Hitachi Construction Machinery (HCM) and Deere plan to dissolve their joint venture in the Americas, saying the dissolution will be completed February 28, 2022. At the same time, HCM announced that Hitachi Construction Machinery Loaders America (HCMA) will assume all product and service operations for the Americas in spring 2022. HCMA is planning to add more than 60 new local positions to strengthen its North American headquarters in Newnan, Georgia.
HCM Chairman Masaaki Hirose will continue to be responsible for HCMA. Alan Quinn, who currently serves as CEO, will continue in the same role. “HCM, through HCMA, will be able to better determine its own destiny in the Americas with its own business strategies, improved products and services, and updated technologies, all provided through a revamped and strengthened distribution network,” Quinn said.
Beginning in spring 2022, HCMA said it will introduce new equipment to the Americas with cutting-edge technologies that increase efficiency and safety while lowering total cost of ownership. The company plans to differentiate itself through the product capabilities of these new machines, including the latest in hydraulic systems, innovative “uptime” and IoT services, and advanced safety features. It will also assess the potential for completely new products that meet the needs of the Americas markets.
HCMA will be able to structure its business to respond to market changes and fulfill the evolving needs of equipment owners and operators. Competition for mining excavators and haul trucks has intensified as the global trend to reduce CO2 through automation, unmanned and electrification has increased. In after-sales service, the development of “uptime” services is also growing.
“HCM has been improving and investing in business strategies since 2017 to prepare for the creation of HCMA,” Quinn said. “This includes many ‘value chain’ initiatives to bolster parts and service, rental, used equipment, remanufactured parts and financing. It has also been improving technologies in analytics, IoT, telematics, fleet management and uptime services. In the future, HCMA will be able to better utilize these advances to capture more market share.”
In the short term, all wheel loaders, excavators and mining equipment will be manufactured in Japan. HCM and HCMA will continue to evaluate this supply structure for the future to evaluate the possibilities for production in the Americas.
One of HCMA’s main strategies will be to increase the usage of ConSite globally. The company will extend the service to new Hitachi brand excavators and continue to expand its use in mining. The goal is to increase the use of telematics and predictive analytics to increase uptime on the jobsite.
