In a move designed to boost sales and trim costs, Deere & Co. and Hitachi Construction Machinery will integrate their marketing operations in North, Central and South America.
Under the plan, marketing operations for Hitachi products will be shifted from Houston, Toronto and Vancouver to Deere’s construction and forestry marketing operations in Moline, Ill.
In the integrated operation, the companies will use common parts distribution, information systems, and training and support programs.
Currently, Hitachi hydraulic excavators and mining equipment are marketed by wholly owned subsidiaries of Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery, a joint venture formed by the two companies in 1988. Deere hydraulic excavators are marketed by the construction and forestry division of Deere & Co.
“This collaboration will enable both organizations to compete more effectively in the Americas,” says Pierre Leroy, president of Deere’s worldwide construction and forestry division.
Sandvik Coromant, part of Sandvik’s tool business, has begun talks with the Swedish Metalworkers Union to lay off 250 workers at its plants in Gimo.
The plants employ 1,600 people and produce high-tech tools used in rock excavation. The company cites lower demand for steel as the main reason for the layoffs.
Sandvik, an engineering firm based in Sandviken, employs 35,000 people worldwide with annual sales of 44 billion kronas.
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