Japanese company Komatsu America Corp. has begun work on a $6 million, 23,000-square-foot power lab in Longview, TX. Once completed, the lab will be a research and development facility that will house Komatsu’s electric power systems team. The team, in turn, will help move along new product development, while expanding testing capabilities for its electric drive technology.

“The application of these electric drive solutions creates some of the highest performance shovels, loaders and underground equipment in the mining space,” Rod Bull, vice president and general manager of Komatsu’s Loader Products division in Longview, told the Longview News-Journal.

The specific location of the new lab was not disclosed. Komatsu acquired Joy Global, and its Longview factory, for $3.7 billion. Komatsu continues to operate from the Longview location, which is just off Estes Parkway, while maintaining headquarters in Milwaukee, WI.

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