Grand Opening of Strama-MPS Machinery Taicang Ltd.

With an opening ceremony attended by 100 guests from Germany and China the Special Machine Maker from Straubing inaugurated his fourth production plant in Taicang west of Shanghai. As per the Chinese definition Taicang is a small city, but also has over 1 million inhabitants by now. In his opening speech the Mayor of Taicang was pleased to welcome another German company at Taicang and said that Strama-MPS is going to have a very positive development in China. As many as 150 German companies supply the Chinese Market from Taicang, export to Germany or to other Asian Markets and have great success. The Mayor was impressed by the high technological skills of Strama-MPS which were shown with demonstration objects or already processed orders.

With a production and office space of approx. 4,000 m² Strama-MPS created the basis to better and more competitive serve the German customers who have production plants in China. The objective is also to supply the fast-growing Chinese Industry with technology from Strama-MPS. Less than a year ago the Strama-MPS Management decided to establish a production plant in China. Already in April this year the production permit was granted and from July 2011 four Strama-MPS employees who went to the new location in China within the frame of expatriate agreements were already on site. In August we could move into the attractive building with spacious assembly and production areas. From that date eight Chinese employees also found a new field of work. It is very satisfying that within a short time several orders could be obtained from Audi, BMW and Siemens which are to be executed now with the known reliability and quality of Strama-MPS.

In his opening words the Managing Director of the Strama-MPS Machinery Taicang Ltd., Mr. Elmar Kurth, welcomed the honoured guests. The Mayor of Taicang City as well as several members of the Municipal Government were given a special mention. A particularly pleasing fact was that also German Representatives of Audi, Siemens and Centrotherm had found their way to Taicang to emphasize the good cooperative relationship with Strama-MPS. The Managing Director of Strama-MPS, Mr. Herbert Wittl, thanked the Municipal Government as well as the authority representatives who were responsible for determining the location of the companies, for the intensive support in granting of the different permits and the site selection. Herbert Wittl also gave a special mention to the four employees from Germany who did an excellent job to lay the foundations and had to handle complex situations in the beginning. Mr. Wittl introduced the structure of the Strama-MPS Group to the Chinese guests who are not yet or not for a long time cooperating with Strama-MPS. Strama-MPS and the subsidiary company AuE Kassel GmbH already have as many as 12 customers in China. A good basis to open up the Chinese Market with these references.

Thereafter, the grand opening ceremony began.  According to Chinese tradition lions danced, which are considered to bring good luck for the new company and a fireworks was displayed to symbolize the hope for exactly the same growth like the rockets launched into the sky. Afterwards the plant was inaugurated cutting through the tape under a shower of confetti. Finally the Managing Director of Strama-MPS, Mr. Helmut Petzko, the Sales Manager of AuE Kassel GmbH as well as the Chinese Sales Representative of the Strama-MPS Group presented the product portfolio to be marketed in China.

Now we have provided the basis, says Herbert Wittl, to achieve a large amount of the planned growth of Strama-MPS in China in the coming years. With the beginning industrial automation in the East of China as well as quality improvement measures, especially by Chinese companies, the Management expects that Strama-MPS will also succeed in establishing themselves as THE Special Machine Maker in China.