Wärtsilä?s China factory inaugurated

Wärtsilä has inaugurated its new, state-of-the-art production plant in Wuxi, China.

The factory, Wärtsilä Propulsion (Wuxi) Co Ltd, is Wärtsilä’s first wholly-owned production venture in China and is focusing on the manufacture of Lips-brand transverse thrusters.

Lips transverse thrusters, with both controllable and fixed-pitch propellers, cover a power range from 450 up to 3,550 kW, with propeller diameters in the range of 1.2m to 3.0m.

The new factory, which is located about 100 km west of Shanghai, will serve the global shipbuilding market. At the same time it brings thruster manufacture closer to the major shipbuilding areas in East Asia.

Operations at Wärtsilä Propulsion (Wuxi) Co Ltd will include the manufacture and assembly of marine propulsion products. The factory represents an investment of E6.6 million, and utilises state-of-the-art CNC machining technology. At present it employs 21 people but this will be increased to around 120 employees as production builds up.

Wärtsilä also recently announced another joint venture in China, namely Wärtsilä Qiyao Diesel Co Ltd which will manufacture Wärtsilä-designed Wärtsilä Auxpac generating sets. Production is estimated to start in early summer of 2006.