According to an Oct. 17 press release, Kubota has begun operations at its new production facility in Salina, Kan., which will produce compact track loaders. The new facility cost $53 million and was built on the premises of an existing Great Plains Manufacturing facility.

The press release stated:

The majority of Kubota’s compact construction machinery in the United States have been exported from Japan. The establishment of a new production base service the local market in the United States will build a system to allow Kubota to quickly adapt to fluctuating future demand and more rapidly supply products.

Kubota also said the factory will produce one model of compact track loader for now, but there are plans to invest further into the facility to add new models to the production line. 

According to an Oct. 18 report from Nikkei Asia, the factory's scheduled production run of 5,000 units per year is a 70% increase from the originally forecast 3,000 units per year. The press release also states the facility has approximately 170 employees, whereas the original press release announcing the investment in 2020 forecast hiring 130 employees.

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