Hiab, part of Cargotec, has decided to invest nearly EUR 2 million in its product development and test centre in Hudiksvall, Sweden. The aim is to further broaden and deepen Hiab's ability to develop and test technologies, materials and concepts as well as components and products by expanding its product development operations and extending the existing test centre.
"For seventy years, Hiab has been the world's leading provider of on-road load handling equipment. Product development is one of our focus areas and the decision to invest in it is strategically important in order to guarantee our future technological competitiveness," says Gert Larsson, Executive Vice President, Products, Hiab.
The product development and test centre will contribute to technical development across several product lines, support Hiab's global network of product development units with testing and verification and also manage the collaboration with external partners.
"We will further increase the high level of our expertise in applied research and will utilise Hudiksvall to host meetings when we work together with universities and external partners. We will also expand our capacity in new product development to be able to accelerate our processes and launch innovative new technology on the market faster," says Stefan Onkenhout, Hiab's R&D Director, Loader Cranes.
The enhanced product development and test centre is expected to be ready during 2015. Hiab has product development units in China, Finland, Ireland, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
As communicated in February, the future focus of Hiab's unit in Hudiksvall will be developing and testing new products, research on future technologies as well as after sales and spare parts support.