TOKYO -- Hitachi Construction Machinery will stop manufacturing equipment in Europe by the end of next year and switch to exports from Japan, seeking to consolidate production and compete more effectively.
The company will close its Oosterhout plant in the Netherlands, which produced about 4,000 mini hydraulic excavators -- a Hitachi Construction specialty -- in fiscal 2019. Orders for the European market instead will be shipped from facilities including the Shiga plant in western Japan.
