Wacker Neuson Group is planning to open a new plant near in China, near Shanghai, the company announced. Initially compact excavators will be produced for the local market, followed by additional products. The company expects the first compact excavator to roll off the production line at the beginning of 2018.
The new plant will be in Pinghu, about 30 kilometers from Shanghai. Wacker Neuson CEO Cem Peksaglam signed the corresponding contracts on site last week.
“We have finally decided for the Pinghu location in Zhejiang Province, which best fulfills our requirements and the support of local authorities is outstanding,” said Peksaglam. “We are continuing our strategy of internationalization with this step. In the largest construction machine market in the world, we underline our commitment towards our Chinese customers and trading partners."
The facility is strategically located between Shanghai and Hangzhou as well as having a good infrastructure, Wacker Neuson said. Manufacturing facilities, research and development, quality management, logistics, service and training will be located on about 135,000 square meters (about 1.45 million square feet) with approximately 30,000 square meters (322,917 square feet) of building space. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2016, with completion expected by the end of 2017.
The products will be designed initially for the Chinese market and later the Asian market.
Wacker Neuson has sold construction equipment in China for more than 20 years. The product portfolio for the Chinese market was extended in 2015 to include compact equipment. An increasing need for improved infrastructure, the extension and modernization of the road and rail network offers attractive growth opportunities for Wacker Neuson, while trending towards more efficient and environmentally friendly compact equipment. A stronger presence in the country, including research and development and production will lay the groundwork for future growth and improvements in the Asia-Pacific region.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.