SUMITOMO Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. are on course with the merger of their crane operations, having set up a 50/50 joint venture on 1 July.
The name of the new company is Hitachi Sumitomo Heavy Industries Construction Crane Company. It is capitalised at one billion yen and has about 100 employees working in research & development, sales & marketing, and general administration. The company is expected to post sales of ¥20bn for fiscal 2003.
Hitachi Sumitomo HICCC will develop new product and outsource production to both Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Hitachi Construction Machinery, depending on product. Sumitomo will produce all models destined for the Americas, sold under the Link-Belt brand and all larger size models aimed at the world market. Hitachi will produce smaller models, except those destined for Link-Belt colours.
For manufacturing efficiency, Sumitomo and Hitachi will collaborate in areas such as purchasing and component cross-supply.
July also saw the dissolution of Hitachi’s European joint venture with CNH, Fiat Hitachi Excavators. Hitachi is planning to establish its own excavator distribution network in Europe from January 2003.
