Trumpf will open a production building in Taicang that will bring the three existing production operations into one facility in July 2009.
In addition to combining machine tool and operating table production, the company will also include its model job shop for sheet metal parts in the facility. The new facility will employ about 200 workers.
In addition to production, Trumpf 's new 10,000-square-meter (107,640 square feet) facility will house a training centre, showroom, a laser application centre as well as logistics. The overall volume of the investment in Taicang will amount to €15m.
Since January 2008, Trumpf has been producing the TruLaser 3030 laser flatbed machine in Taicang in rented buildings. Core components are shipped from Europe. The laser machines are produced exclusively for the Chinese market.
In 2005, Trumpf began the production of the Merkur operating table, a basic model of the OR table series. The production facility for high quality sheet metal components with a showroom and an application centre was established in 2000.
The job shop has given the company a unique look into the needs of its Chinese customers and their application processes – starting with the quality of the local raw materials, the purity of the processing gases supplied, the qualifications of the machine operators and even the market prices and the competition.
As a result of its success in China, Trumpf will open another job shop this July in the southern Chinese town of Dongguan.
Overall, Trumpf currently has 180 employees in China. Sales in the last five years have risen considerably, by an average of 40 per cent annually. For fiscal year 2007/2008, which ends on 30 June, the company is expecting sales of about €70m.
