Plans to build a new manufacturing facility in China to produce small to medium size diesel engines, were announced by Perkins at the Chinese construction exhibition Bices, in Beijing.

Perkins president, Hans Haefeli said the company’s manufacturing facility in Wuxi, in the Jiangsu province, would initially produce the Perkins 400 Series, a range of three and four cylinder, liquid-cooled, naturally aspirated and turbo-charged indirect-injection engines.

“This new facility will make the 400 Series engines more readily available for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with operations in China and the Asia Pacific region,” stated Mr Haefeli, who explained that the plant would be operated by the Perkins Shibaura joint venture.

He continued: “There is no doubt that the Chinese market represents a fantastic opportunity for us, as we look to further grow sales of our engines and parts business and re-establish and reinvigorate the Perkins brand in China.

“The building of this plant demonstrates our commitment to China and the continued success of Perkins’ small and medium engine business. Our ambition is to be the natural choice for Chinese equipment manufacturers. We will also continue to supply our current global customers who wish to grow their business from a Chinese manufacturing base.”

Mr Haefeli stressed the importance of providing Chinese OEMs with cost effective, high performance, quality engines backed by Perkins’ world-class service and support network.

Perkins has already appointed three distributors; Elco Power Systems in Hong Kong, Lei Shin Hong in Shanghai and Westrac in Beijing. Through these distributors Perkins’ Chinese customers will have access to the same high levels of service already provided throughout the world.

Phase one of production will be the compact 400 Series engine, which is expected to start rolling off the production line in September 2008. Later phases will focus on the production of medium size diesel engines, such as Perkins’ 1100 Series.

When the manufacturing facilities in Wuxi are fully operational, there will be a capacity to build more than 100,000 engines per year.

Speaking at Bices, Michael Wright, managing director of Perkins Shibaura Engines Limited said: “We are extremely pleased to be bringing our business to China and look forward to working with our customers and continuing the successful growth of the 400 Series business. The 400 Series facility will be a world-class manufacturing operation.”

With demand for compact machinery growing, especially in the construction market, an increasing number of equipment manufacturers are adopting the 400 Series as their engine of choice. There are currently more than 200 different applications in the agriculture, construction and material handling sectors among others, using the engine to provide power and reliability.

Although the latest emissions legislation in Europe and North America does not come into force until 2008 Perkins will be building diesel engines for existing Chinese OEM customers and targeting new OEMs who furnish local and export overseas markets.