Tata Hitachi aims to make Bengal plant a global hub

KHARAGPUR: Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery Company, a joint venture of Tata Motors and Hitachi Construction Machinery, is aiming to make its West Bengal plant an export hub for its cost effective construction equipment for developing markets across the globe.

"Currently we are exporting around two per cent of our total production or around 300 units annually. The Kharagpur plant would be the export hub for the neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka and other developing regions like Africa and the Middle East," Mitsuhiro Tabei, vice-president and executive officer of Hitachi Construction Machinery Company of Japan, said today.

The Kharagpur plant is operating at just 35 per cent capacity due to slowdown in construction equipment market and is hoping for better capacity utilization if export of low cost equipment picks up.

"This plant will be the factory to the world," Tata Hitachi Managing Director Rana Sinha said here at the unveiling of company's new name. It was earlier called Telcon.

Tata Hitachi has a total capacity of producing 15,000 construction equipment units annually from its three plants located in Jamshedpur, Dharwad and Kharagpur.

The Kharagpur plant, spread across 250 acres, has the capacity to produce 6000 units annually comprising excavators, wheel loaders and dump trucks, sources in the company said.