Bobcat Co. and Doosan opened the doors to their new Acceleration Center in Bismarck, N.D., Aug. 5.
The $28 million project involved the expansion of an existing building to include office and lab space, classrooms and demonstration areas, and indoor and outdoor machine operation areas. The facility has two stories and 190,000 square feet under roof, with an additional 22 acres of outside test and product development space.
It will employ 175 individuals tasked with initial design, prototype engineering, prototype manufacturing, computer simulation and testing of ideas and concepts. Moreover, the center will act as an engineering facility for all Bobcat compact equipment distributed globally, and it will help serve some of Doosan heavy equipment’s research and development needs for the North American market.
“We have momentum,” said Rich Goldsbury, president of Bobcat and Doosan, North America. “We are investing in our innovations and technologies and in our facilities and our people. That’s what this particular facility is all about: momentum and acceleration. Bobcat will continue to be an unstoppable force in the industry, and Doosan will continue to grow into a premier heavy equipment brand in the North American market.”
The company broke ground on the Acceleration Center project in May 2013. The entire project, including the original building built in 2005, capped a total $43 million investment by Bobcat and Doosan in the Northern Plains Commerce Centre in Bismarck. Bobcat also has an attachments production facility in Bismarck, and its manufacturing, production control and logistics group has been there since 2012.
