Emerson expands facilities in China

Emerson opened its newest facility in China to serve customers in the process industries, with a USD 10 million world-class headquarters and manufacturing plant in Pudong Development Zone

Nine months after breaking ground, Emerson today officially opened its newest facility in China to serve customers in the process industries.

Attending the ceremony were David N Farr, chief executive officer of Emerson, and John M Berra, Emerson executive vice president and leader of the global Emerson Process Management business.

"Emerson is extremely pleased to announce the completion of this expansion in Pudong," Mr Farr said.

"We believe Shanghai is a strategic city for the development of our China operations.

This investment enhances and expands a successful facility so it can better serve customers in this region and around the world".

The Emerson Pudong facility, which serves as a major operations centre for Emerson in China, has over 10,000 square meters of floor area, over 200 employees and complements several other manufacturing, engineering, and sales facilities throughout the country.

"The increased Emerson presence here underlines the rapid growth of our markets in the Shanghai region and in China overall," Mr Farr said.

China is the largest Emerson market in Asia, with sales of about USD750 million and an investment of more than USD1 billion in more than 30 manufacturing centres, joint ventures, and wholly-owned enterprises in 10 cities, employing more than 16,000 people.

Emerson Process Management is one of the larger Emerson operations in China and is a recognised leader in the country's process automation market, with employment of over 700 in China.

Expansion of the existing building in Pudong includes new flow meter production lines; a system and devices demonstration center; training rooms; sales and services operations; and administration, human resources, finance, contract, quality and information technology departments.

The adjacent new facility features systems assembly, engineering and testing; an advanced PlantWeb demonstration centre and training room; and offices for most of the Emerson Process Management divisions.

"Combined with the our consulting, engineering, and optimization services, the Pudong plant opening and expansion demonstrate the Emerson Process Management commitment to better serving our customers as we grow in China," Mr Berra said, adding that most major process and power plant customers in China already use Emerson equipment.

In 2003, Emerson Process Management secured several major projects in China, including a USD30 million project to serve as the main instrument vendor for Shanghai SECCO Petrochemicals Company in what is expected to be the world's most highly optimised petrochemical facility.

SECCO is a USD2.7 billion joint venture between BP, Sinopec and Shanghai Petrochemical Corporation.

The site, located in Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park, will be the world's largest installation of Foundation fieldbus technology.

In May, Emerson Process Management was selected to supply a USD8 million flow measurement solution for the USD8.9 billion PetroChina West to East Natural Gas Pipeline.

The largest project awarded in China for custody transfer measurement and ranked as one of the largest pipelines to be built in the world, this pipeline will transport natural gas from the Tarim Basin in the northwest region of Xijiang to Shanghai.

Emerson also won a USD10 million contract from Shaanxi HanCheng Second Power Co Ltd to install instrumentation and control systems for the first 600-megawatt power plant in the Northwest China Shaanxi Province.

And earlier, the company was awarded an umbrella agreement for the automation of an integrated petrochemical site of a 600,000-ton/year steam-cracker and nine downstream plants being constructed by BASF-YPC Company Ltd., in Nanjing, Jiangsu province in east-central China.

"We expect to grow even stronger in China," Mr Berra said.

"We'll continue to provide the benefits of the PlantWeb architecture, along with local services and support".

Emerson has been doing business in China since 1979.

Manufacturing and research and development activities in China are an integral part of their expanding global strategy, and Emerson will continue to seek an increased presence in the China market and evaluate further investment opportunities in manufacturing and sales, engineering and development, procurement and human resources.

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