GE Toshiba Silicones will open plant in China

GE Toshiba Silicones (GETS) will open a silicones manufacturing facility in Nantong, Jiangsu province of China, at the end of 2007.
The new plant, which will cost US$78 million, will be the largest GETS facility in China.
The facility will produce plastic/rubber products for a wide range of applications, including the household appliance, automotive and packaging industries.
GETS expects the new plant to ship products not only throughout China but also to other parts of the Asia Pacific region.
The opening is part of the company’s plan to capitalize on China’s growing demand for silicone products, Eddy Wu, GETS’ president and CEO, said.
The plant’s location in the distribution centre of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) will further the growth of China’s silicones industry, according to Chen De Xin, Nantong’s director of economics and technology. “Nantong’s geographic advantage as an industrial centre in the YRD (will) provide a major driver to regional economic development,” he said.
GETS is a joint venture of GE Silicons’s Advanced Materials business and Toshiba. GE Silicones is headquartered in Wilton, Conn., and Toshiba’s global headquarters is in Tokyo, Japan.