Global precision molder and contract manufacturer GW Plastics announced today it has tripled the size of its Dongguan, China, manufacturing plant. GW has invested $1,700,000 (USD) to establish operations in China, in response to increased demand for high-precision tool making, molding and assembly capacity in the region. The current expansion increases the facility’s size to more than 40,000 square feet (3,700 square meters), less than a year after GW first established operations in China.

GW Plastics President & CEO, Brenan Riehl, has been impressed with the integration of GW’s China facility and its North American operations, especially with regard to engineering, program management and quality: "Regardless of time zone or location, we have moved aggressively to provide our customers with a responsive and consistent global precision manufacturing capability in all of our facilities; GW Dongguan is a great example of that commitment."

As part of the investment in China, GW has strengthened its impressive in-house precision mold design and manufacturing capability. The Company has installed Unigraphics CAD workstations, to allow for 24/7 continuous communication with GW engineers and program managers in the U.S, and has added high-speed CNC machining centers, EDM, and CMM equipment to enhance its precision mold building capability.

GW Dongguan recently completed construction of a class 100,000 (Class 8) clean-room molding and assembly area to serve the global manufacturing needs of its healthcare customers. The Company also plans to offer its customers product design and development from GW Dongguan giving it the capability to provide customers with 24 hour global product design and development.

As part of this expansion, GW Dongguan has added advanced tiebarless and electric molding machines, from Engel and Fanuc Roboshot to accommodate the demanding requirements of its growing high precision safety-critical automotive, healthcare, telecommunications, and office machine business. Much like GW Plastic’s North American operations, GW Dongguan’s focus is on tight tolerance precision molding and assembly.

Ben Bouchard, GW Plastics Vice President of International Business Development, is well aware of the needs of his customers: "Having worked for many years with leading multi-national customers, we know they have high expectations of GW, wherever we are located. Customers who have traveled to our Dongguan plant are very impressed with what they see: we have removed the risk of manufacturing in China by offering the same high level of standardization in equipment, operating practices and quality systems as in our North American operations. Our customers realize the need for a global supply chain, but prefer to work with existing relationships to minimize their risk."

GW Dongguan is both ISO 9001:2000 and TS 16949:2002 certified.