John Deere and Hitachi open Brazil factories

Both facilities are located in Indaiatuba, São Paulo. The stand-alone John Deere facility will produce the company’s 6 tonne class 310K backhoe loader, and 524K, 544K, 624K, 644K and 724K wheeled loaders, which have bucket capacities ranging from 1.9 m³ to 3.6 m³.

The Hitachi-John Deere joint venture factory will produce John Deere’s 160G, 180G, 210G, 250G and 350G excavators, with operating weights ranging from 18 tonnes to 35 tonnes, and Hitachi’s ZX160, ZX180, ZX210, ZX250 and ZX350 excavators. These machines have operating weights from 15.6 tonnes to 24 tonnes.

Both manufacturers invested around US$ 180 million to build the facilities, work on which started at the end of 2011.

Michael Mack, president of John Deere Construction & Forestry, said, “As one of the fastest growing construction equipment markets in the world, Brazil offers a great opportunity for John Deere Construction equipment. The investment potential on infrastructure is very high in Brazil, which makes us confident in the success of this enterprise.”

And Michijiro Kikawa, chairman of the board at Hitachi Construction Machinery, said the opening represented an advance for the company’s operations in Brazil.

“John Deere and Hitachi have a solid partnership, placing us at the forefront of the hydraulic excavator market,” Mr Kikawa added.

John Deere said it would continue to import three crawler dozer models and two motor graders to the Brazil market.

The two companies are building on a partnership that began in 1988 when they formed Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery Corporation, a 50:50 joint venture based in Kernersville, North Carolina, US, that also manufactures and markets hydraulic excavators.

In October 2012, the companies announced a US$ 97 million investment to increase the capacity of the Kernersville operations by +60%.