Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd has announced that it will begin full-scale production of dump trucks at its Guelph, Ontario factory in fiscal year 2026, namely Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing Ltd. This is its wholly-owned subsidiary currently responsible for the production and remanufacturing of dump truck maintenance and service parts and the move will establish a local production and service framework for dump trucks in the Americas market.
This represents a real turnaround for the Guelph facility, which has had its ups and downs over the years as the market has fluctuated, with mining truck manufacturing by Hitachi having been carried out only in Japan in recent years.
The Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing facility in Guelph
Since March 2022, Hitachi Construction Machinery Group has embarked on independent business expansions, ranging from new machine sales to value chain business, through the Hitachi Construction Machinery group network across the Americas. This decision it says is in response to strong demand in the Americas market. “By developing a local production and service framework for dump trucks, we can quickly accommodate local market needs. Hitachi Construction Machinery hopes to accelerate independent business expansion while increasing the local procurement rate.”
The Americas (North, Central & South America) account for approximately 40% of the global >150 ton class dump truck market based on Parker Bay statistics. Copper, iron ore, and gold – commodities for which demand is expected to keep rising in the future – are mined in large volumes in South America.
Hitachi Construction Machinery Group has been producing dump trucks at the Hitachinaka-Rinko Works in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, and delivering them globally. Now, with local production of dump trucks in Canada, transportation time will be shortened, and the Americas market can be quickly supplied with products that match customer needs.
For dump trucks produced in Canada, mainframes, welding structures, and components such as engines and radiators will be locally sourced to improve the local procurement rate. Other key components will be imported from Japan to ensure the same level of reliability as dump trucks produced in Japan. Engineers, including designers, will be present at Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing to flexibly deal with specification changes on individual dump trucks and deliver quality products and services that cater to customers’ needs.
Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing’s predecessor, Euclid-Hitachi Heavy Equipment Ltd, was acquired by Hitachi Construction Machinery in 1988. It halted the production of dump trucks in fiscal year 2018 to focus on producing service parts for delivered dump trucks and remanufacturing parts for ultra-large hydraulic excavators and dump trucks. Towards the start of full-scale production of dump trucks in fiscal year 2026, the staff at Guelph is expected to double in size as part of Hitachi’s efforts to strengthen the production system.
‘BUILDING THE FUTURE 2025’ is Hitachi Construction Machinery Group’s medium-term management plan that started in fiscal year 2023, and it includes expanding business in the Americas among the four core strategies. In line with this purpose, Hitachi Construction Machinery aims to achieve a revenue of over 300 billion JPY in fiscal year 2025 from independent business expansion in the Americas alone.