BOBCAT GROWS TO STRENGTHEN GLOBAL POSITION
January 12, 2005 - Bobcat Company, a well-known business unit and brand of Ingersoll-Rand, announced a $9.5 million expansion to include the development of a manufacturing support center (MSC) in Bismarck. North Dakota. The new facility will be approximately 100,000 square feet and should open up space at the current factory for additional fabrication and assembly. A "sequencing center" will enable supplier components to be sub-assembled prior to being sent to the current Bismarck plant for final assembly.
The facility will also include a "just-in-time" parts control area to support the Bismarck plant, and everything will be tied together with a state-of-the-art routing and information management system, communicating directly with the factory's assembly lines. The site of the MSC is in the Northern Plains Commerce Centre (NPCC). Plans for the center were unveiled in September. It will become Western North Dakota's first foreign trade zone, on city-owned property adjacent to the Bismarck Airport. The foreign trade zone designation means companies can import product components for finished goods without incurring duties. In addition to industrial facilities, construction in the area will include rail development and port buildings, which should benefit Bobcat greatly.
Other Bobcat locations in North Dakota include factories in Gwinner and Bismarck, and the organization's headquarters in West Fargo. The Gwinner plant produces skid-steer loaders and compact track loaders, while Bismarck is dedicated to compact excavators, mini loaders, and the company's utility work machines. The company has added nearly 500 new jobs over the last year, and this expansion is expected to create an additional 100 positions.
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