When asked about which global markets the company is targeting, Scott Park, the CEO of Doosan Bobcat, responded with key information: "To be honest, we believe all markets have strong growth potential." This statement encapsulates the strategic journey of this enterprise.
Park, who took over as CEO in 2013, clearly expounded on the company's transformation and future vision during a 50-minute conversation with Construction Brief at the BMW Exhibition in Munich. This company, traditionally known for its slide loaders and small excavators, has now significantly expanded its product line to include telescopic boom loaders, material handling equipment, site maintenance machinery, and large equipment. The compact loader category has also become more diverse. (Published by Construction Brief, translated by Mechanical Intelligence Station)
Park disclosed that three years ago, the company's new product release volume soared by 80%. Although the growth rate has slightly slowed down, this year new products will still account for 35% of the total product range. "You might think that our product portfolio is already saturated, but that's not the case. We are still seeking expansion in specific areas and continuously promoting the development of new product categories." This includes the recent launch of 20-30 ton excavators and other heavy equipment layouts in markets such as North America.
Building a balanced product system
Park actively expanded the product line not only to increase sales, but also to reduce the company's reliance on a single category to avoid the overall business being affected when a certain sector declines. The same strategic thinking is also reflected in the global market layout. He explained: "In the past, we relied too much on the North American market. Now, the sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Asia, Latin America, and Oceania (ALAO) have all exceeded 1 billion US dollars."
"Over the past decade, our product portfolio has likely doubled in size. This is the secret to our multi-line approach", said this executive, sharing the strategy: distributing regional R&D tasks reasonably. "For instance, the European team is responsible for the development of compact wheeled loaders, the North American team focuses on small articulated loaders (SAL), and through the acquisition of intellectual property, we quickly entered the skid loader sector. "This balanced strategy avoids resource overload," Park said with a smile, although team members might think the process was challenging.
It is this strategy that has propelled the company from a $2 billion enterprise to a $50-70 billion one, and is expected to break through the $10 billion mark in the coming years.
Hey, Bobcat, build me a swimming pool
Park believes that, alongside product expansion, it is equally important to reshape the industry's future through artificial intelligence and automation technologies. "Autonomous operation is our inevitable direction. Imagine in the future, we just need to tell the excavator 'Dig a swimming pool according to this blueprint', and it can complete the task autonomously and send a completion notification." He pointed out that the implementation path should start from auxiliary operations and semi-automation.
Currently, the company is testing autonomous lawn mowers and compact crawler loaders, and has built a reusable technology stack. Park particularly emphasized: "The automation of multi-functional equipment (such as crawler loaders equipped with various attachments) is more complex. We need to accumulate technical modules from simple devices like autonomous forklifts." These modules include an advanced remote information processing system that will enable real-time programming of the machine.
He described even more exciting scenarios: When users rent the equipment, they can simply pay an additional fee and use the APP to have the machine autonomously complete tasks such as digging ditches, planting trees or installing fences. "We will establish a function library and continuously improve it, ultimately achieving natural language interaction between humans and machines."
Marathon-style Transformation Philosophy
Park compares enterprise transformation to a marathon: "During the process, you don't realize that miracles are being created. It's only when you look back that you will discover. Our scale has tripled, our product portfolio is unprecedentedly rich, and our global ranking has significantly improved." His current focus is on building a career platform that employees are willing to dedicate their entire lives to. "Why not work for such a company for five, ten, or even twenty years?"
This long-term thinking - pursuing growth while stimulating employees' innovative vitality - is the foundation of Park's strategy. Whether it's product line expansion or automation layout, the transformation of Doosan Bobcat has always followed the combination of ambition and long-term planning. Just like a marathon, every step counts.