DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY — Chinese film extrusion equipment maker Guangdong Simcheng Plastics Machinery plans to set up a research center in Germany and expand its manufacturing capacity in China to meet growing demand.
Simcheng (Hall 12/F41) claims 80 percent of China's domestic market for large multilayer cast film lines and said it sees opportunities to expand in the European market. It plans to open the research and development center in Munich next year, said Annie Qin, assistant to the general manager.
The center will have up to 10 employees. Qin declined to elaborate on what opportunities the company sees in Europe.
In an interview at the K fair, she said the company also plans to invest about 200 million Chinese yuan ($32.8 million) in a new assembly plant in Yongzhou, Hunan province, to give it more capacity for biaxially-oriented polypropylene extrusion lines.
The new factory will open in 2015, with about 100 employees, she said. All of the company's current production is at its headquarters campus in Foshan, Guangdong province, where it employs 300.
It has annual sales of about 200 million yuan ($32.8 million), Qin said, and anticipates 10 percent growth this year.
Simcheng is expanding in Hunan province because it is difficult to find available land in Foshan, in southern China's Pearl River Delta manufacturing zone.
At K, the company also was touting new extrusion lines for manufacturing agricultural mulch film.
Simcheng manufactures extruders for five markets: cast PP, cast polyethylene, EVA, PVB and BOPP.
The company makes about 50 extrusion lines a year. On its website, it said it focuses on equipment for new energy products like solar battery encapsulation films, films for safety glass and equipment for soft food packaging. It said in 2011 it established a research lab for solar battery encapsulation film.
The company also said last year it introduced an 8.3 meter BOPP line, the widest in China, and was targeting the equipment at replacing imported machines in China. Imports have dominated the high-speed and wide-width BOPP market in the country, Simcheng said.