Nagano-based Nissei said the facility in Taicang, Jiangsu province, will make 300 machines in 2010 and 600 in 2011, more than double the 180 machines the company told Plastics News in a 2008 interview that it would produce in China.

The new facility, slated to open in October, will help the company capitalize in growing demand in mainland China and avoid the threat of high tariffs on imported molding machines, said Nissei President Hozumi Yoda, in an email response to Plastics News questions.

Yoda's comments suggest that China is becoming a larger part of Nissei's footprint.

Nissei this year trimmed its headquarters staff by 200, and has seen production fall to an annualized pace of 1,500 machines, Yoda said. [By comparison, he said in a 2008 interview with Plastics News, before the economic crisis, that the company was making 3,600 machines a year.]

The global economic situation changed Nissei's thinking, he said.

"At the same time [as Nissei trimmed Japanese operations], the Chinese government began to increase domestic demand as part of the economic stimulus plan," he said. "Value added tax rebates on white goods and automobiles began to flow, and the industry perception [of China] began to significantly change from the factory of the world to Chinese domestic demand."

He said the company's plan is "geared toward China's domestic demand expansion program. The idea was simple - to ensure a structure in which significant changes in import duty laws related to molding machines could be best accommodated in the future by making things in China that are going to be sold in China."

He said the target of 300 machines in China in 2010 depends on the economy, but he said the goal of 600 machines in 2011 is "not a far-fetched number."

He said the company is not going after scale in China, and it is very important to maintain the same quality in China as it has in Japan.

He also suggested production outside Japan will be increasingly important for the firm's general purpose markets. Nissei was in some ways more hesitant than other Japanese rivals to set up overseas production.

"In the future, production sites will be essential in markets that could expect a certain amount of volume, mainly with our general-purpose machines," he said. "It is essential that we design a package factory [a standard production facility] that improves the maximum production efficiency with minimum scale, employee, and the fastest tact. Currently, we are in the progress of making that happen."

The 4,400-square-meter China facility, with about 3,240 square meters of factory space, will initially assemble components from Japan but Nissei said it will increasingly use local components starting next year, to lower costs.

Nissei also said it would consider exporting machines from China in the future.

The company plans to make several models in Taicang, including four models of its NEX electric presses, from 50 to 180 tons, and four models of its hybrid PNX and FNX series, with clamping forces of 40 to 180 tons.

The plant will start with 27 employees, including three from Japan and 24 local staff, with total employment projected at 90 by 2011.