Construction Machinery Manufacturing

Construction Machinery Manufacturing

Brief Excerpt from Industry Overview Chapter:

Companies in this industry manufacture construction machinery, surface mining machinery, and logging equipment. Major companies include Caterpillar Inc and Terex (both based in the US), Atlas Copco (Sweden), Hyundai Doosan Infracore (South Korea), Hitachi Construction Machinery and Komatsu (both based in Japan), Liebherr Group (Germany), and Sany (China); along with the construction divisions of heavy equipment manufacturers CNH Industrial (UK), John Deere (US), and Volvo (Sweden).

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is highly dependent on construction spending. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient manufacturing operations, since customers are very sensitive to price. Because of the large capital investment required to produce heavy construction machinery, this segment of the market is served mainly by the large manufacturers. Smaller companies can compete effectively by producing equipment that has specialized applications, or that is relatively simple to make. The US construction machinery manufacturing industry is highly concentrated: the top 50 companies generate about 85% of industry revenue.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Major products are bulldozers, loaders, backhoes, power cranes, excavators, graders and rollers, crushers, mixers, pavers, concrete pumps, various types of off-road trucks and trailers, and a wide variety of specialized machinery. Such equipment is used for three major activities: earthmoving, paving, and lifting. Manufacturing of power cranes, draglines, shovels, and excavators accounts for 50% of the total industry revenue; other construction and forestry machinery accounts for about 15%; and tractor shovel loaders account for about 15%.