Deere & Co. has this month opened a pair of manufacturing plants in Brazil to produce loaders and excavators for the regional market.
The $180-million facilities, located in Indaiatuba outside of São Paulo, were completed in just more than two years and are needed to support a dealer network that covers 90% of the country's market.
One of the plants was built in a partnership with Hitachi Construction Machinery of Japan, a longtime supplier for Deere, which has stepped up investment in Brazil in recent years. The Japanese company unveiled a research and design center in São Paulo last year, its seventh such regional research base.
The $80-million joint-effort plant is slated to produce five types of hydraulic excavators, while the $100 million Deere-exclusive plant will roll out five models of four-wheel-drive loaders and one type of backhoe loader. Moline, Ill.-based Deere says it will continue to import three crawler dozer models and two motor graders to the Brazilian market.
Last year, Deere announced it was investing $40 million to boost capacity at its factory in Montenegro, Brazil. The facility, built in 2008, will focus on producing the company's higher horsepower 8R farm tractors. The upgrade is slated for completion next year.
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