Absolute Haitian, the exclusive sales and service partner of Haitian International (Ningbo, China) has expanded their North American operations with the opening of a 116,000-sq.-ft. facility in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, just outside of Charleston.
Image: Absolute Haitian's operations facility. Photo: courtesy of Haitian International.
The new facility provides additional capacity and capabilities to support Haitian International’s product lines for injection molders in the USA and Canada. The new operations facility complements existing facilities for the U.S. and Canada in Worcester, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; and Batavia, Illinois; plus warehousing in southern California.
On May 30, Absolute Haitian and Haitian International held a grand opening celebration with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tour of the new facility for customers, suppliers, public officials and other guests.
New facility enables domestic machine assembly of Haitian International’s molding machines
Approximately 100,000 square feet of the new Moncks Corner facility is dedicated to manufacturing, warehouse and demonstration space with the capacity to assemble and test large tonnage machines and store stock machines and aftermarket parts. High ceilings accommodate large tonnage presses even when equipped with top entry automation. Three overhead cranes including one 50-ton crane, plus multi-level docks and reinforced concrete flooring facilitate the delivery and storage of large-tonnage machine assemblies. The facility’s drive-in dock enables flatbed trucks to move fully loaded onto the floor for more convenient unloading. “All of these features position us well to reduce lead times on delivery and enhance support to our customers,” said Mike Ortolano, co-owner of Absolute Haitian.
The 16,000-sq.-ft. office space houses a training center, applications engineering offices and sales functions.
South Carolina selected based on geographic and market analysis
“Although other states along the eastern seaboard were considered, economic development officials in the state of South Carolina and regional economic development groups helped make the selection an easy one,” said Absolute Haitian co-owner Nate Smith. “The expansion of the automotive sector, presence of white goods manufacturing and fast regional growth in the southeast were major considerations. In fact, we’re located in the same industrial park as a $1.2 billion Google data center.”
“Most of the large tonnage machines sold in the U.S. are delivered to customers in the southeastern U.S., the upper Midwest states of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, and Canada, forming a large machine corridor,” said Glenn Frohring, co-owner of Absolute Haitian. “The deep-water port of Charleston allows us to connect easily to that corridor via nearby intermodal transportation options for fast delivery to the customer.”
“This investment in infrastructure enables Absolute Haitian to support the needs of our customers and continue to grow our installed machine base in North America,” noted Frohring. “We are pursuing a range of domestic machine assembly options in collaboration with Haitian, based on the needs of the market.”
Source: Company Press Release