Senoplast Klepsch (Piesendorf / Austria; www.senoplast.com) has plans to build its first Chinese production facility in the greater Shanghai area. From 2020 onwards, the plant is to produce "senosan" plastic sheets for thermoforming applications in the automotive and sanitary sectors. The 4,000 m² site will initially have a workforce of 40 employees, with future expansions possible. The first phase of the EUR 13m investment will see the installation of a coextrusion line.

"It is a competitive advantage to be on-site in the Asian region, in order to be able to supply our customers faster and more efficiently," said managing director Günter Klepsch. At present, Senoplast has two production sites in Austria and Mexico, which together produce around 50,000 t of plastic sheets and films per year. A new hall being constructed for additional capacity at Piesendorf is expected to be completed in April 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 20.11.2017. The Senoplast group currently employs 660 people – including 514 in Austria – and generated sales of around EUR 200m in 2017.