Neles, the valves focused spin off of Metso, has announced the start-up of operations at its new valve technology centre in Jiaxing, China.

The new plant strengthens Neles’ valve and related products production capabilities and increases availability for customers across various process industries, in China and globally, it said.

This is the first major announcement from the company since it became a new entity with the partial demerger of Metso (into Neles) and the merger of Metso and Outotec to become Metso Outotec.

The greenfield investment in China to respond to the growing demand of reliable valve technologies was announced back in October 2018.

Olli Isotalo, President and CEO of Neles, said: “This is an important strategic addition to Neles’ global manufacturing footprint and good news for our valve customers around the world. With this investment, our target is to further improve our service and delivery capabilities to meet the diverse and evolving needs of our customers.”

Jiaxing’s manufacturing layout is designed with the latest technologies for efficient and environmentally friendly mass production of high-volume standard valve products, Neles said.

Kevin Tinsley, Head of Valve Operations at Neles, said the principle has been to ensure the most reliable and emission-free production processes from the new plant.

“For example, the liquid recycling system at Jiaxing allows reusing 95% of the liquids used in machining or testing processes and thus minimising formation of hazardous substances,” he said.

“Also, the Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer in use allows as much as 99% organic compound free painting process.”

The new plant will produce over 100,000 valves per year, according to the company.

“With access to a variety of competitive logistic options, the products from Jiaxing can be shipped to customers or Neles supply centres around the globe with dramatically improved lead times,” it added.

In addition to Jiaxing, Neles’ valve technology centre in China in the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone in Shanghai continues operations, focusing on highly engineered products.

Neles employs around 400 flow control specialists at four main locations in China, serving all process industries.

Isotalo concluded: “China is an extremely important market for our business. The new technology centre will have a key role in strengthening our R&D capability in China as well as our global footprint and position as a leading provider of reliable flow control solutions.”

Today, Neles has valve technology or production centres around the world in North America, Germany, Finland, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and India.