Komatsu Castex Ltd. (President: Yasuki Sato, hereinafter KCX headquartered in Himi, Toyama Prefecture, Japan), a wholly owned subsidiary of Komatsu Ltd. (President & CEO: Kunio Noji), manufactures and sells cast parts for construction and mining equipment. KCX has recently built, on its head office plant site, a new iron casting plant to produce iron casting parts for engines.

Iron casting parts for engines have been produced by the KCX' Oyama Division on Komatsu's Oyama Plant site (Oyama City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan).This will change between June and September this year, as KCX is going to transfer the entire operation to its head office plant to concentrate its production of engine parts there.

Market demand for construction and mining equipment drastically dropped around the world with the onset of the so-called Lehman Shock in the fall of 2008. However, present demand in emerging
markets, such as China, Asia and Latin America, has upturned for recovery. We anticipate that demand in other regions of the world will be driven by the economic growth of these emerging countries.

Against this backdrop of demand growth, KCX is expecting that demand for iron castings, which are materials for a variety of parts, will also increase. It has thus built the new iron casting plant at the head office plant, consolidating the production of super-precision required iron castings, centering on cylinder blocks for large and medium-sized engines as well as transmission cases. As a result, KCX will work to ensure a stable supply of high-quality components together with hydraulic valves for construction equipment.

The new plant is equipped with the monthly production capacity of some 2,300 tons. While maintaining its competitive edge of products on the international market into the future, KCX is going to supply iron castings to Komatsu Group's plants in Japan by emphasizing excellent QCD (quality, cost and delivery).