Continental celebrated the inauguration ceremony of its new 3D blow molding plant in Changshu, China. The new plant will start series production in the third quarter of 2018. The plant built with an investment of approximately 10 million Euros (about 70 million RMB) has officially been opened. 3D blow molded hoses used in high-performance turbochargers for automotive OEMs will now be produced there to meet the growing technology demand within China’s manufacturing sectors.
Thomas Reichenbach, manager of the 3D Blow Molding Project, said, “The investment into the new plant underlines our focus on and commitment to the Chinese domestic market, especially the automotive market. The new plant will rely on Continental’s global hose and duct expertise and adopt internationally advanced 3D blow molding technology to provide Chinese automakers with high performance turbocharger ducts.”
The 3D blow molding plant in Changshu is the fourth production site featuring the 3D blow molding technology across the world. There are so far three such plants: Waltershausen in Germany, Somersworth in the United States and San Luis Potosi in Mexico. Multiple states of the art production lines for highly automated and intelligent production have been housed in the new plant’s production workshop.
Adoption of the blow molding technology will enable recovery and recycling reducing pollution emissions during production that meets the requirements for sustainable liquidity in the industrial production process. Use of 3D blow molding technology would help auto parts manufacturers to eliminate the difficult production and assembly of intermediate parts in the production process considerably reducing the supply chain, improving the production efficiency of the automotive industry.
Image courtesy of Continental