The global construction equipment market is one of the biggest in the world with a value of about 186.56 billion dollars (USD). And it's expected to grow to over 300 billion by 2032. There are several suppliers and manufacturers that contribute to this rising market.
Many contractors are loyal to their equipment suppliers. Either through reliability, great service, or just love of a brand's history, contractors know what they love and stick with them. Having reliable construction equipment providers is important for any contractor as equipment rentals, purchasing, and service are a significant portion of any construction company's costs.
Many of them you know and are household names like Caterpillar and John Deere. There are also some other companies that are on the rise. Below, we'll dive into the top construction equipment suppliers and manufacturers in the world, their history, and what equipment they offer.
Caterpillar, also known as CAT, is the world's largest construction equipment supplier and manufacturer. With over 500 locations across the globe, the Caterpillar brand is on almost every continent. With a history dating back to 1925, the CAT brand continues to grow with revenues reaching 59 billion in 2022.
Their equipment can be seen on almost every construction site across the world. They make a wide range of construction equipment ranging from compact equipment for residential projects to the biggest equipment that is designed for mines and quarries.
Types of Equipment: Caterpillar manufactures a wide range of construction equipment including articulated dump trucks, backhoe loaders, dozers, excavators, wheel loaders, skid steer loaders, compact track loaders, telehandlers, soil compactors, and more.
Revenue (2022): $59.4 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 109,100
Headquarters: Irving, Texas
John Deere, also known as Deere & Company or just Deere, manufactures equipment for the agriculture and construction industries. The John Deere brand has been around since the 1800s and is now one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers. While many of their agricultural machines are recognizable because of the "John Deere Greene", much of their construction equipment is yellow and black.
Types of Equipment: John Deere manufactures several types of heavy equipment including excavators, skid steers, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, bulldozers, motor graders, and articulated dump trucks. They also have a wide range of lawn care and agricultural equipment like tractors, lawnmowers, and harvesters.
Revenue (2022): $52.58 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 82,200
Headquarters: Moline, Illinois
Founded in 1921, Komatsu is the world's largest Japanese construction equipment manufacturer. With 60 manufacturing sites worldwide, they serve almost every country, with their largest markets being outside of Japan. Komatsu manufactures a wide range of large-scale equipment for commercial projects and the world's largest mines.
Types of Equipment: Primarily focusing on large-scale projects, Komatsu manufactures equipment like excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders, motor graders, and dump trucks. They do have small-project equipment like mini excavators and small dozers but most of their equipment is utilized in forestry, mining, and quarrying projects.
Revenue (2022): $24.91 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 59,632
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Founded in Germany, Liebherr manufactures equipment for construction, mines, material handling, and more. Liebherr was founded in 1949 and had a global revenue of 13.9 billion dollars in 2022. The company was created by Hans Liebherr and the Liebherr family is still in control of the company. Liebherr has locations across 40 countries, making it a global brand.
Types of Equipment: Liebherr has equipment for various projects and industries including earthmoving, deep foundation, concrete, and general construction. This includes excavators, mining trucks, dozers, cranes, wheel loaders, drilling rigs, and many more.
Revenue (2022): $13.9 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 51,321
Headquarters: Bulle, canton of Fribourg, Switzerland
Headquartered in China, the Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, or XCMG, is the world's fifth biggest construction equipment manufacturer. With sales of just over 13 billion dollars in 2022, XCMG has consistently grown since its founding in 1943. The XCMG brand exists in 190 countries and has 15 manufacturing plants around the world.
Types of Equipment: XCMG manufactures a wide range of construction equipment including wheel loaders, excavators, rollers, soil compactors, motor graders, and more.
Revenue (2022): $13.57 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 14,500
Headquarters: China
When Hyundai Heavy Industries bought Doosan Infracore in August 2021, a rebranding from Doosan was always in the plans. In January 2023, that became official when Doosan became Develon.
Develon, as a brand, originally started in 1937 as part of the Doosan company. This makes them one of the oldest construction equipment brands in the world.
Types of Equipment: Develon manufactures and designs a wide variety of construction equipment of all sizes. This includes excavators, mini excavators, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks, dozers, and more. Their equipment can be used across projects of any size.
Revenue (2022): $13.12 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 41,400
Headquarters: Seoul, South Korea
SANY is one of the newest and youngest companies on this list. Having only started in 1989, they've risen quickly to being one of the largest construction equipment suppliers in the world. SANY is a global brand with manufacturing sites in India, Brazil, the USA, and Germany.
Types of Equipment: SANY manufactures several types of equipment including backhoes, telehandlers, rollers, cranes, and wheel loaders, but it is their quality excavators that make them a global brand.
Revenue (2022): $11.96 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 90,000
Headquarters: Changsha, Hunan, China
Founded more than 190 years ago, Volvo Construction Equipment has an extremely rich heritage. However, it wasn't until 1950 that Volvo bought them and became the parent company. Now, Volvo CE is a reliable, trusted brand for hundreds of thousands of contractors around the world.
In 2022, they reported revenue of around 11 billion dollars. They have manufacturing sites across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Types of Equipment: Volvo has a very diverse product line ranging from earthmoving equipment to roadbuilding and material handling. Some of their most commonly bought and rented products include excavators, mini excavators, wheel loaders, articulated dump trucks, and more.
Revenue (2022): $11.00 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 14,000
Headquarters: Gothenburg, Sweden
Founded in 1862 in Sweden, Sandvik is a construction equipment manufacturer that specializes in machines for drilling, mining, rock excavation, and more. In other words, Sandvik might not be a brand that is recognized by the public but is crucial to developing rural areas and mines. Sandvik sells to more than 150 countries with most of its revenue coming from the mining industry.
Types of Equipment: Sandvik produces and manufactures several types of specialized equipment including drill rigs, rock drills, crushers, screens, underground loaders and trucks, and many more.
Revenue (2022): $10.81 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 40,000
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
A subsidiary of Hitachi Group, Hitachi Construction Machinery is a construction equipment manufacturer known for its orange-colored equipment. They have a global presence with sales nearing 9 billion dollars and partnerships on every continent.
Types of Equipment: Hitachi has a diverse range of products including excavators ranging from mini to mining, wheel loaders, rigid dump trucks, and road rollers.
Revenue (2022): $9.08 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 25,000
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Founded in 1992 in China, Zoomlion started manufacturing concrete pumps. Now they have production sites in India, China, Italy, Germany, Brazil, and more. Their equipment offerings in North America are limited but expanding.
Types of Equipment: Zoomlion manufactures and sells several types of equipment around the world including cranes, excavators, boom lifts, scissor lifts, road rollers, bulldozers, loaders, and more.
Revenue (2022): $5.8 Billion USD
Number of Employees (2022): 25,283
Headquarters: Changsha, China
Starting in 1945, JCB began manufacturing agricultural equipment for farmers. Now, JCB has 22 manufacturing plants across four continents and supplies equipment for the material handling, construction, demolition, and agricultural industries.
Types of Equipment: Within its product portfolio, JCB manufactures backhoe loaders, excavators, telehandlers, compact track loaders, wheel loaders, skid steer loaders, and more.
Revenue (2022): $5.27 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 11,000
Headquarters: Rocester, United Kingdom
CASE CE is a subsidiary of CNH, the parent company for New Holland, CASE IH, and more. Dating back to 1842, CASE has been an equipment manufacturer for more than 180 years. In 2022 it was reported that they did sales nearing 3.6 billion dollars.
Types of Equipment: CASE manufacturers several common pieces of construction equipment including bulldozers, excavators, skid steers, road rollers, wheel loaders, and forklifts.
Revenue (2022): $3.6 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 1,000
Headquarters: Turin, Italy
Hyundai Construction Equipment hasn't been around as long as many people may think. The division was only founded in 1985 but has since gone on to do incredible things. Across just North America they have 170 dealer locations.
Types of Equipment: The equipment that Hyundai manufactures includes excavators, wheel loaders, road rollers, soil compactors, articulated dump trucks, and more.
Revenue (2022): $3.6 Billion (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 1,615
Headquarters: South Korea
Founded in 1987, Kobelco Construction Machinery is a younger company and a subsidiary of Kobe Steel. Recognized for their teal equipment, Kobelco expanded to China in 1994 and the United States in 2004.
Types of Equipment: Kobelco solely manufactures excavators for a wide range of industries and specialties including car demolition, scrapyards, long reach, and more.
Revenue (2022): $753.83 Million (USD)
Number of Employees (2022): 8,200
Headquarters: Kobe, Japan
Every company above is a reliable construction equipment manufacturer, however, what contractors care about depends on a multitude of factors. For example, some care about part availability and serviceability more than the initial cost. Others may care more about the quality of the technology within the machine.
A few ways to get an understanding of each supplier are using customer reviews, renting equipment, hearing reviews from other contractors, or speaking with sales representatives.
Going the rental route is the best way to learn about each supplier and manufacturer. There is no better way to understand machinery and equipment than working with it yourself. With DOZR, you can rent from the best construction equipment rental companies that rent equipment from all the top manufacturers.
Attend a Ritchie Bros. auction live or online and you’ll to find equipment from a broad range of manufacturers—from Caterpillar to Komatsu, John Deere to Sany, we’ve got them all. But how do they stack up? Who are the world’s top construction equipment makers?
International Construction Magazine has released its Yellow Table, an annual ranking of the world’s top 50 construction equipment manufacturers by sales figures. The magazine is reporting construction equipment sales reached a combined $230.6 billion in 2022 for the world’s top 50 OEMs. That’s down slightly from last year’s US$232.7 billion, the highest figure ever recorded by the survey.
US-based OEMs accounted for 26% of total revenue while China-based OEMs made up 18%.
There was minimal movement in the top 5 OEMs from last year’s rankings. The only change was John Deere displacing Chinese manufacturer Sany for the #4 spot.
Here’s a look at the world’s top five construction equipment manufacturers, as published in the 2023 Yellow Table ranking:
With over US$37 billion in sales, Caterpillar continues to reign supreme atop the Yellow Table standings. The US-based equipment giant accounted for 16% of the top-50’s total revenue.
Komatsu retains its second-place spot on the Yellow Table. The Japanese OEM recently announced it is developing an excavator with hydrogen fuel cell systems. A step closer for the company’s stated goal of carbon neutrality.
XCMG from China sits #3 on the Yellow Table as the word’s third largest construction OEM. Despite seeing a decline in revenue in 2022, the company is projecting 10% revenue growth in 2023 based on overall industry trends.
U.S. manufacturer John Deere keeps inching up the table. Last year it ranked #5 and the year prior it was #6. The company reported net income of $7.1 billion, marking an increase of 20% from 2021.
China-based OEM Sany dropped one position to #5. According to KHL, the Chinese construction market faced head winds in 2022 after two strong years, so a drop for its biggest manufacturers wasn’t unexpected.
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