Hitachi Construction Restores China Plant Operations

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., the world’s third-biggest maker of building equipment, has restored operations in China after shuttering its plant there for half a month last year as the economy cooled.

The excavator plant, in the eastern province of Anhui, is gradually increasing production since the end of 2012 as demand for small diggers used in housing recovers, President Yuichi Tsujimoto said in an interview from the company’s Tokyo headquarters on Feb. 18. The factory now operates five days a week after its partial shutdown cut production to as low as 25 percent of capacity, he said.