacity for excavators, wheel loaders and other types of construction equipment. Specifically, they will merge production and assembly functions from one factory into two, simplifying workflow processes, increasing efficiency and reducing logistics costs.
Choi Cheol-gun, CEO of HCE and a production expert in the area of construction equipment who also heads Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s Global Production Innovation Center, recently declared the necessity of improving the efficiency of the Ulsan facility and set out to execute a plan to create both synergy and friendly competition with Hyundai Doosan Infracore.
“Strengthening the competitiveness of the Ulsan factory is the first challenge that needs to be addressed to reach the global top 5 for the industry,” said Cho. “With this investment, we will further raise our brand competitiveness by producing and delivering construction equipment with increased efficiency.”
Additionally, Hyundai Construction Equipment plans to reflect ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors, through measures such as the use of eco-friendly sub-materials in interior and exterior finish work and configuring production lines in a way that further improves worker safety.
This is in keeping with completion of construction last November, at a cost of $65 million, of HCE’s technology innovation center. With 16 laboratories employing 100 researchers, the center will execute research and development projects focused on eco-friendly technologies, energy efficiency and noise reduction. Visit hceamericas.com.
