Trelleborg inaugurates a new facility for production of tires for the agricultural industry in Xingtai, China
Today, Trelleborg Group inaugurates a new manufacturing facility in Xingtai, Hebei, China to manufacture high-performance specialty, primarily agricultural tires.
The new investment is part of Trelleborg’s continued long-term strategy to grow in markets with favorable potential. Using proven leading-edge manufacturing processes, the site produces both radial and bias technology tires for farming, forestry and agro-industrial applications. It will serve the needs of Trelleborg’s partners by providing local supply to their Chinese facilities, and just as importantly to local manufacturers.
“We believe that China has highly favorable long-term growth opportunities and our strong global platform will be further reinforced by this facility,” says Peter Nilsson, President and CEO of Trelleborg. “This new production unit continues our commitment to the agricultural sector in China. The manufacturing facility will also strengthen Trelleborg’s competitiveness on markets other than the Chinese, by broadening the range and through more efficient production.”
“There is enormous potential within the agricultural sector in China. Today, more than half of farming operations in the country are conducted manually and industry mechanization is taking place rapidly. The demand for high-performance agricultural tires is favorable,” says Business Area President, Trelleborg Wheel Systems, Maurizio Vischi. “Through this establishment, Trelleborg becomes the first global manufacturer of agricultural tires to have its own production in China. The facility provides proximity to Chinese customers, but also support to European and U.S. customers in the local Chinese market.”
The inauguration on June 27, 2012, was attended by guests from all over the world including representatives from leading tractors manufacturers, along with the Swedish ambassador to China, Mr Lars Fredén, and the Mayor of Xingtai City, Ph.D Professor Daqun Liu as well as Trelleborg Top Management.
The Trelleborg group has several manufacturing facilities in China, in Huizhou, Shanghai, Wuxi, Qingdao and Xingtai. The facilities manufacture a broad range of Trelleborg’s engineered products and solutions based on polymer technology, such as marine systems, specialty components, industrial antivibration, agricultural tires, printing solutions and precision seals, among others. In addition, there are a couple of development centers in Shanghai for sealing solutions and vibration damping, as well as several market offices to effectively cultivate the local market. Trelleborg has approximately 1,500 employees in China and sales in 2011 amounted to nearly 1,100 million SEK.