Press release submitted on behalf of WITTMANN.
Together with 250 customers and partners, in mid-December, the WITTMANN Group celebrated the opening of its expanded production plant Kunshan in China. The expansion was completed just in time for the site’s 20th anniversary. With this investment, the group is setting the course for the future. In addition to robots and auxiliaries, injection molding machines will now also be produced locally in China.
“Our new plant represents WITTMANN’s transformation from a component supplier to a full-service systems solution provider,” emphasizes Kevin Wang, General Manager of WITTMANN Kunshan and WITTMANN BATTENFELD Shanghai. “We can now offer our customers here in China and Asia integrated systems solutions from a single source that are produced entirely locally. Our customers benefit from shorter delivery times and the cost advantages of local production.”
The guests were impressed by the modern production plant and large technical center, which was equipped with the first injection molding machine exhibits for the opening ceremony. The technical center and the new modern training area will be used more intensively for events and interdisciplinary project work in the future.
Initially, machine production in China will focus on the all-electric EcoPrimus injection molding machine with a clamping force of 100 tons, which was presented for the first time at K 2025. “The goal is to build 100 EcoPrimus 100 machines in China next year,” said Dr. Werner Wittmann, founder and owner of the WITTMANN Group, in his welcoming speech during the opening ceremony.
Production capacity doubled
The robotics and auxiliary divisions are also benefiting from the plant expansion. Overall, production capacity has been doubled. The expansion adds more than 10,000 square meters of additional floor space, 6,500 square meters for production and 3,500 square meters in the new office building. A total of 13,000 square meters of production space is now available. It is not just the floor space that has been increased. All processes and workflows have been optimized with a view to greater efficiency. The various production areas, such as mechanical processing, assembly and painting, are networked.
With the founding of WITTMANN Kunshan 20 years ago, WITTMANN initially brought robot production to China. “Today, we are one of the leading European robot suppliers in the Chinese plastics industry,” says Dr. Wittmann. “This success is the result of leading technology that is produced locally in Asia at competitive costs. We are now pursuing this strategy with the EcoPrimus injection molding machines.”
Respond more flexibly and quickly
In the future, China will be not only a production location for WITTMANN, but also a development location. Guests at the opening ceremony were given a preview of the new R&D Center. “With our own development, we can respond more flexibly and quickly to the specific requirements here in China and Asia,” says Wang, who has his sights set on various target markets, including packaging, medical devices, automotive, and home appliances.
WITTMANN has been present in China with its own sales and service subsidiary since 2001. The company has been producing robots at its Kunshan site since 2005, followed shortly thereafter by temperature control units, conveying units, compact dryers, and granulators for the local markets. In 2021, WITTMANN set another milestone in China with the opening of another sales and service center in Dongguan in the south of the country.
The WITTMANN Group
The WITTMANN Group is a globally leading manufacturer of injection molding machines, robots and auxiliary equipment for processing a great variety of plasticizable materials – both plastic and non-plastic. The group of companies has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria and consists of two main divisions: WITTMANN BATTENFELD and WITTMANN. Following the principles of environmental protection, conservation of resources and circular economy, the WITTMANN Group engages in state-of-the-art process technology for maximum energy efficiency in injection molding, and in processing standard materials and materials with a high content of recyclates and renewable raw materials. The products of the WITTMANN Group are designed for horizontal and vertical integration into a Smart Factory and can be interlinked to form an intelligent production cell.
The companies of the group jointly operate ten production plants in seven countries, and the additional sales companies at their 35 different locations are present in all major industrial markets around the world.
WITTMANN BATTENFELD pursues the continued strengthening of its market position as a manufacturer of injection molding machines and supplier of comprehensive modern machine technology in modular design. The product range of WITTMANN includes robots and automation systems, material handling systems, dryers, gravimetric and volumetric blenders, granulators, temperature controllers and chillers. The combination of the individual areas under the umbrella of the WITTMANN Group enables perfect integration – to the advantage of injection molding processors with an increasing demand for seamless interlocking of processing machines, automation and auxiliaries.