Held eight months after the new Develon brand was first announced by parent company, HD Hyundai Infracore, the event attracted a truly global audience, with a strong presence from the USA, Europe, South America and the Middle East.
Taking place over three days, the exciting global event combined elements of Develon and Korean culture throughout. It began with the Develon Day at the company’s Proving Ground facility at Boryeong to the south of the capital, Seoul. The events on the second and third day included a tour of the Develon manufacturing facilities in Incheon, a special visit to the Demilitarised Zone and more cultural highlights, with visits to some of the most famous heritage sites in Korea.
At Boryeong, customers and dealers were warmly welcomed by Seung Hyun Oh and Young-cheul Cho, the joint CEOs of HD Hyundai Infracore. The presentations from both CEOs highlighted the company’s long history in the construction industry and the vision behind the Develon brand. Both CEOs stressed that Develon is dedicated to changing the future for customers and providing value beyond products by creating smart construction solutions to meet tomorrow’s needs.
The Develon Day programme at Boryeong showed how the company intends to do this with a display of the very latest Develon construction equipment and demonstrations of cutting-edge technology including its latest generation Concept-X2 autonomous solutions and the exclusive Transparent Bucket safety system for Develon wheeled loaders.
A key aspect of the Develon Day was the Expert Talk, where specialists talked about the evolution and current status of autonomous construction equipment at Develon. The company sees five stages in this work; the first is the use of technology to increase safety, and the second is the automation of processes such as auto digging. The third stage is to make tasks autonomous, with the fourth stage being fully autonomous with an external control centre, moving finally to Stage 5, which is full site automation. According to the Develon experts, the company is currently between Stages 3 and 4, but is hoping to demonstrate a Stage 5 solution in 2024.
Developed in-house, Concept-X2 is the latest version of Develon’s Concept-X, the world’s first automated construction solution, unveiled in 2019. In the finale to the day at Boryeong, Develon gave a demonstration of the latest Concept-X2 autonomous construction equipment, including the DD100-CX dozer and DX225-CX crawler excavator. Both machines feature a new cabinless design and a linear core design language.
Between the welcome from the company CEOs and the Expert Talk, visitors were divided into separate groups to take part in the Experience Develon tour, with exhibition booths, displays and demonstrations in different parts of the Boryeong campus, showing the company’s new product line-up, new technology and other participatory activities that formed part of the tour.
One section of the tour was dedicated to the latest in smart construction equipment from Develon. This included the new DX225LC-7X - the company’s first ‘Smart’ crawler excavator, designed to help operators work faster and more efficiently. Visitors were able to see a close-up of how the DX225LC-7X works via a video screen showing the various machine functions in action, including Full Electric Hydraulic (FEH) technology, integrated 2D Machine Guidance and Semi-Automatic 2D Machine Control as standard.
Next to the DX225LC-7X, Develon demonstrated the company’s Transparent Bucket 2.0 safety system, the first in the world, mounted on a DL320-7 wheel loader. The transparent bucket is a system that allows the wheel loader driver to see blind spots in front of the bucket on the machine using the monitor in the cab. Again, the screen output from inside the cab was broadcast to a video screen so the audience could see the operator viewing object detection when operating the machine.
Another new product on display being rolled out globally was the new DD130 dozer model. The new DD130 dozer offers a wide range of features of interest to customers, resulting in a productive fine-grading solution for residential and light commercial construction projects. One of the biggest differences between the DD130 and other dozer brands is the visibility the DD130 provides of the machine’s dozer blade.
Develon also provided a preview of its new DTL35 compact track loader, the latest addition to the company’s line-up of compact construction equipment. This prototype 86.5 kW (116 HP) compact track loader is the company’s first entry in this product category, designed primarily for the North American construction market.
The DX20ZE-7, the first mass-produced electric-powered excavator manufactured by Develon, was also included in the product display. The DX20ZE-7 mini-excavator is powered by an in-house-developed 20.4 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, with all of the electrical system and components on the machine optimized for work in harsh environments. The battery pack in the DX20ZE-7 featured in a display called Technologies & Solutions that contributed to creating Green Life at Boryeong, which also included a newly developed mild-hybrid powertrain.
Complementing the Concept-X2 demonstration, Develon presented a range of smart technology solutions, including the first view of the new Quarry-X solution, designed to integrate all the operation processes involved in running a quarry, from order taking to sales using ICT technology to manage the site and increase productivity with minimal cost and time.
The Quarry-X concept from Develon addresses various customer needs by reducing machine downtime, improving the efficiency of loading operation management and preventing unexpected accidents. It does this by providing services that support the shipment, production, safety and fleet management of quarry sites using Smart Construction Equipment features.
Develon was delighted to host customers and dealers from across the world at the company’s first Global Customer Visit in South Korea. All the attendees agreed that the event gave them a much closer experience and extended knowledge of the latest innovations, products and company strategy at Develon. The visits to the Boryeong and Incheon facilities also provided visitors with an insight into how the company operates, and all of them enjoyed the warm hospitality and engagement with senior management and product experts throughout their time in South Korea.
