Doosan reaches production milestone

Posted on Aug 6, 2018 in Nuts & Bolts

Doosan Infracore North America, LLC, is celebrating the milestone of producing more than 400,000 excavators and wheel loaders for markets worldwide, since the company entered the construction equipment market in 1978.

Doosan has a manufacturing history that goes back to 1937. Known at the time as Chosun Machine Works, it was Korea’s first large-scale machinery factory with the first facility built in Incheon, South Korea. The factory produced defense products, mining machinery, casting and cast steel. In 1958, Doosan began manufacturing marine diesel engines.

In 1978, Doosan began producing and shipping crawler excavators — the DH series — from its excavator production plant in Incheon, which opened a year earlier. The company continued to enhance its excavators and launched the new Solar series in 1985. Just two years later, the company had already produced more than 10,000 units.

At the start of the 1990s, the company began production of its wheel loaders — the DL series. In 1992, Doosan introduced its Mega series wheel loaders, and a year later, the company launched the Solar-III series excavators. 1993 also marked a major excavator milestone —30,000 units had been produced. In 1994, Doosan entered the North American market.

The company continued its excavator and wheel loader developments in the mid-1990s. A new Mega-III series of wheel loaders was launched in 1996. In 1997, Doosan launched the Solar-V series excavators, and the company received ISO14001 Certification. Two years later, Doosan reached 50,000 excavators produced.

At the turn of the century, Doosan introduced the new Mega-V series wheel loaders. In 2005, Doosan renamed its construction equipment division as Doosan Infracore, Ltd., and launched its DX excavator series and DL wheel loader series. In 2007, Doosan successfully completed the merger and acquisition of three Ingersoll Rand brands (including Bobcat and Doosan Portable Power). Following the acquisition of Bobcat Company, Doosan Infracore moved into seventh place among worldwide construction equipment manufacturers.

Doosan Infracore achieved a major milestone in 2016 when it ranked sixth in the global construction machinery business. On June 4, 2017, Doosan Infracore celebrated its 80th anniversary, marking the founding of Chosun Machine Works. Today, Doosan Infracore continues to manufacture its excavators and wheel loaders at Doosan plants in Incheon and Gunsan, South Korea. Doosan manufactures 13 crawler excavator models, three wheel excavator models and 11 wheel loader models. The company also builds log loaders and material handlers for use in forestry and recycling applications, respectively. Doosan articulated dump trucks are built at the Doosan manufacturing facility near Elnesvågen, Norway and have been since 1974.