Volvo opens Russian factory

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) has inaugurated a news 20,660 m2 excavator factory in Kaluga, Russia. The SEK 350 million (US$ 52 million) facility is Volvo CE’s first factory in Russia, its seventh to produce excavators and is one of 16 production plants worldwide.

According to Volvo, Russia is the second largest equipment market in Europe (after Germany). “The Russian construction equipment market presents an attractive and growing opportunity for Volvo CE to provide customers with high quality products,” said company president Pat Olney. “With this new facility we will be able to provide machines tailored to the needs of the marketplace and deliver them to customer specifications in a much shorter lead time.”

The plant will manufacture excavators spanning the 20 to 50 tonne weight classes, with the first models to be produced being the EC250, EC300, EC380 and EC480 D-Series machines.

“The excavator models that most closely meet the needs of the Russian construction equipment market will be produced here in Kaluga,” said Andrey Komov, general manager of Volvo CE in Russia. “Producing excavators close to where our customers are located will enable us to supply them faster and accommodate their specific needs more readily.”

In a further effort to expand Volvo CE’s distribution footprint in the Russian market, the company’s authorized Russian dealer, Ferronordic Machines, has announced plans to expand its branch network by opening a major new facility in the Moscow region.