Husky further invests in China to meet needs of growing customer base

Husky Injection Molding Systems has announced additional investments to support its continued growth in China with plans to establish a new manufacturing facility in the region of Suzhou.

Ongoing investments will enable Husky to improve local support, reduce lead times and more responsively react to the needs of its rapidly growing customer base in the region.

“Husky has enjoyed long-standing relationships with many customers throughout China. Strong increase in demand for plastics in the region has helped fuel customer growth and we have been fortunate enough to grow with our customers. Today, Asia Pacific represents one of the largest and most dynamic markets the company serves,” said John Galt, Husky’s President and CEO. “Our investment in Suzhou is a step toward ensuring we are able to meet the growing expectations of customers in this region. Our goal is to be increasingly nimble and agile to provide the best, most responsive service and support – not only to China, but to markets globally.”

Husky recently signed an investment agreement with the local government in Suzhou to purchase 53,000 square meters (80 mu) of land in this region. The area of land is located in the Suzhou New District and is a Greenfield site that has significant opportunity for further expansion beyond the existing land area. Husky plans to establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing location that will further increase local capacity to improve customer support and shorten lead times. The site is expected to be fully operational in 2014 and will add to the company’s already strong presence in China.

Working with the industry’s largest service and sales network, Husky is continuously investing in its global infrastructure to meet customers’ specific needs. Over the last several years, Husky has strengthened its presence and supply chain capabilities in China. Since first establishing a presence in 2004, Husky has more than doubled its footprint in the region and has more than tripled its regional workforce.

The Suzhou facility will complement Husky’s existing facilities, most notably the Shanghai Technical Center. Opened as Husky’s Asia Pacific headquarters, the Shanghai location has also doubled its footprint since 2004, expanding in 2006 and again in 2009. It continues to be a central hub for the region and is responsible for a number of key activities, including service and sales, development engineering, human resources, finance, machine assembly and hot runner manufacturing.

To accommodate growing hot runner business in the region, Husky has also made recent investments in hot runner refurbishing, hot runner manufacturing and mold conversion capacity. A key focus of these initiatives is to continue to reduce lead times and improve responsiveness, supporting the company’s overall strategy to serve customers in the region more effectively.