The Jungheinrich China sales team at CeMAT Asia with Hans-Georg Frey (centre), chairman of the board of management, Jungheinrich AG.

Jungheinrich AG celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Chinese subsidiary at CeMAT Asia in Shanghai last week.

Jungheinrich China was established in 2004 and today has its headquarters in Shanghai, with branches in 10 cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Chengdu and Wuhan. Staff numbers have swelled from fewer than 20 people in 2004 to about 350 people.

The forklift manufacturer boasts that Jungheinrich China has achieved average annual growth in the double digits since 2004. In the current year, the company's order intake is up about 20% from the previous year.

CEO of Jungheinrich China Alexander Özbahadir says the Chinese market is of "enormous importance" to the forklift maker.

According to Jungheinrich's market intelligence, the Chinese market is yielding sales of over 250,000 forklifts annually, consisting mainly of diesel-powered forklifts. Jungheinrich says it is concentrating exclusively on battery-powered products and complete warehouse system solutions for the Chinese market, currently running at 55,000 vehicles per year.

In 2014, Jungheinrich expects to sell a total of just under 4,000 electric counterbalance forklifts, of which about 2,500 come from the company's production plant in Qingpu, which also produced and delivered about 1,000 stackers to other regions in Asia. Some of the forklifts come from the company's German plants.

Özbahadir says the company is striving to reach the 5,000 mark in 2015.

The Qingpu plant can produce over 10,000 trucks a year.

At CeMAT Asia, Jungheinrich presented trucks including narrow-aisle reach trucks fitted with warehouse navigation systems and auto pallet movers. The company also showcased the same ETR forklift that was highlighted in May 2014 at CeMAT in Hannover, a pantograph reach truck that Jungheinrich developed for client requirements in non-European markets.

The Qingpu plant develops and produces industrial trucks for the entire Asian market. Inaugurated on 8 August 2013, Jungheinrich claims the building is one of the most energy-efficient in the greater Shanghai region. At its opening, the new Jungheinrich plant was certified with the Leed Silver certificate - an ecological rating system for buildings developed by the US Green Building Council.

It replaced the original assembly plant that had been in operation since 2006. The new plant produces select stackers, electric counterbalance trucks and reach trucks for the Chinese and Asia Pacific markets.

"This year, we developed and produced the EJR 120n, the first stacker adapted to the needs of the customer in China/APAC directly in Qingpu," spokesman Kaulfuhs-Berger says.

Armin Holzner, executive board member of Jungheinrich China, says the plant enabled the company to build modern, energy-efficient forklifts based on European quality standards. "The new plant provides us with an opportunity to produce additional truck types and larger quantities in line with market demand."

At Qingpu, the production area measures around 36,000 sqm (387,500 sqft.), with offices occupying about 4,000 sqm (43,056 sqft.) of floor space. About 240 people are employed at the plant.