Kubota Breaks Ground on Equipment Testing Center in Kansas

Kubota North America has made a “significant expansion” of its compact construction business with a groundbreaking ceremony of a new construction equipment test center in Salina, Kansas.

A $30 million investment, the new testing center is part of the company’s larger commitment to designing, engineering, and validating its equipment for the North American market. The new facility comes in at 57,000 square feet, and will “support Kubota’s expanding construction equipment line-up by accelerating development cycles and improving local field-validated performance.”

Brian Arnold, general manager of Kubota’s North America manufacturing unit, says the investment is a big step in bolstering Kubota’s presence on the continent.

“This investment reflects Kubota’s confidence in the North American construction market and our commitment to engineering machines that are built for the realities of North American jobsites,” he says.

“Bringing expanded testing and validation capabilities to the U.S. strengthens our supply chain, accelerates development, and ensures we deliver high performing compact equipment our customers can count on, supported by a strong dealer network focused on service, parts availability, and keeping customers productive on the job.”

The next phase of CERDNA

Established in 2021 in Salina, Kubota’s Construction Equipment Research and Development North America (CERDNA) operation aims to bring engineering, testing, and validation practices to the firm’s customer base.

The new Kansas testing center is the logical continuation of the CERDNA model, and “represents the next phase in (Kubota’s) growing construction equipment business,” officials say.

“This expansion is a clear statement of Kubota’s long-term commitment to investing in America and growing our compact construction business here,” says Todd Stucke, president of Kubota North America. “Kansas has been a strong partner, and the Salina facility will play a critical role as we continue to expand our construction equipment portfolio and support customers across North America.”

Kubota subsidiary Great Plains Manufacturing will be taking care of the building design, aiming to enable performance and durability testing under controlled, repeatable conditions. The testing should allow the company’s equipment to meet not only safety standards, but the expectations of operators and fleet customers.

The new facility reflects Kubota’s wider commitment to North America, representatives say, through continued long-term investments in engineering and equipment. The company says the testing center will maximize uptime, and help to keep customer operations running more efficiently than ever before.