Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) is making a strategic investment of approximately SEK 2.5 billion (about USD 260 million) to significantly expand and modernize its Changwon facility in South Korea. This investment, the largest portion of a global upgrade spanning facilities in Sweden and North America as well, is aimed at enhancing the company’s crawler excavator capacity and transitioning the plant into a smart factory.
In Changwon, key enhancements will include the adoption of automation technologies, smart production systems, and agile operational capabilities to better respond to growing customer demand across Asia. Volvo CE’s chairman, Melker Jernberg, emphasised that this move supports quality, innovation, and supply-chain resilience by localizing production.
The investment is part of a tri‑regional expansion strategy: besides Changwon, additional crawler excavator lines will be added in Sweden and at the Shippensburg, Pennsylvania plant in the U.S., with North American production expected to begin in early 2026. This approach aims to reduce dependency on global logistics, mitigate regulatory risks, and shorten delivery lead times .
With this fresh capital injection, Volvo CE is reinforcing its position in the competitive heavy machinery sector by ensuring faster regional responsiveness, sustainability through reduced transport emissions, and the flexibility to scale digitalized smart manufacturing worldwide.
