According to press releases from Bobcat, the company recently wrapped up a $26 million expansion at its Litchfield, Minn., facility and committed to a $70 million expansion of its Statesville, N.C., facility.
The 15-month project in Litchfield nearly tripled the size of the facility, from 70,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space to nearly 200,000 square feet and will create a significant number of new jobs in the community.
The expansion adds new assembly lines and upgrades, conveyor systems, a new paint line, climate control systems and more, all designed to add efficiency and provide additional manufacturing capabilities to meet the growing customer demand for the ever-expanding lineup of Bobcat products. The Litchfield facility produces more than 250 unique attachments to equip Bobcat machines for specific tasks to enhance productivity and utility.
The Litchfield expansion brings additional employment opportunities and economic growth to the area. Doosan Bobcat is actively recruiting to hire an additional 110 full-time, permanent employees with benefits in a phased approach through 2021 to join the operation’s current 140+ workforce. This hiring plan includes a total of 150+ production, manufacturing engineering and operations positions to be added since the expansion project launched in Nov. 2019.
Bobcat also announced plans for a $70 million expansion of its Statesville, N.C., manufacturing facility. The company plans to construct an additional 580,000 square feet to its manufacturing operations, which will create 250 new, full-time jobs over the next five years in Iredell County. The construction is expected to begin July 2021, with full project completion expected May 2022.
This new investment will enable the company to meet a growing demand for all Doosan Bobcat products, including its Doosan Portable Power equipment and the growing line of Bobcat grounds maintenance and landscaping industry products.
Doosan Bobcat’s $70 million investment in the Statesville facility through construction of the new expansion spaces and equipment purchases, will grow the floorplan from nearly 500,000 square feet today, to more than one million square feet when complete. The company’s acquisition of 68 acres adjacent to the current 92 acres campus will allow for the addition of 500,000 square feet of attached manufacturing space and 80,000 square feet of attached warehouse and distribution space.
The investment will also bring additional employment opportunities and economic growth to the area. The Statesville operation’s current team of 400 full-time employees will grow substantially through this project, which will result in the creation of 42 new jobs in the first two years, and up to 250 new jobs in five years.
Doosan Bobcat has made additional recent investments in its North America manufacturing facilities. This includes a $17 million investment in Gwinner, N.D., an $11 million investment in Statesville, N.C., and a commitment of $6 million in facility and manufacturing enhancements at Johnson Creek, Wisc.
