The Bolzoni Group boost its fork production capacity with the new plant located in Longhua Town, Jing County, Hebei, 250 km south west of Beijing.
On May 25th Bolzoni Huaxin Co. Ltd. was inaugurated with an official Opening ceremony attended by the local and district government officials together with approx. 400 national and international guests.
The new company is the result of a joint venture between the Italian Bolzoni S.p.A., leader in forklift truck attachments, lift tables and forks, and the Chinese Hebei Jing County Huaxin Forks Co. Ltd. ("Huaxin") leading company in China for the production of lift truck forks. Bolzoni Group controls 60% of the new company and the remaining 40% is owned by Huaxin.
The agreement also includes the purchase by Bolzoni of 20% of Xuaxin's share capital.
"In a worldwide scenario constantly changing and evolving, the creation of the new fork manufacturing facility in China is a new challenge for us, allowing us to better satisfy the growing market demand for quality products", comments Roberto Scotti, Bolzoni's CEO.
In a 16.000 sq.m. building, the area dedicated to manufacturing is divided into three production lines, two for standard forks and one for larger sections. The first production line has a capacity of 200.000 forks per year in two shifts whereas the production capacity of the entire plant can reach up to 500.000 forks per year.
The production in Bolzoni Huaxin combines both advanced technologies and efficient high-capacity processes, and includes:
> Prime quality steel offering good welding characteristics and strong resistance to wear;
> Fully automated production process throughout the production line;
> Automated welding of upper and lower hooks with a robotic system, providing better quality of the welding, quality repeatibility and a shorter process;
> Complete heat treatment with hardening and tempering on the entire fork, giving the best quality and reliability.
These features enable the Bolzoni Group to satisfy any requirement of the customers in terms of quality, delivery time and competitive price.
"The combination of the fork production know-how of Huaxin, led by Mr. Diansheng Feng, and the Bolzoni's well-established worldwide distribution channel", says Emanuele Scotti, President of Bolzoni Huaxin "opens new thrilling opportunities for us. Thanks to this operation our Group becomes one of the main players on worldwide scenario of lift truck market".