Atlas Copco last week inaugurated a new production facility in China. The new facility will provide assembly and packaging for the Group’s entire range of gas and process turbocompressors and turboexpanders, as well as engineering and aftermarket services.

The new factory —Atlas Copco’s first factory in Eastern Asia for this product range — is equipped with the most advanced technology available for turbocompressor production. The new facility will comply with the highest industry standards, (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001) as well as local standards.

The investment for the plant, located in Shanghai Lingang Economic Development Zone, amounts to approximately MSEK 100 million (about U.S. $14.6 million). The facility is expected to employ more than 150 people by 2012.

“This new plant is important to strengthen the presence and position of our Gas and Process operation in Asia,” said Stephan Kuhn, business area president of Atlas Copco Compressor Technique. “It will enable us to cultivate the vast potential of the Asian market and will also bring us closer to our many customers in the region.”

Atlas Copco’s turbocompressors and turboexpanders have applications in many industries including air separation, chemical/petrochemical and natural gas. The new production facility will benefit customers in all of these industries by improving overall efficiency in order handling, packaging and engineering and also by increasing the Groups’s aftermarket presence throughout the region.

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Atlas Copco is an industrial group with leading positions in compressors, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems.

Atlas Copco’s Compressor Technique business area develops, manufactures, markets, and services oil-free and oil-injected stationary air compressors, portable air compressors, gas and process compressors, turbo expanders, electric power generators, air treatment equipment and air management systems. It also offers specialty rental services.