Injection press sales climbed 35.7 percent to a record $2.5 billion (16 billion RMB) in 2021 for Ningbo, China-based Haitian International Holdings Ltd., following strong global demand in the first half of the year and stability in the second half.
The world's largest press builder delivered more than 56,000 machines in 2021 with officials of the publicly traded company pointing to COVID-19 vaccinations and easing monetary and fiscal policies, in addition to increased demand from many industries, as boding well for the bottom line.
In China, sales increased 33 percent compared with the prior year. Exports exceeded 10,000 units for the first time, according to Haitian's annual report for 2021.
Overseas sales reached $773 million (4.93 billion RMB), which represents an increase of 40.1 percent compared with 2020. The company increased its market share in North America, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America.
To serve customers in Mexico, Central America and some countries in South America, Haitian opened a 290,625-square-foot factory last year in Acatlán de Juárez, 30 miles south of the city of Guadalajara, to produce machines. The company said the facility is the first mass injection molding machinery manufacturing factory in Mexico.
What's selling? Haitian said of sales of the group's main product — the Mars series — climbed steadily by 33.2 percent to $1.7 billion for the year. That 10,000th press shipped overseas in 2021 was a Mars press sent to Vietnam.
Sales of Haitian's Zhafir all-electric series and Jupiter two-platen series also reached all-time highs with the recovery of high-end industries and the automotive sector in both China and overseas, the report said.
In China, Haitian's third-generation machines have been well received. To further develop domestic markets, the company's second headquarters site in Shunde, in southern China, is expected to start trial production in the second half of 2022.
Meanwhile, globally, Haitian plans to offset projected higher logistical costs by expanding overseas regional headquarters sites. The company said it will turn overseas assembly and trade-oriented factories into regional centers for research and development, manufacturing, assembly, application, sales and service "to localize production worldwide."
At the same time, the company will continue to focus on digitization to improve quality, efficiency and process synergies within the Haitian Group.
"We will promote standardized production of components while meeting the needs of each market segment and individual customers, based on our product strategy 'Technology to the Point.' Haitian will continue to create value for its customers with better quality and more convenient services and grow hand in hand with customers, employees, partners and investors," Haitian International Executive Director Zhang Bin said in a news release.
Haitian has 7,300 employees.
Later this year, the company will publish an environmental, social and governance report showing milestones of past years and future goals related to clean technologies, processing biodegradable materials and energy efficiency.