TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Extrusion thermoforming equipment specialist Guangdong Designer Machinery Co. Ltd. plans to open a new 70,000-square-meter factory in Shantou early next year.
The manufacturer anticipates a 25 percent jump this year on 2013 sales of $20 million, marketing director Jameson Chen said at the company's modest Taipei Plas booth.
The facility will more than double the footprint of the company's five existing plants. Guangdong Designer currently employs 240, Chen said.
Sales are split evenly between the Chinese and export markets, Chen said. The bulk of exports go to Southeast Asian buyers, followed by Latin America and the Middle East. In all, the 21-year-old company has shipped to 35 countries.
To fuel penetration of the Middle Eastern market, the company opened a Dubai service office earlier this year. The company has had service centers in Jakarta and Bangkok since the early 2010s.
Like other manufacturers showing at the biannual Taiwan show, Chen sees a big move to automated equipment.
"Now people want to cut labor costs," Chen said.
Automated systems also require less training time — a key advantage when coping with today's job-hopping workforce.
Guangdong Designer's products include a PET/polylactic acid twin-screw extruder and an extruder connected to a thermoformer for producing cups.
To stand out in a jostling crowd of Pearl River competitors, the company needs to slash turnaround times, Chen said. Typically, it takes four months or longer from the time it takes an order to the time it ships a finished machine.
The company needs to speed up internal parts manufacture and slash the time needed to obtain sourced parts, Chen said.