Osaka, Japan—Daifuku Co., Ltd. (“Daifuku”) announces that its U.S. subsidiary, Daifuku Intralogistics America Corporation (“ILUS”), has completed the expansion of its manufacturing plant in Hobart, Indiana. The plant expansion is scheduled to begin operations in October. The additional manufacturing space will double the site’s production capacity, allowing Daifuku to rapidly respond to vigorous automation demand in the logistics and manufacturing industries and further grow our North American business.
ILUS is responsible for Daifuku’s intralogistics business in North America, providing material handling systems such as conveyors, sorters, and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RSs) for distribution centers and manufacturing facilities. The Hobart plant was established in 2020 to increase local production capacity, but automation demand has continued to grow due to labor shortages and rising costs, creating an urgent need to further expand production infrastructure. For that reason, Daifuku made a 5 billion yen investment to expand the plant. Moving forward, Daifuku will introduce more automation systems to further streamline production and reduce lead times.
Norihito Toriya, Managing Officer and Intralogistics Global Business Head, Daifuku Co., Ltd., commented:
“We are aiming to further expand our global intralogistics business, and the United States is our largest growth market. As the U.S. is expected to see automation needs grow due to domestic labor shortages and rising costs, we will continue to work to bolster our competitiveness under a policy of local production for local consumption.”
