Frederikshavn, Germany - One of China's largest export-oriented mold makers, and a new head of Dongjiang Mold Co. Ltd., is seeking European help to train the next generation of Chinese mold workers.
Joerg Wehling
Joerg Wehling, managing director of Dongjiang Molds earlier this year, said he was very interested in getting Dongjiang to participate in apprenticeship projects in Shanghai started in 2013 by Engelhard Holding and several others by Austrian plastic products machinery company.
ENGEL and its partners have ported the high-intensity four-year apprenticeship training program in Austria and Germany to their Chinese factories and witnessed the first graduates this year.
'I like this project and I think this is the future of mold making in China,' Wehling said at the Plastics Processing Trade Fair in Germany 'We need mold making in China and are educated mold making workers.' 'He said training motivation Partly because China's rising costs are forcing companies like Dongjiang to automate and upgrade in order to remain internationally competitive.
Dongjiang Mold is a subsidiary of Dongjiang Group (Holding) Co., Ltd., a large injection molding company with a factory in China listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, about 3,500 employees and sales last year of HK $ 1.62 billion (US $ 205 million).
Wehling said he is in talks with ENGEL and other partners in its Shanghai project, such as plastic packaging company Alpla-Werke Alwin Lehner and connector solutions company Odu.
He hopes Dongjiang can join them next year, saying that China's large-scale mold-making industry requires employees with a wide range of skills.
'These people will become managers of the mold shop because they have deep knowledge,' says Wehling. 'They understand steel, learn about manufacturing, and understand design.'
'This is the perfect mold shop manager for the future,' he said.
Dongjiang Mold sales rose 5.5% to HK $ 306.1 million (US $ 39.2 million) in the first half of 2017 as the group attempted to expand to the ultra-large tooling market in the automotive industry.
'China is getting more competitive,' he said. 'That's why we have to choose the right strategy for the future.'
Wehling said the strategy includes moving into other markets that require high-precision mold making, particularly in the medical and packaging markets.
'My plan, which is also a board plan, is to increase our share of the packaging and medical markets,' he said. 'These are the ones with the fastest growth in the future.'
He said that more than 90% of Dongjiang's mold business is export-oriented, so the company also wants to develop more business in China.
But in addition to targeting Chinese companies in China, he said Dongjiang will focus on global brands such as the Danone Group, which sells well in China.
'They want a local mold maker to make molds for their local production,' Wehling said.
He also said the company has a goal in the next five years to set up a mold shop in North America similar to Selig & Böttcher GmbH & Co. KG, whose mold shop was acquired in 2014 in Braunschweig, Germany.
Wehling joins Dongjiang Tooling, which previously had European executives as its chief executive officer Wehling previously worked for Husky Injection Tooling Systems Ltd. and Austrian toolmaker KTW Group, which was acquired by Husky in 2011. He said that at these companies, He is responsible for sales and projects in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.