Doosan Bobcat adding 200 workers through Wisconsin acquisition

Construction equipment giant Doosan Bobcat completed its acquisition of a Wisconsin plant and three lawn-equipment brands belonging to Schiller Grounds Care Inc.

Terms of the deal announced Thursday were not disclosed. The purchase includes Schiller's "Bob-Cat Mowers" factory in Johnson Creek, Wis., as well as its Steiner brand of tractors and its Ryan brand of grounds maintenance equipment.

About 200 Schiller workers will be transferred to Doosan Bobcat as part of the purchase agreement.

The deal is the latest of several Midwest expansions for Doosan Bobcat, which is based in South Korea with the North America headquarters in West Fargo, N.D.

It operates factories in Litchfield, Minn.; Gwinner and Wahpeton, N.D.; China, India, France and the Czech Republic.

In November, Doosan Bobcat opened a $2 million global collaboration center in downtown Minneapolis.

Doosan Bobcat also is currently building a $26 million addition to its plant in Litchfield. That factory makes buckets, augers, snowplow and other attachments for construction loaders and excavators.

The acquisition of Schiller's brands feeds the company's expansion plans.

Doosan Bobcat's 2019 sales will be about $3.8 billion, said CEO Scott Park recently. His plans call for doubling that number over five years through a mix of organic sales, new products and acquisitions like the one finalized this week.

"We are pleased and proud to welcome the Bob-Cat Mowers, Steiner and Ryan team members into the Doosan Bobcat family," said Mike Ballweber, president of Doosan Bobcat North America. "We are bringing great people and strong brands into our organization to help further grow our business and reach more customers and markets."