More than 200 guests attended the ground-breaking of Volvo Construction Equipment’s factory last week in Kaluga, Russia, about 150 kilometers southwest of Moscow, including Volvo CE president Pat Olney, the governor of the Kaluga region Anatoly Artamonov, and Lars Corneliusson, the head of Volvo CE’s Russian dealer Ferronordic.
The facility will be Volvo’s seventh excavator manufacturing plant, and one of 16 factories globally. Six models of excavators will be made at the plant, ranging from the 20-tonne EC200 to the 48-tonne EC480. The first machines are scheduled to be completed next year.
“This is a considerable investment and underscores Volvo’s confidence in — and commitment to — the Russian economy,” said Olney. “Excavators are a key product in this rapidly developing market and customers in Russia have a high regard for the Volvo brand and for the fuel efficiency, reliability and performance of our machines. This investment also demonstrates our strategy of, where possible, manufacturing goods close to where our customers are located.”
Volvo expects to double sales in Russia by 2015, and manufacturing in Russia will play a major role in this effort, coupled with developing the distribution network. Ferronordic, which currently has 55 locations, expects to grow to 100 by 2015.
