Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. and Cummins Inc.have announced a 50/50 joint venture partnership to manufacture MidRange engines in Korea extending from 150 hp to 300 hp (112-224 kW) output for application in a wide range of Hyundai construction and industrial equipment.

The launch of the Hyundai Cummins Engine Company (HCEC) joint venture took place in Ulsan, Korea, with a ceremonial co-signing of the agreement by Byeong-Ku Choe, Chief Operating Officer and President - Hyundai Construction Equipment Division, and Rich Freeland, Cummins Vice President and President - Engine Business.

The HCEC joint venture operation will be located in the city of Daegu, Korea, with engine manufacturing to commence in 2014. The new facility will have a capacity in place to build more than 50,000 engines per year at full production.

HCEC will supply engines spanning the MidRange 5.9-liter to 8.9-liter displacement range for Hyundai excavators, wheel loaders and industrial equipment built in Ulsan and other locations worldwide. The joint venture engines will power Hyundai equipment in markets with high growth potential such as Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.

"I am delighted to announce our new engine joint venture with Hyundai, one of the most highly respected companies in the global construction equipment industry and for many years an important customer of Cummins off-highway business," Freeland said. "The formation of the HCEC joint venture takes Cummins working relationship with Hyundai to a much closer level, where we can share our respective expertise and better position both parent companies for growth in markets around the world."

Byeong-Ku Choe, Chief Operating Officer and President - Hyundai Construction Equipment Division, said, "Cummins is an important engine supplier to Hyundai, with a proven capability to improve the performance of our equipment, so our new HCEC joint venture can be seen as a natural progression of this longstanding cooperation. We are very excited at the opportunities the joint venture will realize as we strive together in partnership to achieve mutual success."

Cost-effective manufacturing procedures will be applied at HCEC, following common practices used across Cummins global network of MidRange engine manufacturing facilities.

MidRange Engine Manufacture

Engines manufactured at the HCEC facility will be based on the Cummins B, C and L MidRange platforms meeting emission levels equivalent to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 2 and Tier 3 off-highway regulations, either already in place or set to be introduced in many rapidly developing countries.

Cummins MidRange products feature advanced combustion technology at the heart of the engine to achieve high power density and enhanced equipment productivity for the lowest possible fuel consumption. The technology comes with the added benefit of long service intervals and very high tolerance for poor fuel quality, according to the company.

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