Even though costs are rising in China, there is no better place to be for manufacturing than China because of the need for economies of scale for cost advantages, said Prof Helmar Franz, Member of the Board of Chinese injection moulding machine maker Haitian International. Speaking at the pre-K preview in Germany, Franz said that Haitian is building its 11th facility, a 120,000 sq m plant in Chungxiao, Ningbo, with a capacity for producing up to 10,000 machines/year. It will focus on 30-500 tonne all-electric machines and will be ready by 2014.

Meanwhile, Franz also said that piling has been done on another site in Yanshan, Ningbo, for a 150,000 sq m facility for two-platen machines. "We have not yet decided on capacity as we are still considering a process technology that is used in a small machine factory and to improve the internal processes (process of manufacturing flow)." The facility will be ready by 2015.

Haitian averages sales of 25,000 to 30,000 machines per year, with some 5,000 machines being exported to about 80 countries. The goal is to create basics to raise production efficiency in China through modern processes and expand its own vertical manufacturing capacity, said Franz. "To create efficient solutions for the customer, it always begins at home. Only when you have exhausted all possibilities within your own manufacturing process can you talk about real efficiency and offer an optimal price/performance ratio to customers," he adds. As a consequence, both new plants in Ningbo will be designed and built according to the principles of lean production in China. "Building competitive machines requires as much flexibility as possible with extensive minimisation of costs. This inevitably results in purchase prices that give the customers sufficient leeway to produce efficiently themselves."

But the icing on the cake will be its new head office in Ningbo, which will be ready before October this year and will serve as a hub for the facilities it has in Ningbo and globally.

The above is in addition to its assembly factories in Vietnam, Brazil, Germany and Turkey, "to capitalise on currency changes and since assembly also requires certain volumes". It has also set up new technical centres in the US and Russia this year and Thailand last year. In addition, a subsidiary was established in South Africa.