Hitachi upgrades European mini excavator facility

Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV (HCME) has upgraded its European mini excavator factory to boost manufacturing efficiency. The firm has officially opened its mini and compact excavator factory at Oosterhout, in the Netherlands. The new 8,000m2 facility is the result of an extensive modernisation programme, which commenced in January 2018. The firm says that the upgrade will increase efficiency at the factory that is responsible for producing the ZX10 to ZX85 models. It will also meet the growing
July 19, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Hitachi has officially opened its new mini excavator facility in the Netherlands

233 Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV (1139 HCME) has upgraded its European mini excavator factory to boost manufacturing efficiency. The firm has officially opened its mini and compact excavator factory at Oosterhout, in the Netherlands. The new 8,000m2 facility is the result of an extensive modernisation programme, which commenced in January 2018.

The firm says that the upgrade will increase efficiency at the factory that is responsible for producing the ZX10 to ZX85 models. It will also meet the growing demand for Hitachi mini and compact excavators across Europe.

The factory’s general manager, Marco Verhoef, said, “We have already doubled our output since 2014 from 2,500 to 5,000 machines by 2018. The renovation of the factory was necessary to help us grow further, and will enable us to produce more than 7,000 machines/year, according to market demand.”

As part of the upgrade, a state-of-the-art, semi-automatic assembly line has been installed, as well as new equipment and paint booths. The staff at the factory have adopted a new approach, which means completing tasks within a certain amount of time, optimising work flow. Inventory has also been reduced by following the latest lean manufacturing methods.


“Thanks to all of our dedicated personnel, we now have a fully redesigned and modernised factory, and are very proud of what we have achieved. We are ready for the future, to supply more machines at shorter delivery times and lower costs.”

Finance & Funding

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Caterpillar opens new Chinese facilities and celebrates 20th anniversary
    March 31, 2014
    Caterpillar’s Chinese excavator facility in Xuzhou, China has celebrated its 20th anniversary since its opening. The Caterpillar (Xuzhou) facility was the firm’s first hydraulic excavator manufacturing factory in China and the company has now extended its capabilities by opening the additional Caterpillar Chassis (Xuzhou) plant. The opening was celebrated in an event attended by Caterpillar’s key executives. Following a series of investments, Caterpillar (Xuzhou) has now become the world's largest excavator
    Read More
  • Siemens launches next generation ANPR camera Sicore ll
    May 14, 2018
    Siemens has launched Sicore ll, its next generation ANPR – automatic number plate recognition - camera platform. The launch took place during Traffex 2017 at the NEC exhibition centre in Birmingham, UK, last month. Siemens said that Sicore ll - based on more the company’s 30 years' experience in vision detection and analytics – is robust, reliable and built to last. Sicore ll is for average speed control and enforcement, low emission or clean air zones and access control. “The new Sicore ll platform is
    Read More
  • Hitachi Zaxis-6 machines for Société Lyonnaise de Travaux Publics
    December 15, 2017
    The Société Lyonnaise de Travaux Publics in France has completed the ongoing purchase of eight Hitachi medium excavators and one mini excavator. Machines bought by the Lyon-based demolition and earthmoving company are five ZX350LCN-6s, two ZX300LCN-6s, a ZX135US-6 and a ZX55U-5. The deal was done after testing several Zaxis-6 machines against other brands’ equivalent models.
    Read More
  • A new event is preparing the asphalt industry for tomorrow’s world
    September 11, 2018
    An inaugural event for the European bitumen industry urged attendees to look to the future - Kristina Smith reports What will tomorrow’s roads look like? Will lanes be narrower, will the road charge vehicles as they drive on them, will they collect data, will they be self-cleaning and de-polluting? All these questions and more were pondered at a two-day conference in Berlin, entitled ‘Preparing the asphalt industry for the future’. It was the first such event for Eurasphalt & Eurobitume (E&E), and set a
    Read More

Highlighted Content