Hyundai Heavy Industries, South Korea' s shipbuilding and construction equipment giant, said Tuesday that it has completed the construction of a new factory in China to produce wheel loaders.
The new plant was built in Tai'an, a city of Shandong Province, as part of efforts to raise its wheel loader sales in China, the world's largest wheel loader market, the company said in an- emailed statement. Wheel loaders are used to move earth and sand into trucks in construction sites.
Since July 2010, Hyundai Heavy has invested 49 million U.S. dollars in building the plant that specializes in 3-ton and 5-ton wheel loaders. The plant's production capacity would reach 8,000 units a year, and it would be raised to 10,000 units by 2015 through expansion, according to the statement.
With the completion of the plant, Hyundai Heavy expected its position as a construction equipment maker to be solidified in China, with four production facilities in Jiangsu, Beijing and Shandong Province that manufacture excavators, forklifts and wheel loaders.
"The Taian wheel loader factory will serve as another stepping stone for Hyundai Heavy Industries in the global construction equipment market," said Choe Byeong-ku, a senior executive vie president of Hyundai Heavy's construction equipment division.
