KOBELCO TO MERGE CRANES AND CONSTRUCTION 

Kobelco Construction Machinery and Kobelco Cranes announced plans to merge the businesses at the start of its new fiscal year in April 2016, reports Vertikal.net.

Owner Kobe Steel separated out the crane business in 2004 after its Kobelco construction equipment business teamed up with Case New Holland to build excavators. It recently decided to re-merge the two companies in order to strengthen its equipment business ready for further growth.

The combined business will have revenues of approximately $3.3 billion.

“Here at Kobelco Construction Machinery USA, we are considering the best approach to strengthen the support of our North America dealers and customers,” says Pete Morita, president of Kobelco Construction Machinery USA.

“We are very excited about the opportunities this consolidation provides. There are still many factors to be considered in North America and we will identify the options that best allow Kobelco USA to continuously provide our dealers and customers with the best product development, manufacturing capabilities and enhanced sales and service support in the market,” Morita added.

In addition to saving money from the future merge, Kobelco believes that it will also strengthen its product development capability in regards to technology. These anticipated improvements include environmental technologies for fuel efficiency and low noise, basic technology for new materials.