Hino to Expand U.S. Operations: New Truck Line and Facilities
Hino has announced a substantial investment plan to strengthen its U.S. operations with the introduction of a new truck line and new facilities.
The company plans to purchase the former Cold Water Creek distribution center and convert it into its new truck assembly plant in Mineral Wells, West Virginia, close to its current plant.
The new plant, planned to be operational in early 2019, will also house cab assembly, an operation currently conducted in Japan. “The new plant, which is four times the size of our current plant, will allow us to combine several assembly operations under one roof which will provide significant efficiency gains,” noted Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. President, Takashi Ono.
The total investment to the new plant will be approximately $100 million, creating about 250 new jobs in early 2020 over a two-shift operation.
In addition to producing Hino’s conventional trucks, the plant in West Virginia will produce a new line of Class 7 and 8 trucks that will be introduce in 2019. The truck will be powered by Hino’s proven A09, 9-liter engine. Already sold in many other markets around the world, the Hino A09 engine will have a horsepower range from 300- 360 HP.
“These are truly exciting times for Hino in the U.S. Our growth and customer acceptance in the Class 4-7 market are enabling us to introduce wider variety of products” stated Yoshinori Noguchi, CEO of Hino North America.
As part of Hino’s growth plan, Hino broke ground last month on a new state of the art corporate office in Novi, Michigan. Hino is consolidating all operations in its new corporate headquarters, including sales, marketing, service, engineering, purchasing and manufacturing.
Hino’s Insight Diagnostic Center, which monitors vehicle performance and uptime for all Hino trucks equipped with Insight, will also operate out of the Novi headquarters. Investment in the new state of the art corporate office, which consolidates all the operations, totals $20 million.
Category: General Update, News
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