Mayer & Cie. CN Changzhou LLC, the Chinese subsidiary of the German circular knitting and braiding machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie., settled into Jiangsu Province at the beginning of the year. Until then, the Sales & Service subsidiary Mayer & Cie. China, founded in 2003 and later to become Mayer & Cie. China, had been based in Shanghai.

The new location within a Sino-German Innovation Park comprises a production hall of around 5000 square metres. In the future, the circular knitting machines assembled for the domestic market will increasingly consist of locally sourced parts and components from various suppliers. All suppliers have been qualified to comply with and implement the high Mayer & Cie. standards to make sure there will be no compromises in terms of quality. The project had been planned since 2018 but had to be postponed due to the entry ban following the Corona virus pandemic.

Motivation for the move

Since 2011, Mayer & Cie. had been assembling selected machine types for the domestic market at its Chinese plant in Shanghai. It started with a single jersey machine for the most common requirements, but today the domestic portfolio includes four types of machines. Until now, the knitting heads for these circular knitting machines had been pre-produced at the Mayer & Cie. plant in the Czech Republic and then transported to China.

The manufacturer is now saying goodbye to this ‘knitting head principle’. “It made perfect sense for the start of the assembly line,” says Benjamin Mayer, managing partner of Mayer & Cie. “However, it leaves little room for flexibility.”

Benjamin explains further: "In the future, we will source all parts and components of the machines assembled in China from various local suppliers. This allows us to offer our local customers more attractive prices and faster delivery times with the same quality standards. We expect this change to improve the positioning of our products in the domestic market."

In addition, the new plant will be connected to the parent company in Albstadt via an SAP connection. This was imperative to increase efficiency, transparency and quality. The new location offers the necessary space to map the increased installation effort on site. In addition, the province of Jiangsu generally offers very good conditions for industrial companies, as both well-trained workers and a large number of potential suppliers are located there.

New Chinese base in the Sino-German-Innovation Park (SGIP) in Jintan

The new headquarters of Mayer & Cie. CN is the German Chinese Innovation Park in Jintan in Jiangsu Province. The companies based there enjoy various advantages, including attractive location costs as well as proximity and exchange with other German companies on site. In addition, the administration of the SGIP supports companies in their search for employees, suppliers and service providers.

"We are pleased that we have now been able to successfully implement the decision we made years ago," says Benjamin Mayer. "We are confident that this step will bring us higher sales and revenue figures in the Chinese market."

Delay due to entry ban

The project has been on the agenda since 2018, but its implementation was delayed for a long time due to the Chinese entry ban as a result of the Corona virus pandemic. Preparations for the move did not begin until June 2023, which will now be completed in the first quarter of 2024. Production will start in April, and the IT connection to the parent company is scheduled to begin in March and be completed by the end of the year.  The current location will be completely closed at the end of March 2024.

Mayer & Cie. (MCT) is one of the world's leading manufacturers of circular knitting machines. The company offers the full range of machines needed for the production of modern textiles – from fabrics for home textiles, sportswear, nightwear and swimwear, seat covers and underwear to technical textiles. In addition, Mayer & Cie. regularly develops new approaches.

Since 2019, Mayer & Cie.'s service portfolio has been supplemented by the production of braiding machines. They are used to manufacture sheaths for hydraulic hoses, for example for use in aviation, the automotive industry or other special niche applications.

Founded in 1905, Mayer & Cie. generated sales of around 100 million euros in 2023 with around 450 employees, including around 350 at the Albstadt site, according to preliminary figures. In addition to its headquarters in Albstadt, Germany, and its subsidiaries in China and the Czech Republic, Mayer & Cie. is represented in a total of around 80 countries through its sales partners in the field of circular knitting and braiding machines.

www.mayercie.com