Worthington Compressors signs joint venture for compressors in China
27 mar 1997
Stockholm, March 27 -- Worthington Compressors, a company within Atlas Copco’s Industrial Air division, and Shanghai General Machinery Group have signed a joint venture agreement for production of oil injected screw compressors in Shanghai, China. The joint venture is capitalized at USD 3.5 million, and Worthington Compressors’ share is 58 percent. Production will start this year.
The compressor market is steadily growing in China. The total market is estimated to several hundred million US dollars. The fastest industrial growth is in the Shanghai area and in southern China, adjacent to Hong Kong. The rapid industrial growth in these, but also in other areas has led to an increasing demand for industrial compressors.
One important source of demand is the foreign companies that have formed joint ventures for local manufacturing in China and which prefer to equip these joint ventures with well known state-of-the-art compressors. Important customer groups are the textile industry, which is primarily located in the Shanghai, Beijing and Xian areas, and the fast-growing automotive industry in Shanghai and Changchun.
The joint venture will start production during the fourth quarter this year. Initially 20 people will be employed. Core components will be sourced from the division’s production plant in Europe, other parts and components will be sourced from Chinese sub-suppliers.
Besides Shanghai, the Atlas Copco Group has major joint venture plants in Changchun (electric power tools), Nanjing (crawlers and drilling rigs), and Wuxi (portable and stationary compressors).
Shanghai General Machinery Group, with sales of over 5 billion USD, employs over 24,000 people. The company offers a wide range of reciprocating compressors.
The Atlas Copco Group, with sales of USD 3,745 m. in 1996, offers compressors, power tools, construction and mining equipment, assembly systems and motion control products.
For further information, please contact:
Luc Hendrickx, President Industrial Air, phone +32 3 870 2562
Hans Sandberg, Senior Vice President, phone +46 8 743 9041
Christer Lundin, Communications Manager, phone +46 70 783 8074