Listening to Users: The Basis for Product Development

As a manufacturer, our job is to develop and supply new products that have intrinsic value to users - and we believe that value can only be found in the context of user needs. Avoiding the pitfalls of machines designed by engineers who have little first-hand experience on work sites, we place a high priority on gaining a comprehensive understanding of the difficulties that users face every day out in the field. When developing a new product, we start by forming project teams comprised of people in engineering, sales, and service who go out to gather information. Using sophisticated simulation technologies and analytical tools, we then process the information to develop a prototype that undergoes exhaustive testing. In short, our elemental preliminary research is conducted with just one goal in mind: to anticipate and meet the diverse needs that users encounter under a variety of working conditions.

Two Focal Points for Global Development

Although KOBELCO construction machinery is now manufactured both in Japan and abroad, design and development are still carried out exclusively in Japan. That is, Hiroshima Plant and Okubo Plant function as the "mother factories" or "global development centers" that originate the KOBELCO machines used throughout the world. The basic direction of product development is based on a clear and accurate understanding of user needs, achieved through a cooperative relationship between our sales and service departments. Using 3D-CAD and other advanced technologies, we pre-analyze such factors as stress, heat flow and operating noise to streamline the developmental process and improve design quality.

Strengthening Basic Machine-Building Technologies

Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. constantly pursues advanced research at all of its factories in order to strengthen the basic technologies that underlie machine construction in such areas as hydraulics, adjustment of discrepant metals, structural strength, and stress analysis. These technologies not only help us to ensure that new products meet new environmental standards for noise and exhaust gas levels, but also enable us to respond quickly and appropriately to the changing times. For these reasons, we will continue to strengthen our basic machine-building capabilities.

Accumulating New Technologies Through Basic Research

Construction machines are the crystallization of diverse, advanced technologies. We at KOBELCO constantly pursue basic research so that we can respond quickly to the changing needs of our customers. Currently, we are concentrating on future technologies in such areas as energy-efficiency (exemplified by hybrid machines), noise-reduction, weight-reduction, and safety. This work is pursued in cooperation with Kobe Steel's Kobe Corporate Research Laboratories.

* Research fields include mechatronics; structural strength; vibration and noise; heat flow technologies ; processing technologies; joining technologies, etc.

Concurrent Development: An Integrated Design Concept

In the conventional approach to design, the task of the designers is over as soon as the blueprints are handed to the manufacturing department. KOBELCO Construction Machinery has abandoned this approach in favor of concurrent design, which means that all aspects of machine production, from quality control through cost and scheduling, are taken into consideration during the design stage. In this way, we can deliver high-quality products to our customers more quickly than ever before.