The EJC Series 2 pedestrian truck.

Jungheinrich AG has officially opened a new assembly plant in the Qingpu industrial zone in China.

The plant is expected to start producing electric pedestrian pallet trucks in the northern hemisphere autumn of 2006.

In a statement issued last year, Jungheinrich said the Chinese manufacturing base was part of the group's strategy to increase its market share in China. An initial EUR2 million (USD2.4 million) investment was made to establish the plant, where about 50 employees will assemble the forklifts (Forkliftaction.com News #233).

In 2005, Jungheinrich employed 8,998 people, made net sales of EUR1.645 billion (USD2.110 billion) and produced 66,500 units of materials handling equipment. About 72 per cent of sales were made abroad.

Forkliftaction.com News will publish an exclusive interview with Jungheinrich Lift Truck (Shanghai) Co Ltd managing director Jian Chen in September. Chen will talk about Jungheinrich's achievements in the Chinese market.