Kubota Tractors, famous for its bright orange farming equipment, is owned by the larger Kubota Corporation. The Kubota Corporation is headquartered in Osaka, Japan, and it has been ever since Kubota's journey started way back in 1890, when Gonshiro Kubota established what would, at first, be a metal casting company.
Kubota's reach expanded over time, allowing the once-small company to transform into one of the world's key players of tractor production. Today, Kubota produces a wide range of agricultural
machines, such as its range of reliable zero-turn Kubota mowers.
The Kubota Corporation's reach has spread not just throughout Japan, but across the globe too. It has expanded operations far and wide, establishing itself across multiple continents. Notably, Kubota entered the U.S. tractor market in 1969, and the brand's footprint has grown larger ever since.
The majority of Kubota tractors sold in North America are built at the Kubota plant in Gainesville, Georgia, which would eventually become the North American headquarters in 1988. Another U.S. plant, this time based in Illinois, handles engine production.
The manufacturing process is not isolated though, as some components are made in Japan prior to being shipped overseas for assembly. However, the big picture is that Kubota Corporation in Japan owns Kubota Tractors, even though a large portion of them are made in the United States, particularly those built for American customers.
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Kubota's Global Reach And U.S. Manufacturing Power
Although it all began in Japan, the company now runs factories in over 25 countries, including Thailand, India, China, and France. In the U.S., Kubota has established itself as a manufacturing powerhouse, with more than 2,300 employees working at the company's tractor facility in Georgia.
In the U.S., over 100,000 tractors are turned out each year, and in 2015, the brand celebrated building its one-millionth American tractor. There are no plans to slow down either, with Kubota investing $85 million to expand U.S. operations by around 300 acres just recently.
It's not all about tractors either; Kubota also produces rough terrain vehicles (RTVs), which are different from ATVs, in addition to a huge number of engines. At the Illinois engine plant, Kubota continues to develop powerful diesel engines for use in tractors, along with generators and other industrial engines. Production in Illinois has only been ramping up over the years, with the plant celebrating 100,000 engines produced in 1998, followed by 200,000 in 2004.
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Read the original article on SlashGear.
