TAIPEI, TAIWAN (Oct. 2, 8 a.m. ET) — Taiwanese stretch blow molding machinery maker Chumpower Machinery Corp. is investing 40 million Chinese yuan (US$6.3 million) in a new factory in China, its second in the country, to meet growing demand in Africa, South America and the Middle East, a company executive said.
Chumpower’s new factory in Jaixing, Zhejiang province, will focus on simpler, less expensive machines popular in those markets, said Bush Hsieh, managing director of Taichung-based firm.
Hsieh said the factory will give the company overall capacity to make about 400 machines a year, which he said could give it the ability to make more stretch blow molding machines than any other company in Asia. The company could still trail Japan’s Nissei ASB in revenues, though.
“We still have many customers overseas who want machines produced in China,” said Hsieh, speaking in an interview at the company’s booth at the Taipei Plas show, held Sept. 21-25 in Taipei. “For the African market, we are doing very well.”
The company currently has factories in China’s Fujian province and in Taichung, with the Fujian facility focusing on domestic Chinese demand and the Taiwan headquarters factory making the company’s higher-end machines.
The 25,000 square meter Jiaxing factory will make machines similar to those in Fujian, with capacity of about 100 blow molding machines a year. It will employ about 100 workers and have the company’s first mold-making workshop in mainland China.
Chumpower said its global sales increased from US$33.3 million in 2010 to US$40 million last year, which it attributed to developing its fully-electric high speed machines three years ago. Sales grew 15 percent in the first half of 2012, and the company has maintained the same profit margins during the growth streak, Hsieh said.
The company has a sales target of US$67 million within five years.
The Taiwan factory manufacturers mostly all-electric machines for export, and its equipment has capacity of 18,000 bottles per hour and lower energy costs than the models made in China, he said.
The Fujian factory, on the other hand, makes a mix of electric and hydraulic machines with capacity of about 12,000 bottles per hour. About 90 percent of its production is sold in China, Hsieh said.
The company is also developing a 16-cavity stretch blow molding machine, he said.
