Suzhou Plant Precipitates Further Growth for Endress+Hauser in China

Only five years after the most recent expansion in China, the Endress+Hauser Group has once again increased production capacity with a third plant in Suzhou, 100 kilometers west of Shanghai. The 16,500-square-meter facility will help the Group meet disproportionately high growth in the Far East.

The opening of the new building, which is situated in Suzhou Industrial Park, a 450-square-kilometer campus that is home to more than 20,000 companies, was recently celebrated today in the presence of representatives from government and business, as well as customers and employees. The new plant will give the centers of competence for flow measurement engineering, liquid analysis and temperature measurement engineering additional capacity.

“The roughly 44 million euros investment underscores the tremendous significance of the Chinese market,” said Dr Bernd-Josef Schäfer, Managing Director of flow measurement technology specialist Endress+Hauser Flowtec, headquartered in Reinach, Switzerland. The spacious, modern and well-lit production halls and offices provide the ideal conditions for continuing to fulfill the requirements of the Chinese market and the wishes of the customers.

Apart from an extensive portfolio of measurement instruments, Endress+Hauser also offers a wide range of global services that allow customers to optimise their processes along a plant’s entire life cycle. The result is increased productivity and competitiveness through features such as the fully traceable calibration of measurement instruments.

To date, the Endress+Hauser facility in Suzhou has been capable of calibrating flowmeters with nominal diameters between 2 and 1,200 millimeters. The Group’s largest and most modern calibration facility is now setting new benchmarks. In the future, the company will be able to calibrate electromagnetic flowmeters in China with a nominal diameter of up to 3,000 millimeters with a maximum measurement uncertainty of ±0.05 percent. That corresponds to a variance of only 100 milliliters for 200 liters of medium – or one champagne glass for a bathtub full of water.

Electromagnetic flowmeters with large diameters are commonly used in the water and wastewater industries. One of China’s most important goals is the improvement of water supply across the entire country. Over the last few years, Endress+Hauser has established itself in this growth market through high-quality measurement instruments that reliably and precisely measure the flow of water in treatment plants and distribution stations.

“In order to react quickly and flexibly to regional changes and growth opportunities in local markets, and to stay constantly close to our customers, we are continually expanding production facilities around the world,” explains Matthias Altendorf, CEO of the Endress+Hauser Group, reflecting the Group’s sustainable growth strategy. “This is particularly important in a highly-dynamic market like China.”

Endress+Hauser has been active in China with its own sales centre since 1995. Today there are more than 420 sales employees in Shanghai, Beijing and 11 other offices. The flowmeter plant in Suzhou opened in 2004, followed by a second plant for the manufacture of level, pressure and temperature measurement engineering and liquid analysis. Around 290 employees work in production in Suzhou, supplying other countries in the Asian region in addition to the Chinese market. Laboratory analysis specialist Analytik Jena also maintains a strong presence in China with around 100 employees.