MONDRAGON is reinforcing its presence in China

The MONDRAGON Corporation has ratified its commitment to China through the recent launch of a new project by Danobatgroup and the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Fagor Arrasate plant. The MONDRAGON network in China involves 22 manufacturing plants, 24 commercial offices, a turnover of more than 300 million euros, and almost 1,800 employees.

Danobatgroup Centre of Excellence

With a view to strengthening its position in the Chinese market and providing its customers with a high value-added service, the Basque business group Danobatgroup has opened a Centre of Excellence in Shanghai, one of China’s largest industrial growth poles.

The new facilities belonging to this Basque producer of machine tools and advanced manufacturing systems consist of a workshop equipped for repairing heads, a spare parts warehouse, a showroom displaying high value-added machinery, and an office area.

Specifically, this centre of excellence adds to the delegation the group already has in Beijing, complementing its business. These new facilities also cater for the provision of new services in China.

Accordingly, this new deployment in Shanghai will provide customers with bespoke demonstrations and testing sessions, technical support and training services in an efficient and accessible manner for them through the hiring of new local technical specialists, the immediate delivery of spare parts, and the possibility of carrying out repairs within very short timeframes.

The purpose of our deployment in Shanghai is to position our two prestigious brands –DANOBAT and SORALUCE- at the forefront of the Chinese market. Furthermore, it will help to reinforce our business operations and technical support service. “This is a commitment that will enable us to forge closer ties with our customers and provide a local service that is more accessible, specialised and with greater value added”, affirms the group’s commercial manager, Oscar Urdangarin.

This facility extends the range of Danobatgroup’s services in China, and its remit is to drive sales in the country, with a special impact in the Shanghai area, one of the foremost industrial areas in the country. The group’s outlook for the next 2-3 years is to significantly increase its turnover in the Chine market.

“Through these new facilities, the Danobatgroup is taking another major step forward in its Internationalisation strategy, confirming the Group’s policy of foreign deployments it has been pursuing over the past years in its main operating markets. We want our customers, suppliers, institutions and partners in general to know that Danobatgroup has a firm, sound and long-term commitment to the Chinese market that now dates back almost 30 years. Direct investments such as this new centre of excellence reflect the importance Danobatgroup attributes to China in its international strategy”, adds Urdangarin.

The new centre of excellence was inaugurated on 21 November this year at a ceremony presided over by Danobatgroup’s CEO, Pello Rodríguez, accompanied by sundry delegates from the group’s different companies.

The inaugural ceremony, which also involved a series of interesting support activities, provided an opportunity to show the group’s customers and local authorities the revamped range of value-added services Danobatgroup now offers its Chinese customers through this new centre of excellence.

Tenth anniversary of Fagor Arrasate

Fagor Arrasate has today marked the tenth anniversary of its plant in Shanghai (China) with a technology forum in which over a hundred customers have been given the opportunity to see at first hand the latest advances and developments in presses, stamping systems, metal processing and production lines for home appliances.

The event held at the Kunshan plant has been attended by delegates from China’s leading companies in the sectors of automotive, aerospace, metal processing and the manufacture of home appliances.

“Over these past ten years, we have consolidated our position as a benchmark producer of presses, automatic stamping installations and cutting lines involving both steel and aluminium in China, a country to which we shall continue to be firmly committed as part of our internal deployment”, affirms the corporate commercial manager, Juan Etxebarria.

A commitment to investment, innovation and local development in China that is reflected in the Kunshan Government’s recognition of the company’s track record in the country, making the plant’s manager an honorary citizen.

Following a tour of the plant’s facilities, participants have had the opportunity to attend a series of presentations on new developments in platforms and materials for the automotive industry, and see the answers Fagor Arrasate has to the challenges posed by new light materials. The new developments in aluminium stamping systems, high-speed and high-performance presses and the latest trends in the production of home appliances have also been one of the event’s main focuses. A number of major customers have also spoken about the success of their cooperation with Fagor Arrasate over these years and the value it has contributed to their projects.

The events marking this anniversary will be rounded off with a “Family Open-Day”, when employees will show the facilities to their families and explain their daily work to them.

In addition to this major production plant with 120 employees, Fagor Arrasate`s presence in China is completed by two commercial delegations located in Beijing and Shanghai.