Press maker Zhafir opens expanded plant in Germany

Photo by Zhafir Plastics Machinery Co. Ltd. A Haitian Jupiter II at the grand opening of Zhafir Plastics Machinery Co. Ltd.'s expanded production site in Germany.

Zhafir Plastics Machinery celebrated the opening of an expanded injection press manufacturing plant in Ebermannsdorf on 6 June.

About 680 guests from 15 countries attended the grand opening of the Zhafir operation of Chinese injection press manufacturer Haitian International Holdings Ltd. Zhafir is the high-end subsidiary of Haitian, based in Ningbo, China.

Zhafir had broken ground in January last year on the new 83,111-square-foot production hall, which has 80,730 square feet of manufacturing space. The hall is assembling servo-hydraulic machines of the Mars II and Jupiter II series of injection presses, for the European market. The current production capacity covers machines with clamping forces ranging from 67 to 3,300 tonnes.

In the future, Zhafir officials plan to manufacture entire range of the two-platen Jupiter II series, from 506 to 7,427 tonnes.

In the original production hall, built in 2009, Zhafir will continue to assemble the electric Venus II series and the Zeres series of injection molding machines, in clamping forces from 45 to 730 tonnes.

Top Haitian executives attended the grand opening: Haitian Group CEO Zhang Jianming, and Zhang Jianfeng, CEO of Haitian International.

Zhafir Plastics Machinery Co. Ltd. Josef Gilch, mayor of Ebermannsdorf, left and Zhang Jianming, CEO of Haitian Group, with a new street sign.The mayor of Ebermannsdorf, Josef Gilch, announced that the new access road to the company has been officially named Haitianstrasse, or “Haitian Street.”

Xiang Linfa, general manager of Haitian International Germany, said the event marked an important milestone for the company in Germany — one of the most competitive countries for injection moulding technology and home to some longtime machinery powerhouses.

“We want to be more responsive to the needs of our customers and meet their requirements from the relevant industries as best as possible. This has always been our company philosophy,” he said. “With the second plant we have given ourselves more space to, for example, test complete production cells and product larger machine series.”

At the 6 June grand opening, visitors saw several two-platen Jupiter II presses moulding parts.

The expansion also will help give customers more service in before-sales and after-sales periods. “The new hall and the resulting space gives us many more opportunities to offer mold testing on production cells with larger machines,” said Philippe Porret, deputy manager of Haitian International Germany.