Officials of Gienkee Plas Center are bringing machinery, mold and material suppliers together in a gleaming new facility, with a special twist - an emphasis on training China's technical plastics workers in new technology.
``We organize everything for the customer in this center,'' said Irene Xu, vice general manager of Gienkee Plas Science & Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., which is building the 97,000-square-foot Gienkee Plas Center in Shanghai. Scheduled to be completed in June, the center will have about 65,000 square feet of office space and training rooms and 32,000 square feet of showrooms.
The firm also has invested $15 million to set up Gienkee Industrial Park in Wujiang, geared toward international companies in the plastics industry. Construction of a series of individual factory buildings should begin in mid-2006 and take about a year before the park is completed, Xu said.
Gienkee offers supplier clients a range of services, Xu said in a mid-November interview in temporary offices at the under-construction Gienkee Plas Center.
Gienkee's predecessor company, Amaso International Co. Ltd. in Shanghai, was engaged in sales and service of injection molding machines and related auxiliary equipment. Founded in 1994, Amaso also did turnkey engineering for new molding factories.
In 2004, Amaso founded Gienkee International Co. Ltd. and Gienkee Plas Science & Technology, to enter the business of plastics exhibition centers and industrial parks. All the businesses of the former Amaso have been incorporated into Gienkee.
Gienkee International continues to handle sales of plastics machinery, molds, raw materials and auxiliary equipment, using an extensive sales network in China. The company is a sales agent for several of the companies setting up shop in Gienkee Plas Center, such as German injection press maker Demag Plastics Group of Schwaig.
Gienkee, including the sales arm, plastics center and industrial park, employs 86 and generates annual sales of about $45 million.
China already has many plastics markets and trading malls, but Xu said Gienkee Plas Center will focus on more tightly integrating suppliers, so they can help customers and communicate better among themselves. The technical courses for Chinese processors also will familiarize technicians and engineers with the equipment of companies on display at the center.
``For the end user, if they want to buy an injection molding machine, they also need the robot and the quick-mold-change system and the material to mold and so on,'' Xu said. ``We can support each other.''
The facility also will publish a magazine. Xu said the magazine and employee training will help fill a need in China, as the country's plastics industry becomes more modern.
Xu came to Gienkee Plas Center from Haitian Machinery Co. Ltd., the giant Chinese injection molding machine maker based in Ningbo. Haitian has signed up to locate in the center.
Besides Haitian and Demag, Xu said these companies have agreed to join Gienkee Plas Center, including:
* Star Seiki Co. Ltd., the Japanese robot maker.
* SimpaTec Simulation & Technology Consulting GmbH, the German supplier of molding software.
* Japanese auxiliary equipment maker Kawata Mfg. Co. Ltd.
* Matsui Manufacturing Ltd., a Japanese auxiliary supplier.
* Dutch quick-mold-change supplier EAS.
* Keba AG, an Austrian company that makes controllers for injection molding machines.
* Wittmann Kunststoffgeräte GmbH, the Austrian robot maker.
* Sanjo Seiki Co. Ltd., the Japanese supplier of vertical presses for insert molding.
* Shini Plastics Technologies Inc., a Taiwan-based auxiliary equipment maker.
* Well Lih Industrial Co. Ltd. of Taiwan, which makes auxiliary equipment.
* Fomtec Machinery Co. Ltd., a Taiwan-based vertical injection press maker.
* Chinese screw and barrel maker, Zhejiang Zhoushan Hongfa Plastic Machine Co. Ltd.
