Fong Kee: To build Extruders in China
Taiwanese extrusion equipment manufacturer Fong Kee Iron Works Co. Ltd. is opening a manufacturing plant in China, its first since it closed down an operation there in the mid-1990s. The company, which is one of Taiwan’s largest extruder makers, is setting up operations there to better serve customers on the mainland, and not primarily as a move to control costs.
The Tainan-based company is opening its 11,000-square-meter factory this month in Guangdong Province, across the border from Hong Kong, where it will make accumulator head blow molding machines, cast film lines for markets like food packaging and extrusion lamination machines.
Fong Kee officials have previously raised concerns about having their equipment copied by mainland firms, but Wei said the company is working with suppliers there that it has long relationships with. The company wants to be on the mainland to provide better service to customers, particularly those who might lose their ability to import machines to the mainland with reduced duties. As well, she said the company views the
mainland factory as a hedge, if political changes in Asia make it more difficult to use Taiwan as a platform to export within Asia.