GEA Group opens new plant in China
Bochum / Beijing, September 19, 2005 – Energy Technology, a strategic business unit (SBU) of the Bochum-based GEA Group, will open a new plant in China tomorrow. At the Langfang facility near Beijing some 350 employees are working three shifts to produce major components for air condensers that are used for cooling in power stations. "By manufacturing locally we are safeguarding our leading competitive position in the fast-growing Chinese power-station business in the long term," emphasized Peter Schenk, member of the Executive Board of GEA Group, at a press conference in Langfang. "The enormous requirement for new power stations in China is of great benefit to us. Production capacity at Langfang - which supplements our existing facilities elsewhere, particularly in Germany and Europe - will be fully utilized for several years to come". In the first half of 2005, GEA's Energy Technology SBU was awarded the contract to supply air-cooled condensation plant for a major power station in Inner Mongolia.
Owing to its high growth rates, the Asian market is becoming increasingly important to the GEA Group, which currently generates annual sales of around €500 million in this region. This represents over 12 percent of its total sales. The most important market in the region is China, which accounts for almost 50 percent of the group's
Asian business. All four segments of the GEA Group have a presence in China, offering products and services ranging from process engineering for the food and beverages industry to milking technology, industrial cooling units and large-scale plants for the chemical and textile industries.
GEA's Energy Technology SBU - part of the Process Engineering segment - is a pioneer and global market leader in the field of industrial air cooling. The central idea of using air instead of water conserves ground-water resources and avoids warming natural watercourses. This supports China's efforts, which extend to the area of power-station construction, to protect its environment in the long term. Besides
China, GEA's Energy Technology SBU also has manufacturing facilities at nine further locations in Europe, the US and South Africa.
