Doosan Bobcat

Doosan Bobcat Celebrates Opening of Manufacturing Plant in India

On Aug. 28, 2019, Doosan Bobcat India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Doosan Bobcat Inc., announced lthe inauguration and commencement of operations from its first manufacturing facility in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India        



With an investment of $26 million over the next five years, the state-of-the art factory covers an area of 21.6 acres and has an annual production capacity of 8,000 units. It is an integrated facility with fabrication, warehouse, assembly and paint shop under one roof, which will initially support the manufacture of backhoe loaders completely designed and developed by the engineering team based in Chennai. This is a new addition to the existing product portfolio of Bobcat in India that comprises various models of skid-steer loaders and mini excavators.

“This new facility will cater to the increasing demand of backhoe loader to support the development of India’s infrastructure and construction segment," said Doosan Bobcat Inc. CEO Scott Park. "India is one of the key markets for Doosan Bobcat to maintain the global leadership in the compact segment.
"By opening the new factory in India, Doosan Bobcat has taken the next step forward to expanding its global presence and growth strategy," Parks said. "This facility represents our long-term commitment to Indian customers, employees and business associates in the nation through development of vendors, promotion of local part procurement, technology transfer and export.”
The B900 Backhoe Loader from Doosan Bobcat is officially being launched in October, 2019. The B900 displays superior performance with the best digging depth, breakout forces, component durability, comfortable operator cabin, advanced hydraulic system and best-in-class total cost of ownership. Serviceability and parts availability is critical and we have developed comprehensive plan to support our customers through our extensive 25 channel partners.

The company also plans to make this facility a global manufacturing hub for export and a regional center of excellence. In addition to backhoe loaders, the company is also looking at localizing its other compact products to serve the Indian market and potentially for the export market that as well.
Future plan of export is considered in the growth plan of DBIN. The factory is going to employ more than 300 personnel at full capacity. The new facility is equipped with modern manufacturing equipment, testing facilities, office space for a research and development center, vendor development and a training center.

2019-08-29

Doosan Bobcat Repays US$ 100 Million Ahead of Schedule, Following Repayment of US$ 250 Million Early in 2019

On August 2, 2019, Doosan Bobcat announced that it had repaid its debt of US$100 million in advance of the due payment date, the second early debt repayment in 2019 alone. After raising some US$1.7 billion through refinancing back in 2014, the company has since repaid US$920 million earlier than scheduled on a total of eight occasions thus far.
As a result, Doosan Bobcat's total debt has decreased by about 57% from US$1.7 billion in 2014 to US$730 million (as of the end of July 2019), with its debt ratio dropping from 105% at the end of 2014 to 68% at present.
Doosan Bobcat began expanding its investment in future growth engines in 2018. In June 2019, it announced its plans to increase its dividend per share for 2019 to 1,200 won. While enhancing new investments and shareholder returns, Doosan Bobcat continues improving its financial structure based on a stable cash flow.
“The latest early repayment is significant in that it shows that Doosan Bobcat has succeeded in strengthening its financial structure through efficient cash management while increasing investments and dividends based on its strong sales performance,” declared an official of Doosan Bobcat. “Based on our robust financial structure, we will expand our business portfolio not just in North America but also in emerging markets; and we will continue to improve our global product competitiveness as a way to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth in the future.”
Meanwhile, Doosan Bobcat has also made great strides in its cash management: On the basis of its high credit rating, the company has acquired a credit line* for the first time since its founding.
*Credit line: A credit line is an arrangement between a financial institution and a company by which the maximum loan amount the latter can borrow repeatedly from the former can be set at any time for a given period without providing any collateral.

2019-08-02

Doosan Bobcat Repays US$150 Million Early, Further Strengthening Its Financial Stability

On 20 July 2019, Doosan Bobcat announced that it had repaid US$150 million of debt before the due date, adding to the combined total of US$820 million paid ahead of schedule on seven occasions since 2014.
Doosan Bobcat's total borrowings fell by more than 50% from US$1.7 billion in 2014 to US$830 million as of June 2019, with its debt ratio estimated to fall by around 7.2% from 80.1% by the end of March 2019. Net income is also expected to increase on lower interest expenses.
Doosan Bobcat continues to generate a stable cash flow on the back of sales increases in the North American market, in particular, combined with its efficient cash management efforts. With the resources, Doosan Bobcat has expanded its investments aimed at securing future growth engines since 2018; and earlier this month the company announced that it would be paying 1,200 won per share as the dividend for the fiscal year of 2019, representing a 33% increase over the 900-won share price of a year earlier, further enhancing the company’s shareholder return policy.
“Despite our increased investments in new businesses to secure future growth, and our larger shareholder dividends, we were able to execute our latest early repayment based on our confidence in the prospect of a stable cash flow,” said an official of Doosan Bobcat. "Based on our stronger financial structure, we will continue to expand the investments required to strengthen our business portfolio, including compact tractors for North America and backhoe loaders for India, and to consolidate our market leadership in the global compact equipment market.”

2019-06-20

Doosan Bobcat Holds Southeast Asia Dealer Conference

Doosan Bobcat Asia & LA recently held the second Bobcat Dealer Conference in Seoul from May 8-10, 2019. The event was attended by more than fifty people including representatives of the company’s dealers in eleven Southeast countries including Indonesia and Thailand, as well as executives and managers from Doosan Bobcat.
During the three-day program, Doosan Bobcat Asia and the LA Team strengthened the company’s partnerships with its channel partners by sharing the key performance achievements in 2018 and this year’s strategic direction with the aim of boosting MEX sales.
Southeast Asia’s mini excavator market has grown rapidly over the past ten years to more than 5,000 units at present. As such, Doosan Bobcat plans to sell more than 1,000 mini excavators per year in Southeast Asia within five years by enhancing the competitiveness of its sales channels and launching new products customized for the region.



During the conference, Doosan Bobcat shared its mid-to-long term strategies for expanding its presence in the Southeast Asian market with the dealers and discussed ways of improving its parts and service support and enhancing their sales competitiveness in the market. This was followed by a session in which a successful financing case achieved through Doosan Bobcat’s financing program was introduced, and dealers with outstanding sales records presented their successful sales stories. Additionally, the representatives of IPW from Indonesia, Leadway from Thailand, and Gelec from Hong Kong shared their stories about boosting MEX sales. At the end of the session, the dealers had an opportunity to discuss ways of applying the success cases to their respective areas.

The official dinner began with the screening of a video produced by Bobcat. The Bobcat video emphasizes that the drive to boost MEX sales in Southeast Asia is one of the company’s major strategic tasks and that Bobcat is offering various forms of support to its overseas dealers.
During the dinner, awards were presented to dealers from Indonesia (IPW), Taiwan (TMEC) and Hong Kong (Gelec) in recognition of their excellent performance in 2018 in terms of key performance indicators (KPIs). Most notably, the Hong Kong dealer (Gelec) won the “Dealer of the Year” award for posting the biggest increase in market shares among all the companies’ dealers in Asia, Latin America and Oceania, by achieving impressive increases of 3 percent and 9 percent over the previous year in the SSL and MEX markets, respectively, with current market shares standing at 92 percent and 67 percent.
Leslie Mak, the Hong Kong dealer, said that he would do his best to win the award again in 2019. At the end of the official dinner, the overseas dealers pledged to do their utmost to increase the sales of MRX. They reported that the conference was a valuable opportunity to discuss and communicate with other regional dealers. Taeick Kim, SEA/Japan Part Leader, said that it was very meaningful in the sense that the conference helped to establish common goals and confirmed the exceptional passion of the dealers in the region.


The Dealer of the Year Award. From left to right, HW Park, Executive Vice President Doosan Bobcat Asia & Latin America; Leslie Mak, Division Manager Gelec Hong Kong; Benito Wong, Assistant Sales Manager Gelec Hong Kong; Soyeun Park, General Deputy Manager Doosan Bobcat SEA/Japan Part; Taeick Kim, Part Leader Doosan Bobcat SEA/Japan Part

2019-05-01

North American Bobcat Dealer Meeting has been REIMAGINED

This year’s North American Bobcat Dealer Meeting will be held Feb. 25-28 in Orlando, Fla. The event, which takes place every three years, is boasting the theme “REIMAGINE,” which will be incorporated throughout the event’s key messaging. The three-day event has an expected attendance of 648 dealers and key objectives to inspire, pivot and advance the dealer channel. More than 180 Doosan Bobcat employees are also involved in the big event.

“The meeting is a great way to connect with our dealers and share our business strategy as well as advance the commercial strategy," said Brianne Hill, Dealer Communication Manager. “We look forward to generating enthusiasm about the future of the Bobcat brand and the compact equipment industry.”


REIMAGINE Bobcat
Throughout the course of the meeting, dealers will hear from external speakers who are experts in their field. The keynote speaker topics include enhancing the customer experience, using data analytics, better business management and how to prepare for a future that is rapidly approaching.
Doosan Bobcat North America executives will also take time to lay out the company’s business strategy and introduce a wide variety of innovative new products and services that will be launched over the next two to three years.


Bobcat Expo
When they aren’t listening to industry experts or Bobcat executives, dealers will have a chance to learn the specifics of how they can reimagine their businesses by hearing directly from Bobcat employees at the Bobcat Expo. Bobcat staff will be available to discuss the topics that are most important to dealers, like dealer marketing, facility branding and merchandise, product design and development, financial services, Dealer Performance Review and more. Dealers will also attend four Bob-Talks, which are 18-minute TED Talk-style presentations covering sales, attachments, rental and parts and service.
“We set out to create a very different dealer meeting experience than what we’ve done in the past,” said Laura Ness Owens, Vice President of Marketing. “We recognized that we had a unique opportunity to bring our dealers together at a time when the compact equipment industry – and the world in general – is rapidly changing. Our goal is to use this meeting as a chance to join together with our dealers and boldly reimagine the future of the compact equipment industry.”

2019-02-01