Equipment manufacturer Terex Corporation has announced that as part of a plan to expand globally, its aerial work platform subsidiary Genie Industries has selected a new manufacturing site in China. This comes in the wake of Terex's move to manufacture its Genie scissor lifts in Coventry, England and aerial booms and telehandlers in Perugia, Italy.

"In 2007, a large percentage of our sales came from outside of North America," says Tim Ford, Terex Aerial Work Platforms president. "Our markets around the world are growing and we want to provide them with world-class products, designed and produced locally, to their local specifications. Manufacturing globally will shorten lead times for all customers, as the addition of this new plant will also free up some of our current capacity to support customers in other regions of the world more effectively."

Genie chose a business park in Changzhou, China, a few hours north west of Shanghai, to build its production facility, and plans to break ground by mid-year. Initial production will focus on preparing a line of personnel lifts, but over time, a full range of aerial work platform products is expected to be produced from this facility.

Besides its current production, the park in Changzhou was chosen for its potential to be enlarged as part of a future Terex manufacturing campus.

"The Asia market in general, and the China market specifically, is learning about the importance of the lift product category," Ford explains. "Aerial work platforms are increasingly becoming more widely accepted as a safe option for people who work in high places."

Terex Corporation is a diversified global manufacturer supplying a broad range of equipment for use in various industries, including the construction, infrastructure, quarrying, surface mining, shipping, transportation, refining and utility industries.