When it comes to testing equipment, the trials aren’t always done under a no-drone zone on the back 40 of an OEM’s top-secret proving ground in the desert.
Kubota and The Texas A&M University System are teaming up for a strategic venture within the University’s Research and Development program to examine equipment working in various applications.
The company’s excavators, compact track loaders, skid steers, and no doubt some of Kubota’s signature orange tractors, will be under close scrutiny in the dirt—and in the lab—as the “Aggies” learn about construction equipment.
Specifically, Kubota will be working with the University to test equipment and observe performance overall, and to test various field operations within the research facilities at Texas A&M, including the dynamometer laboratory, temperature control laboratory, and hydraulics flow laboratory.
“In keeping with Kubota’s global brand statement ‘For Earth, For Life’, we have a vested interest in furthering Texas A&M’s mission of preparing youth for leadership, responsibility, and service to a global society,” said Masato Yoshikawa, president and CEO of Kubota Tractor Corporation. “Through this relationship we are committed to harnessing the research-intensive power of the university system to help improve our construction equipment—and, together, our innovations will work to improve people’s lives in Texas, across the United States, and all over the world.”
The decision to work with Texas A&M dovetails nicely with the relocation of Kubota’s North American headquarters to Grapevine, Texas, earlier this year. Kubota’s U.S. operations were previously run from Torrance, Calif. It’s also a good way to evaluate iron and perhaps gain fresh ideas.
The University sees the venture as a way to use its research expertise and help develop student skills.
“The Texas A&M University System stands today as one of the largest research university systems in the country,” said Texas A&M University System chancellor John Sharp. “Teaming up with Kubota in this new venture allows the Texas A&M University System to help leverage the strength of Kubota’s brand in the area of innovation and research, while promoting our mission of developing new leaders in exciting and pioneering ways.”
