Kubota Is Building More Construction Equipment in Kansas—and No, This Is Not Just Another Factory Press Release
Every so often, a company announces an expansion with language so polished that I can practically see the conference-room fingerprints on it. Capacity will be enhanced. Supply chains will be strengthened. Customers will be supported. Somewhere, a vice president smiles beside a ceremonial shovel that has never experienced the indignity of actual dirt. Usually, I read these announcements, absorb the relevant facts, and move on with my life. But Kubota’s latest manufacturing expansion deserves a closer look—not because the company has discovered a revolutionary new way to bolt pieces of steel together, but because the decision says quite a bit about where Kubota believes the North American construction-equipment market is heading. Kubota North America is expanding construction-equipment manufacturing at the Great Plains Manufacturing facility in Salina, Kansas. The company plans to assemble its SVL75-3 compact track loader on the same production line as the SVL65-2, using what manufacture...
