Released: September 20th, 2005
Meridian Technologies Inc. is pleased to announce the grand opening of its new Shanghai Meridian Magnesium Products Co. Ltd. facility located in Anting Town, Jiading District, Shanghai PRC, on Wednesday, September 28th, 2005 at 3 pm.
Meridian Technologies is the world’s leading supplier in high pressure magnesium die cast automotive components and assemblies. The company formed a 60/40 joint venture with SCAAC, a subsidiary of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), China’s leading automotive manufacturer in June 2003, and has been casting, machining, and assembling parts since November 2003 in the previous plant located in Shanghai.
The new facility, with capacity of 3,500 metric tonnes per year, will produce transmission cases and covers, steering column housings and supports, seat frames, instrument panel reinforcements and other parts for both Chinese production and export. SMMP’s customers include Shanghai General Motors, Shanghai Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, and Delphi. This new facility represents Meridian’s strategic expansion into the rapidly growing Asia Pacific automotive market. “We are looking at further expansion of the new facility and we are investigating other opportunities for investment in China,” said Paul Arh, Director of Strategic Planning. “We’re working on new business opportunities that would cause the new facility to grow very rapidly or require a plant in another region in China,” adds Kris Pfaehler, Vice President Business Development & Marketing. Regarding other expansion in the Asia Pacific region, Pfaehler adds that, “We have a strong effort for business development and engineering also in Japan to support not just the Japanese OEM’s in Japan but also to support their business in Europe and North America.”
John Chen, SMMP General Manager adds, “We are looking forward to moving into the new facility to start implementing Meridian’s state of the art magnesium die casting technology and accommodating our customers’ ever increasing demands for lightweight magnesium die castings.”
Meridian Technologies is the world’s leader in the production of magnesium instrument panel reinforcements, transfer cases and covers, front end modules, seat frames, and steering column housings and brackets. It has manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, and China. It employs 1200 people worldwide, with its Global Technology Center in Strathroy, Ontario. Business Development and Advanced Engineering offices are located in Detroit, Strathroy, Nottinghamshire (UK), Heidelberg (Germany), Turin (Italy), Tokyo, Hamamatsu (Japan) and Shanghai.
Further information can be found at www.meridian-mag.com