The Hindu Business Line : Hyundai begins manufacture of excavators at Pune

Pune, Dec. 2 Hyundai Construction Equipment India Private Ltd (HCE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Heavy Industries Company Ltd (HHI), Korea, has launched production at Chakan.

The greenfield facility, the only one in the country manufacturing construction equipment in the group, was inaugurated a little over a week ago.

Built with an investment of Rs 300 crore, the new plant has a fabrication shop, paint shop and assembly lines. The initial installed capacity is 2,500 units a year at present, which can be ramped up to 10,000/year at the same location.

The facility has begun the manufacture of 20-tonne hydraulic excavators, and there are plans to add new product lines in time.

Mr Sasanka Kashyap, Manager, Communications, HCE, said the company planned to cater to the domestic demand initially, and market the product in neighbouring countries in the future as well.

Asked what new product lines would be added at the facility, he said, “We are thinking of bringing loaders,” and added this was likely to happen in a year’s time.

For a few years now, HHI has had a contractual arrangement with Voltas for marketing its range of excavators imported from Korea, in Maharashtra and Goa. While this will continue for the new products, Mr Kashyap said 17 new exclusive dealerships had been appointed to sell the equipment manufactured at its Pune plant.

Located on 50 acres of land, the memorandum of understanding between HHI and the Maharashtra Government was signed in June 2007.

The company proposes that level of localisation in is products will touch 80 per cent in the next five years.

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