Bobcat moves into new EMEA headquarters
$11mn new premises offer 3,370sqm of space for 200 employees adjacent to its plant and innovation centre near Prague
Doosan Bobcat EMEA has announced the opening of its new headquarters for the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in Dobris, outside of the Czech capital Prague, marking a further expansion in its regional hub.
A statement from the compact machinery major said that as part of its Dobris campus, the newly erected building houses the company’s management and other employees and complements the adjacent production plant and the training and innovation centre, where Bobcat machines are created for Europe and the rest of the world.
The new three-storey headquarters building, worth $11.03m, covers a surface area of 1,561sqm and will offer more than 3,370sqm of office space for 200 employees. Investments were also made to create more than 7,000sqm of green areas around the building.
Bobcat said that this year alone its investments in the Dobris campus will reach over $22m. Last year the company’s revenue for the EMEA region amounted to $843.8m, with the Dobris factory producing a record 17,206 machines. This year, the company plans to increase production by 20% and break through the barrier of 20,000 machines for the first time.
The statement added that Bobcat’s has become synonymous with skid steer loaders in most of the world in its 60-year history and has been operating in the Czech Republic since 2001. A major development came in 2007 with the construction of a new production plant for loaders and mini-excavators and the takeover by the global Doosan Group. In addition to the new production capacities, Doosan Bobcat has also built an extensive training centre and an innovation centre. The development of the entire campus is symbolically crowned by the opening of the company’s EMEA headquarters, which moved from Waterloo, Belgium, to Dobris.
Gustavo Otero, president of Doosan Bobcat EMEA, said: “With the opening of the new headquarters in Dobris, we are completing an investment which – thanks to the concentration of development, production and management of the company in one place – is of socio-economic importance for the whole region and exceptional within our industry. During Doosan Bobcat’s operations in the Czech Republic, we have invested approximately $132.4m, increased production five-fold, and more than tripled the number of employees. In the future, we expect a further recruitment of blue-collar professionals and expert positions in development.”
