Bobcat Ups Advantages with New Innovation Center Investments

Doosan Bobcat believes the ability to design, test and manufacture Bobcat machines locally is one of the company’s competitive advantages in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The new investments are intended to boost these advantages and involve every part of the operations in the Innovation Center, from rapid prototyping and prototype assembly to performance and durability testing.

The Innovation Center is a European Engineering Center of Excellence, serving as an expert R&D centre for all Doosan Bobcat engineering teams across EMEA and has global responsibility for small compact loaders and compact excavators from 0-3 tonne.

It focuses on creating new innovative solutions, product development, research and testing activities. The facility, with more than 8000 m2 of floor space for prototyping and testing and 1400 m2 of office area, is a place where new advanced - and in some cases – unique technologies are installed.

With recent advances in computer designing and modelling, many manufacturers omit (or at least limit) the creation and testing of physical prototypes. In contrast, at Doosan Bobcat, the company knows their importance and has invested heavily in its production technologies.

New Investments

Over the last 12 months, Doosan Bobcat has completed several more significant investments and has installed three important technologies at the Innovation Center:

• - CNC horizontal boring machine
• - CNC 5 axis milling machine
• - Dynamometer

The total cost was approximately 36 million CZK (1.41 million euros) with 50% incentive grants provided by the Czech Goverment.

CNC horizontal boring machine and CNC 5 axis milling machine

Both machines have been installed to support faster prototype builds providing full control of the processes without the involvement of third parties. Other important aspects are fixtures production for the Dobris manufacturing plant and testing of machining processes that help in the introduction of new machining in the production plant.

Dynamometer

A dynamometer is a tool for measuring engine or powertrain system loadings in laboratory conditions. Based on the loading, machine performance (cooling, hydraulic parameters, fuel consumption and so on) are tested in a set ambient temperature. Testing on the dynamometer is mandatory for new engine implementation and for application approval on the supplier side.

A new 300 kW dynamometer with six electric generators is now installed in the Innovation Center. The dynamometer load tested machine allows Doosan Bobcat to test and optimize cooling performance in the ‘hot’ climate-controlled chamber at temperatures up to 55 °C. Advanced functions of the dynamometer allow replication and simulation of real duty cycles in a laboratory environment based on data from the field.

Real Life Testing – Polygon

Not far from the Dobris Innovation Center and the main plant is the location for the Bobcat polygon for field testing. With more than 20 engineers, operators and technicians plus six hectares of space with artificial lighting, machine shops and diagnostic laboratories, the polygon is a really unique asset in the industry as a whole.

Field testing on the Bobcat polygon has been identified as one of the company’s important success drivers in terms of quality and rapid innovations. Because of this, another expansion of this testing has been prepared. It is planned to almost double the size of the polygon in the future to 10 hectares, with a road circuit and new specialized sites where different types of machines will be built.

Long-term Commitment

The Innovation Center and the Dobris Campus demonstrate the long-term commitment of Doosan Bobcat in EMEA and the bold decisions that the company has taken to invest in people and innovative industrial and business solutions.

From engineering and design, sourcing, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, aftermarket and training, the Innovation Center and the Dobris Campus integrate every facet of Doosan Bobcat’s operations and product development on one site, with enormous benefits for customers, dealers and the company.