Hyundai Heavy Industries and Cummins Inc. announced a 50/50 joint venture partnership to manufacture MidRange engines in Korea extending from 150 hp to 300 hp output for application in a wide range of Hyundai construction and industrial equipment.
The launch of the Hyundai Cummins Engine Co. joint venture took place in Ulsan, Korea, with a ceremonial co-signing of the agreement by Byeong-Ku Choe, chief operating officer and president of Hyundai Construction Equipment Division and Rich Freeland, Cummins vice president and president of the engine business. The HCEC joint venture operation will be located in Daegu, Korea, with engine manufacturing to commence in 2014. The new facility will have a capacity in place to build more than 50,000 engines per year at full production.
HCEC will supply engines spanning the MidRange 5.9-liter to 8.9-liter displacement range for Hyundai excavators, wheel loaders and industrial equipment built in Ulsan and other worldwide locations. The joint venture engines will power Hyundai equipment in markets with high growth potential such as Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.
“I am delighted to announce our new engine joint venture with Hyundai, one of the most highly respected companies in the global construction equipment industry and for many years an important customer of Cummins off-highway business,” said Freeland. “The formation of the HCEC joint venture takes Cummins working relationship with Hyundai to a much closer level, where we can share our respective expertise and better position both parent companies for growth in markets around the world.”
The HCEC operation will be equipped with an engine production line and highly advanced test cells. Cost-effective manufacturing procedures will be applied, the companies said, following common practices utilized across Cummins global network of MidRange engine manufacturing facilities. The engines manufactured at HCEC will be based on Cummins B,C and L MidRange platforms meeting emission levels equivalent to U.S. EPA Tier 2 and Tier 3 off-highway regulations, either already in place or set to be introduced in many rapidly developing countries.
