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Wieland group opens rolling mill in Singapore

The
Wieland group opens a rolling mill for copper materials in
Singapore on 8th October 2007. Wieland has been operating a slitting
centre for strips and sheets made from copper materials for use in
electronics and electrical engineering in Singapore since 1991. The
company is significantly expanding its service capability for the Asian
market with its biggest ever foreign investment of 60 million Euros: it
will now be possible to deal with customer requests more quickly and
flexibly – decisive competitive advantage for the Wieland group, which
mainly supplies to manufacturers of connectors, leadframes and transistors in south-east Asia.
Rolling mill allows manufacturing to take place in proximity to customers
The
Wieland group has been operating in Asia since 1987. The company first
opened a sales office in Hong Kong, followed by the slitting centre for
strips made from copper and copper alloy in Singapore in 1991. Wieland
then continued to expand its activities in Asia. The decision to build
the rolling mill in Singapore was made against the background of an
increase in demand for strips made from copper materials for electronic
applications. ”As a leading supplier we have to manufacture where our
customers are, namely here in Asia”, Bernd Dautel, managing director of
Wieland Metals in Singapore, explains the decision to build a rolling
mill in Singapore. ”We can now deal with special requests both quickly
and flexibly”, continues Dautel. The new rolling mill is now located on
a new, bigger site in the “Jurong” industrial area. The slitting centre
and the administration area relocated to the new site last year.
Unique in south-east Asia
“I
am happy to note that Wieland-Werke is setting a fine example of
introducing a new capability by adding precision cold rolling in their
new facility. Precision cold rolling is something not many countries
can offer, and we are thankful that Singapore is now able to because of
Wieland-Werke", said Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Singapore’s Minister of State for
Trade and Industry.
This investment means that Wieland Metals
Singapore now has the only rolling mill for copper products in
south-east Asia, covering an area of approximately 27,000 square
metres. About 160 employees will be working in the production,
administration, sales and marketing areas.
Short portrait of the Wieland Group
The Ulm-based Wieland
Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of semifinished
products and special products made from copper and copper alloys. The
semifinished products are strips, sheets, tubes, rods, wires and
sections. The special products include slide bearings, finned tubes and
heat exchangers. The Wieland Group consists of more than 30
manufacturing sites, slitting centres and trading companies in Europe,
China, Singapore, South Africa and in the USA. Wieland-Werke AG has
four plants in Germany: in Ulm, Velbert-Langenberg,
Villingen-Schwenningen and Vöhringen.
Wieland supplies customers in numerous markets with over 100 different
copper alloys which are primarily used in the electrical and electronic
industry. Other important consumer areas are the automotive industry,
the construction industry and the engineering industry.
History of Wieland Asia
1987 Sales office opened in Hong Kong
1991 Slitting centre opening ceremony in Singapore
1996 Relocation of Singapore slitting centre to a new building, capacity doubled
1999 Sales office opened in Shanghai
2001 Slitting centre opened in Shanghai
2002 Milling lines for transistor strips installed in Singapore
2005 Sales offices opened in Shenzhen (China) and Bangalore (India)
2006 Transfer of Singapore slitting centre to the new factory
2007 Rolling mill opening ceremony in Singapore
Read more about Wieland Asia here.
For inquiries please contact:
Wieland Metals Singapore (Pte.) Ltd, Bernd Dautel, Managing Director
Dir: (65) 6869 2600, HP: (65) 9751 3351, bernd_dautel@wieland.com.sg
Public Relations, Germany (Ulm):
Wieland-Werke AG, Karin Maier, Press Secretary
Tel: +49 (0)731/944-2663, karin.maier@wieland.de