Kobelco holds ceremony for its 300,000th excavator built in Hiroshima
Kobelco Construction Machinery has celebrated the construction of the 300,000th excavator built at its Hiroshima base with a ceremony at its Itsukaichi factory.
Opened in 2012, the Itsukaichi factory has a production capacity of 10,500 units per year.
It replaced Kobelco’s earlier Gion and Numata factories, with the accumulated production milestone being reached in September 2021.
Production from Hiroshima dates back to 1983, when Kobelco parent company Kobe Steel established a hydraulic excavator development and production site in Hiroshima after buying into Yutani Heavy Industries, with which it would later merge.
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A ceremony was held at Kobelco’s factory in Itsukaichi, Japan
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“The achievement of the accumulated production of 300,000 units is the result of our creation of an array of products that satisfy the needs of the times, while overcoming challenges and continuing to innovate,” says KCM president and CEO Yoshinori Onoe.
“Our mission now is to pass on our corporate philosophy of ‘user hands- on approach’, which has been driving our business, to the next generation. Together, through our collective effort, Kobelco can make a further leap forward.”
Kobelco’s newest SK model excavator is the SK380XDLC-10, released in September, which has been designed for quarry and aggregates, subdivision and underground utilities, and heavy infrastructure and road construction.
The SK380XD has a base operating weight of 37,700 kg, making it the heaviest excavator in its class.