In the presence of 80 guests, including business partners, government representatives and delegates of the SICK Group from Germany and China, the site was officially opened on December 12.

In view of further growth potential for industrial automation in the Chinese market, the sensor manufacturer is expanding its local production capacities. In future, SICK will also produce in Changzhou in eastern China, where it will focus on localized product manufacturing and customized system construction.

Due to the limited possibility of expanding production at the existing SICK plant in Beijing, a new location was sought and found in the Changzhou-Wujin National Hi-Tech Industrial Zone (WIZ). The new plant is located in the economically strong region around Shanghai and is well connected to the SICK logistics center in Jiaxing, which also opened in 2019. The foundation of the local subsidiary Jiangsu SICK Sensor Co., Ltd. in July 2019 created the basis for the site expansion.

In the first operating phase, the portfolio includes track-and-trace systems for logistics applications, gas analysis systems, gas flow meters for safe natural gas distribution and emission measuring devices for desulphurizing ship exhaust gases. In addition to the production units, the application knowledge is concentrated in an engineering department for customer-specific adaptations.

In the medium term, SICK products and systems for China will be produced in parallel in Beijing and at the new site in Changzhou. In the future, the new plant is to be expanded as the leading production site for SICK in China. Production in Changzhou is integrated into SICK's global production network - with plants in Germany, Hungary, the USA, China and Malaysia - and adheres to the high quality standards and processes that extend along the entire supply chain.

"With the expansion of SICK's production capacity, we are creating the conditions to respond to the increasing market demand and to supply customers with automation solutions in SICK quality - in China and worldwide," said Reinhard Bösl, SICK Executive Board member for Systems & Industries, at the opening ceremony and thanked the representatives of the local Changzhou-Wujin industrial zone and the companies involved for the excellent cooperation in his speech. "The production in Changzhou is an important strategic building block in order to produce products and systems locally and to be optimally positioned for the Chinese market with competitive proximity to the customer and fast response times," added Yongquan Chen, Managing Director of Jiangsu SICK Sensor Co., Ltd.