Press peripherals maker technotrans is to share manufacturing facilities in China with fellow German, KLH Kältetechnik, which makes cooling systems.
technotrans is to relocate manufacturing from Beijing to KLH’s base in Taicang, leaving the facilities it established in 1997. It mostly builds dampening solution circulators for the local market.
Management board spokesperson Henry Brickenkamp says relocating to KLH will see combined capacity utilisation optimised: “There will be greater flexibility to adjust to short-term fluctuations in demand, and the lower structural costs will provide a lasting boost to competitiveness.”
KLH has been producing cooling systems for the Asian market, used mainly in the laser industry, since 2009 through its subsidiary Taicang KLH Cooling Systems, in Jiangsu Province (PR China).
The Taicang location, some 50 km north-west of Shanghai, is the focus of Sino-German joint ventures. The city of around 450,000 is in the Yangtze delta – one of China’s most important machine tool engineering regions. The well-developed infrastructure and the ready availability of specialists are attracting international investors to what is a relatively small city in Chinese terms. To date, around 1000 foreign companies from more than 20 countries have invested in ventures in Taicang. One of the largest groups is German industry, including wall plugs manufacturer Fischer, saw manufacturer Stihl and mechanical engineering company Trumpf.
Economic growth has been an annual 50 per cent since 1996.
technotrans’ customers in the market will continue to be looked after by the sales and service team in Beijing, which is to move into new offices.
“This manufacturing partnership is an important milestone in the process of jointly tapping this important growth market,” says Brickenkamp.