Thanks to the universal design of the area, the sensor and automation specialist is flexible as to which product lines and products will be manufactured here in the future. Balluff is thus creating the conditions to continue serving the APAC market with high availability and delivery performance. The new premises were officially opened on July 7.

When planning the new building, it was important to Balluff to ensure a holistic appearance of the entire site and the global Balluff standards for optimum working conditions. For this reason, the previous building complex was also modernized. Particular attention was paid to sustainable solutions that are energy-efficient, especially in the technical infrastructure. Balluff placed a particular focus on the logistics area in the construction project: The previous and new production areas are connected to ensure short internal transportation routes. The introduction of a digital assistance system will make the processes in the high-bay warehouse smarter and faster. Balluff has invested a total of 50 million RMB (around 6.5 million euros) in the project and is creating 300 new jobs. Accordingly, the new building also included an expansion of the infrastructure for employees, with changing rooms, training rooms and parking spaces planned.

Long-term relationship

The new 6,000 m² building will increase the production area at the Balluff site in Chengdu by 75 percent. © Balluff

Balluff put out feelers from the Stuttgart Fildern to China at an early stage: the company established its first service branch in Shanghai as early as 1994 and manufactured its first sensors in Chengdu from 1996 with the help of an external partner. Balluff finally founded its subsidiary in Chengdu in 2004 and opened its own plant three years later. "This was pioneering work. That was the first German production company here at the time," says Frank Nonnenmann, who as Managing Director at Balluff is responsible for setting up the global production and logistics network. With the new building, Balluff is committing itself to its China strategy: "In the long term, China is the world's largest market for production automation with a demand that we believe will continue to grow steadily for a long time to come. In such a market, we must and want to be present with our philosophy of literal customer proximity," explains Nonnenmann. Balluff has a very good reputation as an employer in Chengdu. "We have many long-term employees," says Erik Oortwijn, Managing Director of Balluff Sensors (Chengdu). "This low fluctuation is exceptional for the Chinese labor market and shows the great trust that Balluff has earned here as an employer."

Balluff's second largest production site

The plant in Chengdu is one of Balluff's three major production sites alongside the two plants in Veszprém (Hungary) and Aguascalientes (Mexico). In western China alone, Balluff manufactures more than 3,700,000 inductive and mechanical sensors per year, as well as linear position measuring systems for industrial automation and other products. In the production and logistics network, Chengdu assumes the role of regional supplier for the APAC region and lead factory for inductive sensors.