LANGFANG, China—Rep International and LWB Steinl GmbH & Co. K.G. have established a joint venture, United Rubber & Plastic Machinery Ltd., to handle the exclusive sales, service and manufacturing business of rubber molding machines in China.
The joint venture will be headquartered in Langfang, southeast of Beijing, and a nearly 27,000 sq.-ft. manufacturing plant will be finished by the end of 2014.
United Rubber & Plastic Machinery is a fully independent company, which the firms said will operate under Chinese management led by Wang Xiao Bo, former general manger of Rep Beijing.
A new machine series specially tailored to the Chinese market has been developed for United Rubber & Plastic Machinery, the firms said. The new machine series will accept existing molds operated on Rep or LWB machines.
“These days it is more important to make use of common advantages to increase the level of service to a market rather than duplicating resources which will dissipate in me-too competition,” said Peter Steinl, managing director of LWB Steinl.
LWB's product portfolio includes a complete range of rubber injection molding machines with six to 1,200 tons clamping force and 4.5 to 30,000 cc injection volume, the firm said.
Rep sells worldwide injection molding machines ranging from seven to 2,400 tons clamp pressure and 7 to 50,000 cc injection capacity, the company said.
Rep and LWB said they've been present in China for many years, but do not have much overlap. However, the firms stressed that outside the Chinese market they will remain independent direct competitors.
“The Chinese market is a big challenge with a big potential,” Rep President Bruno Tabar said. “We therefore rely on synergies with strong partners to generate further growth faster.”