Kyokuto Kaihatsu To Open Foreign Development Sites

OSAKA (Nikkei)--Kyokuto Kaihatsu Kogyo Co. (7226) plans to set up locations in China and India aimed at attracting engineers that can help design vehicles suited for those regions, such as large-capacity cement mixers and dump trucks.

As early as fiscal 2013, the company will establish development divisions at production locations in the two countries. Each of the new sites will hire around five engineers to develop products to local specifications.

The specialty vehicle manufacturer opened a plant in India last October that currently turns out 10 cement mixers and 10 dump trucks a month. As products are developed to local specifications, exports from Japan will be reduced and production at the plant will be ramped up to 100 vehicles a month.

Demand for large specialty vehicles used in building infrastructure and plants is growing overseas, especially in developing countries. In many cases, the vehicles suited to these market are bigger than those typically used in Japan. By setting up development centers locally, the company hopes to increase sales by swiftly developing products to meet such demand. It also aims to boost its overseas sales ratio to 20-30% by fiscal 2015, from around 5% at present.

(The Nikkei Business Daily, Feb. 27 edition)

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