TPT September 2012

Industry News

SMS opens another workshop in China

to guarantee local supply and service shares demanded by customers in these markets. As far back as 1904, SMS delivered the first rolling mill to Hanyang, a district of the capital city of Wuhan Province. It consisted of mechanical equipment for a complete duo-reversing block rolling mill including reversing roller tables, block delivery device, block shears and the necessary auxiliary plants. Since the beginning of the 1970s, business relations have expanded to all the country’s main metallurgical producers. The company attracted its first major orders in 1974 and 1979 – for continuous casters and rolling mills for the metallurgy works in Wuhan and Baoshan near Shanghai. In 1978 it booked an order from Baoshan for the world’s largest tube rolling mill of its day. China produces 46 per cent of the world’s steel and some 40 per cent of its aluminium products, making it the largest and most significant market for plant manufacturers.

steel and aluminium industry. To our Chinese customers, SMS stands for top technology and cost-effectiveness, quality and reliability. These are strengths we have also used to build up our leading role on global markets.” To be able to offer customers around the world technologically and economically outstanding plant and machinery solutions, the SMS group pursues a twin strategy. Firstly, it is investing in expanding and modernising the German production locations in Hilchenbach and Mönchengladbach. This is where the group develops and manufactures the sophisticated and quality-determining core components of its plants and machinery. Secondly, SMS is systematically expanding its presence in major markets such as China by hiring qualified personnel and building manufacturing and service workshops,

WELCOMING more than 300 guests, Burkhard Dahmen, president and CEO of SMS Siemag AG, inaugurated the new €20mn SMS Siemag workshop in Zhangjiagang near Shanghai, China recently. At the workshop 350 employees will work in assembly, service, repairs and functional testing. The facility, together with the SMS Meer workshop opened two years ago plus other engineering and service branches in China, means that almost 1,000 of the SMS group’s 11,000 employees worldwide are now located in China. Mr Dahmen said during the inauguration ceremony, “All this goes to show that we continue to expand our presence in China, a country that has been one of our most significant sales markets for decades. There we operate as a system supplier and technology partner for the country’s

SMS Siemag AG – Germany Fax: +49 211 881 4902 Website: www.sms-siemag.com

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