Volvo CE begins delivering U.S.-built excavators and large wheel loaders from its Shippensburg, Pennsylvania plant

Volvo Construction Equipment began delivering its first American-built crawler excavators and large wheel loaders to customers on 19 August 2026, following a $40 million investment at its Shippensburg, Pennsylvania facility. The expansion brings more than 50% of Volvo CE's North American machine supply into U.S. production, with 11 additional models now assembled at the site and customer lead times cut by more than six weeks.

What is now being built in Shippensburg

The plant previously produced midsize wheel loaders and soil and asphalt compactors. The expansion adds two new product families to the line:

• Crawler excavators: EC140 (13 metric ton) through EC500 (52 metric ton)
• Large wheel loaders: L150 (16 metric ton) through L260 (24 metric ton)

The additions bring the Shippensburg production portfolio to 30 machine models in total, spanning excavators, wheel loaders, and compactors. The 436,000 sq ft assembly and fabrication facility has been reengineered to include three flexible production lines, along with additional excavator welding capacity.

Investment and workforce

Volvo CE has invested over $1.4 billion in the Shippensburg site since acquiring it from Ingersoll Rand in 2007, tripling annual output capacity over that period. The most recent $40 million tranche funded increased production capacity, workforce development, and digitalization. More than 750 people are currently employed at the facility, and workers underwent extensive on-site and off-site training at Volvo factories in Sweden, South Korea, and Brazil to prepare for the new product lines.

The company also announced a goal to grow its Pennsylvania-based supplier business by 30% by 2030. As part of that push, Volvo CE partnered with the Franklin County Area Development Corporation to bring a global excavator counterweight supplier into the region. That supplier is investing more than $1.5 million in a local facility to deliver counterweights directly to the Shippensburg plant on a just-in-time basis.

Why the timing matters

The move accelerates a localization strategy announced less than a year earlier and lands against a backdrop of tariff pressure on imported construction equipment. Producing more than half of its North American supply domestically gives Volvo CE a buffer against cross-border cost volatility and shortens the supply chain between factory and jobsite.

"What you see today is manufacturing resilience in action: adapting with purpose and speed to increase capacity and build more machines closer to our customers," said Scott Young, Head of Region North America for Volvo CE, at the 19 August event.

The Shippensburg technology team is also shifting from a single-product focus to a more flexible operating model, deploying engineering resources across the full product portfolio - a structural change that positions the plant to absorb future model additions without a full line redesign.

Rental fleets and large contractors ordering EC-series excavators or L-series wheel loaders in the 13-52 metric ton and 16-24 metric ton ranges should confirm with their dealers whether their specific model is now sourced from Shippensburg, as lead-time reductions apply only to the newly localized models.