Already established as the most important market of injection moulding machines, China will continue along these lines for a long time to come. Therefore, the main focus lies on the consolidation of Ningbo Haitian Group’s leading position in the Chinese market, where the company currently holds a 25% share in the market. Haitian’s small and medium-size machines hold a 15% market share while 60% are attributed to the company’s large machine segment.

In the foreseeable future, the countries of Asia/Oceania/Australia will continue to be the second largest market for injection moulding machines. Therefore, Ningbo Haitian Group target is to maximise its market shares in this region with the ultimate aim of attaining market leadership. While Haitian is already well established, the company still sees room for development.

Haitian intends to intensify its presence in the export markets outside of Asia by presenting its existing product portfolio in conjunction with current strategic innovations. At present, the company group is enjoying major success in the Near/Middle East, in South America as well as in those European markets where established suppliers sell only a limited number of units. At present, Haitian is optimising the structure of its subsidiary Haitian Europe with headquarters in Cazzago San Martino near Brescia in Italy to boost its market position in Europe. In the US, where Ningbo Haitian will present two all-electric HTD injection moulding machines on occasion of the NPE trade show in June 2006, the company intends to improve its sales presence by installing new, additional representations.

In addition to building up its sales presence, Ningbo Haitian will focus on accommodating the increasingly complex technological requirements of customers and corporate end users. According to Haitian’s market share analysis, the Chinese market can be categorised according to the following segments:

• Basic-level technology (low-tech moulding) accounts for 45 % of the market
• Medium-level technology (mid-tech moulding) holds 35% of the market
• Premium-level technology (high-tech moulding) represents 20% of the market

Current forecasts conducted by Haitian anticipate a shift in demand by 2010 with

• Low-tech moulding accounting for 25% of the market
• Mid-tech moulding gaining 40% of the market
• High-tech moulding representing 35% of the market

The strong growth of the mid-tech moulding segment is driven by

• the fact that international corporate end consumers and OEMs compel their suppliers to comply with western-technology based quality standards on an international level and
• a general increase in the demand for high-quality consumer and capital goods in China and other Asian countries.

At present, Haitian caters to customers at the intersection of low-tech and mid-tech moulding. As the abandoned Demag Haitian JV focused on the mid-tech moulding segment, Haitian is now determined to provide an attractive product range to advance its strategic objectives.

Jianming Zhang is convinced that his company must be geared towards meeting the requirements of the premium market segments to ensure success in the mid-tech segment. This strategy calls for the development of a product which is on a par with the more advanced European technology standards. Therefore, Jianming Zhang decided to join forces with Zhafir Plastics Machinery GmbH, responsible for developing an injection moulding machine to cater to the requirements of the premium segment. In this way, the growing mid-tech segment will be supplied by Zhafir’s premium segment machines as well as by mid-tech machines already sold by Ningbo Haitian.

Ningbo Haitian Group Co., Ltd.

Representing 85% of the company’s business volume, the development and production of injection moulding machines is Ningbo Haitian Group’s core business. Moreover, the company group specialises in the production of high-precision CNC tooling machines, small compressors and electro motors. Originally founded in 1966 as a production facility for agricultural machinery and equipment, the company with 2,700 employees posted international sales of USD 490m in 2005. The strategic objective for the next five years includes the increase of the group’s revenues to USD 625m, mainly by expanding the injection moulding machine business and increasing the tooling machine segment’s contribution to the total sales volume.

In 1972, Ningbo Haitian Group launched its first injection moulding machine. Since 1984, the company has been selling injection moulding machines of the “Haitian” (or “HT”) brand. Up until 2005, the group’s injection moulding machine production volume has been rising steadily – the last capacity allowed for roughly 14,000 units/year, about 3,000 of which were exported. In the current year, Ningbo Haitian anticipates a production volume of 17,000 units, 3,500 of which are earmarked for non-domestic markets.

Injection moulding machines of the Ningbo Haitian brand are leading in China with Haitian holding a 60% share in the market for large machines and a 15% share in the market for small machines. The group of companies intends to consolidate and expand its leading position in the Chinese market. Moreover, the group strives to move into new markets in Asia and other global regions. At present, Ningbo Haitian is successful in more than 70 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Over the past years, Ningbo Haitian Group has stepped up its presence in non-domestic markets by installing assembly facilities and branches in Canada, the US, Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Turkey. The group’s non-domestic sales volume has been growing steadily. In 2003, sales amounted to USD 50m and have been rising to USD 80m in 2004 and UDS 100m in 2005.

Ningbo Haitian offers a wide variety of different injection moulding machines with clamping forces of between 56 t and 4,000 t. The group’s most important export products comprise the HTFX machine range with clamping forces of between 58 t and 4,000 t, the HTD range of all-electric machines with clamping forces ranging from 56 t to currently 360 t and two-platen HTK machines with clamping forces starting from 1,100 t

Contact for the press

Professor h.c. Dipl.-Ing. Helmar Franz

Member of the Group Board

Ningbo Haitian Group Co., Ltd.

Jiangnan Exp. Processing Trade District

Beilun

Ningbo 315821

VR China

Tel. +86 574 86182623 (Ms. Liza Meng)

Fax +86 574 86221864 (Ms. Liza Meng)

E-Mail: mjh@mail.haitian.com

Internet: www.haitian.com