Martin Manufacturing Zhuhai Ltd. nears start up

Following a summer of diligent work, Martin Professional is putting the finishing touches on its new Asian manufacturing facility in Zhuhai, China. Production is on schedule to begin at the start of the year 2003. General Manager for the project is Henrik Larsen. He comments, "After nearly five months of work and a tremendous commitment from our staff, it is great to see the factory materialize. The first production line will be ready for operator training before the end of October and the offices will be ready by mid November." Production management for the factory is already in place, and the challenges of opening up a manufacturing facility in China have been smoothed by the hiring of a customs clearance administrator. Henrik and his team will be hiring a further 30-40 employees in the coming months. "We are aware that local development and sourcing is necessary in order to establish a profitable factory in China, and that is why we have put extra focus on building and recruiting for these funct Henrik states. The facility is located in the Nanping Science and Technology Industry Park in the city of Zhuhai, a Special Economic Zone in the southern part of the country. It occupies the fourth floor of the new building, an area of approximately 3,400 m2. Established as an important part of Martin's strategy to maintain its competitiveness in the lower priced lighting segments, the facility will be geared toward the production of Martin's DJ range of lighting products. Martin President and CEO Kristian Kolding has made it clear that Martin will maintain full control over the facility's production and level of product quality. lity. "We are determined not to turn to OEM as a competitive approach due to the lack of control involved," he staAt this new facility, although we will obviously benefit from low Chinese production costs, we will maintain control over quality and will produce a line of products that live up to the same high quality standards that Martin customers have come to expect.xpect."