The new state of the art centre is Volvo Construction Equipment?s (Volvo CE?s) 12th technology site and is located in Hapcheon, South Korea, near its existing excavator manufacturing facility in Changwon.
The 253,515m2 site incorporates an all-weather test dome, reliability and noise test field, workshops, various complete machine performance test areas and a customer clinic. These facilities and the engineers on site will focus on excavator product development, advanced engineering and product maintenance.
Volvo CE executive vice president of technology Anders Larsson said that the new centre underlined the company?s commitment to the Korean market and confidence in the nation?s engineering expertise.
?Excavators are a key product for Volvo CE and our customers have a high regard for the fuel efficiency, performance and reliability of our machines,? he said. ?Over the last few years we have increased the number of [our] excavator projects, and it became apparent that we needed to expand our facilities to accommodate our testing requirements.
?This important investment of approximately SEK90 million ($AUD14.7 million) allows us to expand our excavator research and development capability here in Korea, test more machines locally, improve our product development process and reduce lead times.?
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Recognised as top performers
Alan Barnett, the managing director of CJD Equipment, the Volvo CE distributor for Australia, told Quarry that he was very excited to see the centre opened, as excavators are a key product for both Volvo CE and CJD in Australia.
?Volvo excavators are extremely well accepted in this country, and are recognised as top performers, particularly in the areas of fuel efficiency and performance,? he said. ?These new facilities will go a long way to ensuring that Volvo continues to provide the Australian market with excavators of the highest quality, reliability and safety.?
The opening of the new centre comes after the opening of the Jinan Technology Centre in Shangdong province, China in March. Larsson said the establishment of these facilities played an important role in helping Volvo CE achieve it growth ambitions.
?At Volvo CE we believe it?s important to have a global footprint of engineering and design resources,? he explained. ?Locating sites where machines are used gives us a greater understanding of our customers and their needs ? and that?s a big advantage in today?s highly competitive global marketplace.?
Sources: Volvo Construction Equipment, CJD Equipment