Crown and Chinese government officials cut ribbon at Suzhou plant opening.

Crown Equipment Corp is the latest global forklift manufacturer to open a manufacturing plant in China.

The US-headquartered company has opened its factory and sales operation in Suzhou, China, after announcing plans for its construction in 2005.

The plant has been production ready since 2006. Crown started manufacturing some smaller materials handling equipment in the 150,000 square foot (13,936 square metre) factory in April 2006, a Crown statement said.

In 2005, Forkliftaction.com News reported Crown planned to transfer production of some smaller models from its plant in Galway, Ireland (Forkliftaction.com News #210). Crown refused to comment on Suzhou's production models and the number of employees at the plant.

Crown president Jim Dicke III said the number of Crown customers in China was a key factor in the decision to manufacture in east Asia.

"Many of our global customers are already in China or making plans to open operations. Providing service support for these existing customers in China is very important to our company," he said.

Dicke said Crown was "extremely impressed" with the talent of Chinese employees the company had hired and the quality of Crown's Chinese suppliers.

Suzhou, in Jiangsu Province, is about 120 kilometres west of Shanghai, China. Crown's global operations cover the US, Australia, England, Germany and Mexico.