Announced recently by InvestChile, the government-owned Chilean Investment Promotion Agency, Japan’s Komatsu has opened a plant in Santiago, Chile, for the remanufacturing of electrical and mechanical equipment. The plant, which represented a total investment of $33 million, will provide services and make parts for all the machinery and equipment that operates today in Latin America in strategic sectors such as mining, energy, manufacturing and electricity.

Its more than 46,000 square metres makes the Komatsu Reman Center Chile the largest plant in the region. The Minister of Mining, Aurora Williams, was present during the inauguration. “This will be the largest and most technologically advanced plant in Latin America. It will also be Komatsu’s mother plant internationally for the repair of electric power components,” Darko Louit, Executive VP of Komatsu Cummins Chile, told the El Mercurio newspaper.

The General Manager of the Komatsu Reman Center Chile, Daniel Rojas, added that its inauguration in Chile demonstrates and reinforces the Japanese company’s commitment to its development and growth in Chile “through an investment in technology and innovation in line with the criteria of sustainable operation”.

At the inaugural ceremony, Chilean authorities and Komatsu executives from Japan and Chile highlighted the quality of Chilean workers as the country’s principal value-added. The Director of InvestChile, Carlos Álvarez, pointed out that, “nowadays Chilean professionals and executives are highly specialised, making them an important factor in helping to attract foreign investment and offering a seal of guarantee of the success of operations in our country and the rest of the region.”