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Bobcat invests in global excellence
Bobcat, a leader in the compact construction equipment business, unveils an impressive programme for growth that will help it maintain its competitive edge in the market.
01 December 2007
Bobcat Europe, which recently officially inaugurated its new manufacturing, product development and training operations centre for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in the Czech Republic, has lined up an aggressive programme to strengthen its position in the global markets, particularly in the Gulf region.
As one of the world’s largest compact construction equipment manufacturers, Bobcat has gone from strength to strength in the Gulf markets over the last few years with its innovative product range that includes skid-steer loaders, compact tracked loaders, mini-tracked loaders, articulated wheeled loaders, compact excavators, telescopic handlers, utility vehicles and work machines as well as a growing line of attachments for all of these machines.
“The Middle East market is very buoyant and all manufacturers, including Bobcat, are benefiting from the boom,” Scott R Nelson, president EMEA told Gulf Construction, following the inaugural ceremony of the new manufacturing plant in Dobris to the South of Prague, Czech Republic.
“The market for all products is growing in the region, especially for our skid-steer loaders and telescopic handlers,” he added.
Bobcat also participated at the two of the largest construction equipment exhibitions of the Middle East – the Big 5 in Dubai and Conmex in Sharjah – held last month, where new combinations of skid-steer loader and excavator products in the Bobcat System Concept for replacing tractor loader backhoes were shown.
“In order to better serve the Middle East market, we currently have one dealer per country and we are covering 11 countries in the region,” he says. “Our biggest markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar.”
“In addition, we have a training centre in Kuwait and are planning to open a new one in Dubai,” Nelson adds.
Bobcat, which is currently accelerating its expansion in Europe, officially opened the newly-built manufacturing plant at Dobris in September, demonstrating its commitment to design and manufacture products intended to meet the needs of its customers in EMEA.
Addressing the gathering of journalists at Dobris, Nelson said: “Our strategy can be summed up in four words – ‘Investing in global excellence’. What you see today is an anchor part of that strategy.
“The vision of the company is to expand upon our global leadership position in compact equipment with 385 attachments. We want to do that by delighting our customers with superior value, truly innovative parts and services. We provide them with the highest level of quality and reliability.”
“The new facilities in Dobris represent a new future for Bobcat Europe. By next year, we will be producing the majority of the compact loaders and mini-excavators that we market and sell in EMEA at Dobris and this has been the most important element of the regionalisation strategy we embarked upon three years ago,” he added.
The new plant has been in line with a strategy of closeness to the customer, based on Bobcat’s success in the US, which can be attributed largely to the fact that the products built there are designed, engineered and built specifically to meet the needs of customers in North America.
Covering an area of more than 20,000 sq m, the new plant is used for the fabrication, welding, painting and assembly of Bobcat small and mid-size compact loaders, mini-excavators up to two tonne in operating weight and a variety of attachments. The decision to build the new manufacturing and training facilities in the Czech Republic was made after a detailed study of market developments in North America and EMEA.
The new state-of-the-art training centre, built adjacent to the new manufacturing plant at Dobris, is designed to enhance Bobcat's reputation by providing superior professional training and ongoing product support courses for the distribution network that covers the EMEA area.
Offering more than 60 courses a year, the 1.7-hectare training centre comprises a new building nearly 1,500 sq m in area, as well as offices and workshops for service training and a demonstration shop. In front of the building is a 5,000 sq m outdoor area intended for practical exercises.
“The establishment of Bobcat design, engineering and manufacturing centres in the Czech Republic has capitalised on the excellent engineering and manufacturing expertise available in the Czech Republic. We are investing locally to ensure the design of our products ideally meets local requirements in the EMEA markets,” says Nelson.
Together with the existing plant at Pont-Château in France, which manufactures telehandler products, the new Dobris plant establishes a prominent manufacturing footprint in Europe for Bobcat. The company intends to have 80 per cent of the products marketed in EMEA sourced in Europe by the end of next year.
Over the past year, the company has undergone many changes. It has moved to a new Bobcat EMEA headquarters in Waterloo, Belgium. A new logistics centre for Bobcat products has opened at Puurs in Belgium. Owned and managed on behalf of Bobcat Europe by the Fiege Group, the new Megacentre Puurs II facility is responsible for the procurement and distribution of new machines, attachments, and parts for Bobcat in EMEA.
In addition, at the end of July, Doosan Infracore agreed to acquire Bobcat, positioning the Korean company as one of the top seven global construction equipment companies. The agreement covered the Bobcat compact equipment, Utility Equipment and the Attachments businesses of Ingersoll-Rand.
Meanwhile, Bobcat continues to innovate to ensure its leadership position in the market. Its latest products include the S100 skid-steer loader, T2250 telescopic handler, 2200D utility vehicle and 321/323 mini-excavators.
The new T2250 telehandler offers features and benefits of the skid-steer loader, articulated wheeled loader and telehandler in one machine. In effect, it is three machines in one, offering exceptional versatility for a wide range of applications such as plant hire, construction, industry, builders’ merchants and landscaping.
The T2250 – designed and tested to the level of a loader – provides all the attributes expected of a compact job site telehandler, combining manoeuvrability, agility, and speed with a rated lift capacity of 2.2 tonnes and a maximum lift height of 5.2 m.
To meet the needs of a wide range of applications, the T2250 can be equipped with either of two quick-change attachment mounting systems, the conventional carriage or the Bob-Tach system used on all Bobcat compact loaders. Equipped with the Bob-Tach system, in addition to pallet forks, grapples and buckets, the T2250 can mount and use a wide variety of other attachments such as the sweeper, rotary broom, auger, snow V-blade and rotary snow blower, among others.
Powered by the Kubota 56 kW four-cylinder V3300-DI turbo-charged diesel engine with a governed speed of 2400 rpm, the T2250 has an ergonomically-designed cab providing a comfortable, safe working environment for the operator.
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