Venice, Italy-based Piovan Group is building a 32,800-square-foot facility in the city of Suzhou in China’s Jiangsu province to produce automation systems for plastics, food powders, and refrigeration markets.
Founded in 1934 as a mechanical engineering company, Piovan entered the plastics industry in 1964 as an auxiliary equipment manufacturer. The group has nine production facilities in Italy, Germany, Brazil and the United States in addition to China as well as 33 subsidiaries.
Piovan’s products have been on the Chinese market for more than 20 years. The company opened an office in Hong Kong in 2000 followed by a production plant was in 2005 in Zhuhai, in the Guangdong province, and then a facility in Suzhou in 2008.
The decision to invest again in Suzhou with the construction of a new plant follows a years-long strategy of “investing in the development of an international and structured network with direct branches to always be alongside its customers around the world, from sales to after-sales service,” according to a company press release.
The new building will be designed according to the best international standards, Flavio Zaghini, Piovan China’s General Manager, said in the release.
“It will have offices, technological laboratories for testing, showrooms, warehouses, a production area designed according to lean methodologies and – very important – the new R&D department dedicated to the development of innovative technologies,” Zaghini said.
The new site in Suzhou also will be headquarters for the group’s branches in Asia, including Piovan Thailand in Bangkok, Piovan Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, Piovan Japan in Kobe, and ToBa PNC in Seoul, South Korea.