“We have come to stay”
Open day at DEVELON with German premiere
The new DEVELON location in Mannheim was opened in April. On 27 September, 300 customers, dealers and business partners were able to see for themselves how strong the company is with its products and services. Visitors also learned that structures are being created at this location for even greater customer proximity and further growth in the European market.
With 35 exhibits, the wide product range of the South Korean manufacturer was underlined – from mini excavators in the 2 to 5 ton class, the DX100W-7 wheeled excavator, the DD130-7 crawler, the DL420-7 wheel loader or the DA30-7 dumper to the DX260LC-9 crawler excavator with an operating weight of 26.3 tons. Three state-of-the-art service vehicles rounded off the machine exhibition on the 10,560 m2 site in the Mannheim district of Friedrichsfeld in the immediate vicinity of the A 656. The now 18 employees and eight service technicians provided information about the machines and their features, offered the opportunity to try them out and in some cases also to test them.
As expected, the absolute highlight was the two crawler excavators DX230LC and DX260LC of the -9 series. “This new machine series represents a quantum leap compared to the previous series. The machines are highly efficient and intelligently digitized,” explained Andreas M. Lohner, Managing Director Germany and Sales Manager for the DACH region. However, the DX230LC attracted everyone’s attention for another reason: After its European premiere a few days earlier in France, the excavator equipped with E-Stop could be tested by users themselves for the first time in Germany. The next-generation emergency stop system combines the Human Detection System (HDS) with intuitive controls. Improved radar sensors monitor a 330-degree field of view, allowing people and objects to be distinguished. If a person approaches the machine at 6 meters, it slows down, and if it is less than 4 meters, it stops. “A milestone in terms of safety on the construction site, this value-added function is currently unique in the market in this machine class,” says Lohner. Many visitors were happy to make themselves available as “guinea pigs”. “Everyone took away that the E-Stop works perfectly,” said Hans-Werner Eder, Sales Manager for the DEVELON-DACH dealers.Eng. Alessandro Ciuffa, Asset Planning Manager at Amplia Infrastructures, stated:Norman Tasca, Develon Key Accounts Manager for South EU, East EU, Benelux, Nordics & Baltics, coordinated the entire operation and directly manages the relationship with Amplia Infrastructures. Commenting on the start of the collaboration, he said:
Leader in safety
DEVELON has enjoyed a reputation for being a leader in safety not only since the introduction of the transparent shovel. Of course, this solution on the DL420CVT-7 wheel loader was again the focus of interest. Another crowd puller – as at bauma and NordBau – was the DX140RDM-7 demolition excavator with a short tail. “The model has now been sold several times, the customer has kindly made this machine available to us especially for today so that we can present it to our customers – and more machines are in the pipeline,” Lohner reported.
Together with management member René Halter, he invited people to a tour a total of eight times. This began in the showroom – which had only recently been set up. Here, the company’s history is presented, the new generation of cabins with the digital features can be tried out for yourself, and a video shows the creation of the site from March 2024 to moving in in February 2025 in fast motion. “You can see that building – except for the approval process – is also possible in Germany for less than twelve months if you have the right partners,” Halter explained. The adjoining building sections have a total net area of around 3,000 m2 and were implemented together with the Adler Immobilien Investment Group. DEVELON machines were used almost exclusively for building construction.
More than 160 interested people did not miss the sightseeing tours and took a look at the comfortable and generously sized offices, the 500 m2 spare parts and components warehouse and the 1,250 m2 workshop, as well as the education and training center. The training room with space for 40 participants is adjoined by the training workshop, in which practical units on topics such as engines or maintenance are carried out after the theoretical part on construction machinery of almost any size. “Since March, we have organized 14 training courses, and from 2026 there will be 25 per year,” explained Christian Lankers, responsible for the training center in the DACH region. “We offer a total of more than 440 web-based online training courses in six languages,” he added. Customers, service partners and external companies can also use the self-contained area for their training courses and events.
The tour also led through the second, currently vacant floor with an area of 400 m2. “South Korea is far away and thanks to our central location, our engineers will use this as a strategic hub to listen even better to our German and European customers and to further develop our products according to their wishes – DEVELON, develop onwards,” the Managing Director continued. The first projects are already underway with selected major customers.
Unique location
“With the Mannheim site, we have implemented a concept that has never existed before in our Group,” explained Lohner. The company otherwise relies exclusively on dealer sales and is well positioned in the DACH region with its 18 dealers at 55 locations. But when Doosan became DEVELON in 2022, as part of a global corporate strategy, no suitable dealer could be found in the Rhine-Main region and so the decision was made to take over the dealership itself for the first time in Europe and build up this business. In this context, Lohner mentions the very good cooperation with other dealers, who have already met here at the location several times this year. A comprehensive rental offer was also implemented at the Mannheim location. It currently comprises 66 aircraft. The fact that there was not much to see of this on the open day speaks for the high utilization of the rental fleet.
Services are becoming increasingly important and are now a decisive purchasing criterion. Through its excellent dealer and service network, the Mannheim location also relies on service partners and is now already present at five locations in the Rhine-Neckar region with on-site service close to the customers. In addition, the DEVELON headquarters in Mannheim supports its customers through the Uptime Center, where the MyDEVELON app is used to efficiently monitor the machines sold and rented. “We can proactively inform our customers that maintenance is due soon and can help to minimize downtime,” says Rene HalterA Reference for Complex Infrastructure
“Guests ask a lot of technical questions and find out about our wide range of rental offers and prices,” reported Erol Atas, Head of Rent, during the open day. Even though that was not the primary goal, in the end it was even possible to conclude some deals because the customers were simply impressed by the power DEVELON has built up here. Andreas M. Lohner was pleased with the many trusting discussions with customers, dealers and business partners as well as their extremely positive feedback. “We have come to stay,” he said during one of the tours. A clear sign of this is the ten-year lease agreement and the further expansion of the site.
Dieter Schnittjer, board member and managing director of the Association of the Construction Industry, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (VDBUM) was also among the guests. He wished him every success at the new location and presented the long-standing member of the association with a trophy as a special token of appreciation, which was immediately given a place of honour in the showroom. At the same time, it was announced that DEVELON will be a focus partner of the VDBUM Major Seminar 2027. “We will address our solutions with real added value in the areas of digital, efficiency and security,” Lohner announced.
More information about DEVELON can be found on the website https://eu.develon-ce.com/de/ or on the website of DEVELON Mannheim: https://develon-ce.de/
Strong team: The now 18 employees and eight service technicians welcomed 300 interested parties to the open day, which took place for the first time at the new DEVELON location in Mannheim.
State-of-the-art technology: The two highly efficient and intelligently digitized crawler excavators DX230LC and DX260LC of the -9 series impressed the guests. The DX230LC is equipped with E-Stop, the next-generation emergency stop system, which celebrated its German premiere.
Good partnership: Dieter Schnittjer (4th from right) and Andreas M. Lohner (5th from right) announced that DEVELON will be a focus partner of the VDBUM Major Seminar 2027. Schnittjer congratulated DEVELON on the new location and presented the long-standing member with a trophy as a special appreciation, which was immediately given a place of honor.