Haitian Group reports “good” results amid “difficult year for the global economy” in 2019

Citing the impact of trade conflicts between the major economies in 2019, injection molding machine maker Haitian Group recorded an overall sales decrease of 9.6% last year compared to 2018, but still sold more than 32,000 units for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019.

“Although decreased by 6.5% as compared to 2018, the total number of machines delivered to customers in 2019 maintained an impressive level,” the China-based company said in a March 18 press release. “With regard to overseas markets, increased international trade protectionism has led to a decline in sales in some regions. However, sales in the Southeast Asian market increased, which in turn led to record high export sales of RMB 3,447.7 million [US$485 million] in 2019, representing an increase of 2.9% as compared to previous year.”

Overall, Haitian Group reported 2019 revenues of RMB 9,809.7 million (US$1.3 billion).

The outbreak of the current coronavirus in early 2020 not only had a negative impact on the global economy, the company noted, but also cast a shadow over the recovering global economies. “However, as Haitian International has been working on globalization for years, our overseas operations centres have developed full business functions, such as manufacturing and distribution, to meet the needs of our local and regional customers,” the company said. “Digitalization and innovation 2020 will be the year of management innovation at Haitian International. With its main focus on smart manufacturing, the Haitian International factories will accelerate the transformation into a digitized, networked and intelligent enterprise.” Last year, Haitian International was added to the list of digitized workshops and smart factories in China’s Zhejiang Province.

On the North American front, Absolute Haitian – the exclusive distributor of Haitian and Zhafir injection molding machinery in the U.S. and Canada – had what it calls “a good year” in 2019.  In May 2019, a 116,000-square-foot operations facility was opened in Moncks Corner, S.C., to provide additional capacity and capabilities to support injection molders in the U.S. and Canada, including final assembly, stock machines, customization, service, and parts. “By fall 2019, [Absolute Haitian’s] stock machine inventory reached a record-high 125 machines for quick delivery to injection molders,” the company said.

Absolute Haitian also saw growth in sales dollars and market share even with the reduced overall U.S. market conditions in 2019, due mainly to the increase in larger machine sales. “Sales results in the first two months of 2020 were strong. We remain optimistic that when the current unusual situation is resolved, we’ll see a quick return to normal demand,” said Glenn Frohring, one of the owners of Worcester, Mass.-based Absolute Haitian. “Until then, we remain open as appropriate to support our customers with sales, service, parts and on-line training to ensure they remain operational.”