Construction Machinery Manufacturing Industry Profile

The US construction machinery manufacturing industry consists of about 700 companies that have combined annual revenue of about $30 billion. Major companies include Caterpillar, Hitachi, Komatsu, Terex, and the construction divisions of heavy equipment manufacturers CNH, Deere, and Volvo. The industry is highly concentrated: the 50 largest companies generate about 85 percent of revenue.

The global construction machinery manufacturing industry generates about $200 billion in annual revenue. Top countries for construction equipment manufacturing include China, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and the US. The leading manufacturers of construction equipment include Komatsu (Japan), Liebherr Group (Germany), Atlas Copco (Sweden), and Xuzhou Xugong Special Construction Machinery (China).

As in the US, the global construction machinery manufacturing industry is highly concentrated: the top 50 companies generate about 80 percent of global revenue.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is highly dependent on the cyclical construction industry. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient manufacturing operations, since customers are very sensitive to price. Because of the large capital investment required to produce heavy construction machinery, this segment of the market is served mainly by the large manufacturers. Smaller companies can compete effectively by producing equipment that has specialized applications, or that is relatively simple to make. The industry is capital-intensive: annual revenue per worker is about $370,000.

US manufacturers compete with their counterparts around the world. Imports, largely from Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Germany, account for about half of the US ...