DEVELON

On October 14th, the construction of Doosan Infracore’s Gunsan Plant was completed. The plant is set to produce about 4,000 large-type construction machines per year, including excavators, wheel loaders, etc.

On the same day, Doosan Infracore held the completion ceremony for the Gunsan plant for the production of construction machines in Gunsan, Jeonbuk, which was attended by about one hundred people, including Wan Ju Kim, the Governor of Jeonbuk; Dong Shin Mun, the Mayor of Gunsan; Y.H.Park, the Doosan chairman; domestic and overseas dealers; and customer representatives.

Doosan Infracore has invested a total of 114.6 billion won since 2007 to promote the construction of the Gunsan plant as part of its strategy to become the world’s leading construction machine company by securing a stable production capability.

The plant, which has been established on a site of 610,000 ㎡ (180,000 pyeong), within the Gunsan industrial complex, is capable of producing about 4,000 large-type construction machines per year, including six types of excavators and four types of wheel loaders.

The characteristic of the Gunsan plant is that is ‘a plant that has three no’s’ - no delinquency, no storage and no forklifts. Delinquencies were prevented through the automatic welding facility and double examinations, and it was possible to operate the plant without any storage facilities by getting rid of the parts inventories by sharing real-time production data with the parts companies. Additionally, the plant interior is absent of forklift trucks as the need for them has been wiped out by an automatic transportation facility that provides a safe and pleasant working environment for the employees. Doosan Infracore plans to further develop and refine the Gunsan plant as the global standard for a production base.

The Gunsan plant is located near Gunsan New Port and the Seohaean Expressway, which will greatly simplify the export of the finished products from the plant to their destinations and thus greatly reduce the logistics costs.

As a result of the completion of the Gunsan plant, Doosan Infracore now has a global production capability of about 45,000 machines per year: Incheon plant’s 13,000 machines; Yantai plant’s 25,500 machines; and Belgium plant’s 2,500 machines. Therefore, Doosan Infracore is in a strong position to achieve its aim of becoming a top three global construction machine maker by 2014.

In the greeting speech, Doosan chairman, Y.H.Park, said: “The Gunsan plant will grow to become the core of the Doosan construction machine business together with China’s Yantai plant. It will create new jobs for about 1,600 people, including the cooperative companies, by 2014, and also contribute to local economic development.”

Meanwhile, Gunsan city expects that its local tax-based revenue will increase when the Gunsan plant becomes fully operational, while the local economy will be vitalized due to the plant employees and subcontractors and their families taking up residence in the area.