Haitian beats the odds with higher sales last year; breaks ground on smart factory in Foshan

Despite the pandemic last year, Haitian International, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of injection moulding machines, says that it posted a new sales record for the 2020 fiscal year, with well over 43,000 machines sold. This represents total sales of RMB11 billion and a year-on-year increase in sales of 20%.

In 2020, the Covid-19 virus outbreak and its rapid spread into a pandemic severely shook the entire global economy. Nearly all countries and all major economies in the world are still reeling from the effects today. China’s economy benefited from strict preventive and control measures taken by the government and was soon able to return to positive growth and normal economic operation. Thanks to this rapid recovery in the domestic economic situation, Haitian says it experienced strong, growing demand.

Although sales in some overseas markets were severely affected by the pandemic, the holding company recorded an increase in export sales thanks to the continuous expansion of its global network. It increased by 2.1% to RMB3.5 billion despite the pandemic.

Due to the strong demand for mass medical products and packaging in the first half of the year, there was a new sales record of the Haitian Mars Series with more than 37,000 machines sold. As a result, the 2020 annual sales of the best-selling series increased by 28.6% year-on-year to RMB8 billion. The household goods and automotive markets also saw growth in 2020, despite the pandemic. This mainly benefited the electric Zhafir series as well as the Haitian Jupiter series with two-plate technology. Here, sales increased by 6.8% to RMB1.4 billion and by 3.2% to RMB 1.3 billion, respectively.

For future growth, Haitian also expects to digitalise its in-house manufacturing, especially in terms of R&D, intelligent production processes, digital system integration and process control.

Furthermore, the focus is on the standardisation of machine components to further increase efficiency, especially in the optimisation of technologies as well as smart manufacturing.

In terms of smart manufacturing the firm recently held an official groundbreaking in Shunde County, near Foshan City in Guangdong Province, for the construction of a Smart Factory for advanced component and machinery manufacturing. With a total investment for the entire industrial park of nearly RMB10 billion, the first phase of construction will mainly be for the production and manufacturing of intelligent injection moulding machines on an area of around 300,000 sq m. Later, it will be complemented by CNC machine tools, robotics and automation and intelligent manufacturing systems.

The ceremony, comes eight months after signing the investment cooperation agreement between Haitian and the governments of Guangdong and Foshan, and marked the beginning of a new chapter in the smart manufacturing industry; for Shunde District. It is seen as a pioneering step towards the realisation of high-end industrial projects as part of the region’s urban and economic development. The local environment will be fully involved in the company’s upstream and downstream value chain, helping to root Haitian in southern China, the company adds.

Going forward, Haitian says it will work with the local manufacturing industry and regional governments to share urban development opportunities, promote the modernisation and transformation of the manufacturing industry, and create new opportunities in the field of “digital intelligence.” ​

The new high-end industrial facility is not only an important strategic step in Haitian’s 14th Five-Year Plan but will also act as the second pillar of the company’s “Double Center” strategy. A second, autonomous headquarters within China that will completely supply the South China market.

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