Komatsu to Celebrate 90th Anniversary; Works on Commemorative Projects

Komatsu Ltd. (President and CEO: Kunio Noji) is going to celebrate its 90th Anniversary in May 2011. By looking forward to its centennial anniversary in 2021 and beyond on the occasion of its 90th anniversary, Komatsu is working on the following 90th anniversary commemorative projects designed to promote further growth of important management resources of Technology and Manpower.

1. Concepts and Slogan of the 90th Anniversary Commemorative Projects

One more step toward the centennial anniversary: Passing down manpower and technology to the future.

2. Main Commemorative Projects

1. Establishment of new training center on the former Komatsu Plant site (Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture)
2. Construction of new development center on the Osaka Plant site (Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture)
3. Establishment of KC Techno Center in Changzhou City, China

3. Descriptions of Projects

1) Establishment of new training center on the former Komatsu Plant site (Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture)

In March this year we transferred and consolidated production of our large presses from the Komatsu Plant to the Kanazawa Plant. Concerning the former Komatsu Plant site, we are building a new training center to open in May 2011. Once it is open, we are going to consolidate in-house training programs and trainings of service engineers there, which are currently conducted in Tochigi and Osaka prefectures.

With respect to the training programs for service engineers in particular, we are working to develop new programs and training materials by anticipating the growth of Strategic Markets and advances of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The new center will play the important role of a globalized training base for service engineers. A conference building under construction adjacent to the new training center will accommodate a diverse range of multi-national meetings.

On the site, we are also going to recreate the former head office building as the memorial hall, where children will be able to learn about mechanical technology through firsthand experience and conduct scientific experiments. We are also going to develop a greenery park area which will recreate the Satoyama woodlands of Komatsu City, where children will be able to observe and learn about the natural environment. In addition, we will exhibit a 930E super-large dump truck which was made by Komatsu America Corp. and was actually used in a large-scale mine overseas. This unit will be brought over to Japan for the first time. By making these facilities available to local children and collaborating with the city government of Komatsu and local Board of Education, we are going to improve the contents of these facilities. By providing local children with opportunities to gather and learn about science and the natural environment, we are hoping to make contributions to the City of Komatsu, our birthplace

2) Construction of new development center on the Osaka Plant site (Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture)

In addition to developing and manufacturing our flagship PC200 and other medium-sized and large hydraulic excavators and bulldozers, our Osaka Plant plays an important role in providing information concerning global technology development and manufacturing process reforms.

Once the new development center is opened, we are going to further strengthen collaboration with the development and design departments of overseas subsidiaries. In a timely manner, we will obtain and accumulate equipment test and operation data from them in order to enhance the capability and speed of our development operation by deploying leading-edge Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We will also further improve the precision and flexibility of our global production planning as we will build on the global information system for daily sales, production and inventory data. Through these measures, we will further upgrade Osaka Plant's development and production capabilities as a Mother plant.

We are planning to hold our 90th anniversary ceremony and technology exhibition at the Osaka Plant in May 2011, when the new development center opens.

3) Establishment of KC Techno Center in Changzhou City, China

As the Chinese market is expanding further, it is becoming ever more important for us to ensure that customers and our distributors thoroughly understand the performance, effective applications, operation methods and the like concerning Komatsu Group's products, centering on our full line of construction equipment. Against this background, we are building the KC Techno Center in Changzhou, mainly for the training of service engineers of our distributors and the introduction of our products to customers.

We are planning to equip the Center with the following facilities and capabilities; 1) a machine demonstration of Komatsu Group's products, 2) a comprehensive training center, and 3) a used equipment center which will also accommodate Reman products. At the same time, we are relocating Komatsu (Changzhou) Construction Machinery Corp., one of our major production bases in China, to the same location as the KC Techno Center. With a production base and the Techno Center adjacent to each other, we believe that we should be able to further reinforce our support capabilities for customers and distributors and further upgrade the level of our employees' work performance.

In May 2011, we are planning to hold our 90th anniversary ceremony and the Advanced Technic Contest, a competitive event of service engineers' technical skills, at the KC Techno Center.

Source: http://www.komatsu.com/