Volvo Construction Equipment - Volvo CE - (originally Munktells,

Bolinder-Munktell AB Bolinder-Munktell (BM) was a tractor and machines manufacturer founded in Eskilstuna, Sweden in 1932 through the merger of the mechanical companies Bolinder and Munktell. Bolinder are also well known as manufacturers of 'Semi-Diesel' or ...

, Volvo BM) is a major international company that develops, manufactures and markets equipment for construction and related industries. It is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

and business area of the

Volvo Group The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Overview

Volvo CE's products include a range of

wheel loaders A loader is a heavy equipment machine used in construction to move or load materials such as soil, rock, sand, demolition debris, etc. into or onto another type of machinery (such as a dump truck, conveyor belt, feed-hopper, or railroad car). ...

, hydraulic

excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fr ...

articulated hauler An articulated hauler, articulated dump truck (ADT), or sometimes a dump hauler, is a very large heavy-duty type of dump truck used to transport loads over rough terrain, and occasionally on public roads. The vehicle usually has all-wheel drive and ...

s, motor graders, soil and asphalt

compactors A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of material such as waste material or bio mass through compaction. A trash compactor is often used by a home or business to reduce the volume of trash it produces. A baler-wrapper co ...

, pavers,

backhoe loader A backhoe loader, also called a loader backhoe, loader excavator, digger in layman's terms, or colloquially shortened to backhoe within the industry, is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor-like unit fitted with a loader-style s ...

s, skid steers and milling machines. Volvo CE has production facilities in the United States, Brazil, Scotland, Sweden, France, Germany, Poland, India, China, Russia and South Korea. Volvo CE sells machines under three brands: Volvo, SDLG and

Terex Terex Corporation is an American worldwide manufacturer of lifting and material-handling plant for a variety of industries including construction, infrastructure, quarrying, recycling, energy, mining, shipping, transportation, refining and ut ...

Trucks.

History

2009-07-29-schiffshebewerk-ndf-by-RalfR-40

Three men laid the foundation for Volvo Construction Equipment: Johan Theofron Munktell and the brothers Jean Bolinder and Carl Gerhard Bolinder. In 1832, Johan Theofron Munktell, then only 27, founds what became Volvo Construction Equipment in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna h ...

, Sweden. In 1913, Munktell and his team produce Sweden's first

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commo ...

. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Sweden, other entrepreneurs were making progress: brothers Jean and Carl Gerhard Bolinder of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

had been since 1844 manufacturing steam engines and crude engine oil. In 1932, exactly one-hundred years after Johan Theofron Munktell’s start in Eskilstuna, Bolinder moves to Eskilstuna and both companies merge under the name AB

. In 1934, Bolinder Munktell produces the legendary BM 25 tractor. In 1950, Volvo buys the machine manufacturer

(BM). Four years later in 1954, the company produces its first wheel loader H10; the world's first to feature a parallel lift arm system and attachment bracket, establishing Volvo as one of the leading construction companies in the world. They produced the world's first articulated hauler: the Volvo DR 631 ''Gravel Charlie'' - in 1966. In 1973, the company name changes to Volvo BM AB. In 1985, Volvo BM allies itself with the American manufacturer

Clark Equipment Clark Equipment Company was an American designer, manufacturer, and seller of industrial and construction machinery and equipment. History Clark's predecessor was the George R. Rich Manufacturing Company, founded in 1903 in Chicago, Illinoi ...

and its subsidiary

Euclid Trucks The Euclid Company of Ohio was a company that specialized in heavy equipment for earthmoving, namely dump trucks, loaders and wheel tractor-scrapers. It operated in the US from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it was purchased by General Motors. It ...

. The product name

Clark Michigan Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

was abbreviated to Michigan and the three brand names Volvo BM, Michigan and Euclid were incorporated in the new company VME Group. In 1995, VME becomes a fully owned Volvo company and changes name to Volvo Construction Equipment. In 1998, Volvo CE became the first foreign company ever to invest in Korea. The acquisition of Samsung Heavy Industries (Construction Equipment Division ) strengthened its product offerings and presence in Asia. In January 2007, Volvo purchases 70% of Shandong Lingong Construction Machinery Co. Ltd. In April of the same year, Volvo also finalizes acquisition of the American company

Ingersoll Rand Ingersoll Rand is an American multinational company that provides flow creation and industrial products. The company was formed in February 2020 through the spinoff of the industrial segment of Ingersoll-Randplc (now known as Trane Technologies) ...

's division for road construction machines. In July 2020, Volvo Construction sold

Blaw-Knox Blaw-Knox is a manufacturer of road paving equipment. The company was created in 1917 from the merger of Blaw Collapsible Steel Centering Company and the Knox Pressed and Welded Steel Company. Blaw-Knox was sold to new owners in 1968, changed owne ...

pavers to Gencor Industries Inc. In December 2020, Volvo began the delivery of the all-electric ECR25 Electric compact excavator to customers.

References

External links

Volvo Construction Equipment
{{Automotive industry in Sweden Construction equipment manufacturers of Sweden

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

Companies established in 1832 Volvo Trucks Diesel engine manufacturers Forklift truck manufacturers