Komatsu to Build New Plant for Large Construction Equipment in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture

Komatsu Ltd. (President & CEO: Kunio Noji) announced today that the Company reached a sales agreement(*) with Ishikawa Prefectural Government and Kanazawa City Government concerning industrial-use land which these two municipal governments have owned and developed in Awagasaki Area adjacent to the Port of Kanazawa. Komatsu is going to build a new plant to produce 400-ton class, PC4000 super-large hydraulic excavators with a plan for start-up in August 2009. The PC4000 model is the largest hydraulic excavator produced by Komatsu in Japan.
* Kanazawa City Government signed the contract tentatively, because the contract needs to be approved by the City Council.

Against the backdrop of expanding demand for construction and mining equipment around the world, Komatsu has been proactively strengthening its production capacity by building new plants in Japan and overseas and additional lines at existing plants. Komatsu believes that demand for its large equipment will continue to increase into the future, driven by thriving resource development activities worldwide.

At present, Komatsu Mining Germany GmbH, our wholly owned subsidiary based in Dusseldorf, Germany, and our Rokko Plant in Kobe, Japan produce super-large hydraulic excavators. With the addition of this new plant, we will be further expanding our production capacity.

There are mainly two reasons for building the new plant in Kanazawa. First, both Ishikawa Prefectural Government and Kanazawa City Government have worked to expand and improve the capabilities of the Port of Kanazawa as an international cargo port. Second, in Ishikawa Prefecture, where Komatsu was originally established, there is a concentration of suppliers of the Company. Like the Kanazawa Plant No. 1 where large presses are built and the Ibaraki Plant for large wheel loaders, it was decided to build the new plant adjacent to the port in order to substantially cut down on-land transportation costs and CO2 emissions.

Name : Kanazawa Plant No. 2
Location : Awagasaki 4-chome, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Land area : 104,500 square meters
Products (planned) : PC4000 super-large hydraulic excavator
Production start-up (planned): August 2009
Investments : 5.3 billion yen

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