Volvo Construction Equipment announced that it will acquire CeDe Group, a special application partner headquartered in Malmö, Sweden, for an undisclosed amount. The agreement will take effect in mid-March and includes its intellectual property, operations, other assets and approximately 45 full-time employees. Due to the company's low annual production, the transaction will not have a material impact on Volvo Construction Equipment's revenue and financial condition.

        As a small-scale application expert in special applications in construction and mining machinery, CeDe Group enjoys a good reputation in Scandinavia. The company serves several leading equipment manufacturers, including Volvo Construction Equipment and its dealers, with activities ranging from developing new truck bodies (e.g. for fuel, water, waste handling), to wheel and track modifications for wheeled excavators, and modifications for underground mining applications.

        The company was founded in 2000 and can trace its roots back to Volvo's original excavator maker, Kerman.

        Kerman was originally a long-established Swedish excavator manufacturer. It started producing excavators in 1939. Due to the low level of globalization at that time, it was mainly sold in Northern Europe, so it was not well-known worldwide. It was acquired by Volvo in 1991. Since then, Volvo has acquired rich technology and a complete excavator product line. After Volvo Construction Equipment was established in 1995, the Kerman brand gradually disappeared and withdrew from the stage of history.

Independent and capable experts

       CeDe will remain independent as a flexible entrepreneurial company under Volvo CE. Volvo CE will provide the company with its own strengths and inject additional resources to expand its market channels and customer base to become a European leader in this professional field. Strengthening the partner's strengths will also support Volvo CE's own product line expansion into new applications and small-scale production of products such as trial machines. The company will also continue to expand its service offering for customers beyond Volvo Construction Equipment.

      Melker Jernberg, President of Volvo Construction Equipment, said: “This acquisition meets multiple strategic considerations. CeDe Group has demonstrated its expertise in special application equipment conversions. This closer relationship will allow Volvo CE to expand its own product line while strengthening CeDe’s ability to explore new markets and territories with Volvo CE and other manufacturers’ customers. ”

       Krister Johnsson, CEO of CeDe Group, agreed: “We have a long-standing relationship with Volvo CE and a deep understanding of its products, so we are excited about the opportunity to expand our services and reach new markets. ”

Customization may become a future trend

       With the development of science and technology and the progress of society, higher requirements are also put forward for the construction machinery industry, using more precise equipment to perform more accurate construction operations, improve work efficiency, and improve construction quality. Due to the different working conditions and construction requirements, but the construction equipment is mostly the same, in order to meet different working conditions and requirements, it can only be achieved through the operator's operation, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of construction, especially under special working conditions. From the side, this is also an inefficient and low-quality construction method. Customized equipment is more adaptable to working conditions, and the cost of time, manpower and resources will be effectively reduced.

       Customized service enriches the product line and can bring good reputation and market effect to the enterprise, but few manufacturers directly provide customized products to customers.

       Since customized products are single or small batch orders, for large manufacturers, the ability to open a customized product line or provide customization is not as profitable as the assembly line, and there is a high cost pressure. Therefore, third-party modification has become the first choice for user customization modification.

        Volvo's acquisition of CeDe has incorporated third-party customized modifications into its own brand, enriching its own product line, providing more resources and channels for it, and operating independently. This may be a new way for large manufacturers to provide customized services in the future.