Jinshan—Golden Mountain: That’s the name of the district in Shanghai that’s now home to Schreiner Group’s new production site—and giving rise to great hopes. In 2016, the high-tech company opened a production site of its own in the Middle Kingdom. Now, in 2022, in the year of the tiger, the next major leap has followed. Due to its strong growth in China, the international company was looking for new manufacturing space—and found it in the neighboring district of Jinshan.

In a little less than four weeks the entire plant moved with all its equipment, machines, and employees in October and November 2022. “The big challenge, above all, was the uncertainty and the resulting time pressure due to the coronavirus,” says project leader Matthias Meier. “Because of the lockdown in China we spontaneously had to delay all our plans.” Originally, the plant was supposed to have moved as early as in spring of 2022. However, starting in February, there were major covid outbreaks in Shanghai and the city was in several lockdowns for almost five months. Some of them were so strict that residents were not even allowed to leave their apartments. For Schreiner Group, that meant that the entire move had to be postponed for an indefinite period. To continue manufacturing at the old site, the lease had to be extended and the plant be re-audited.

A look at the numbers shows why the move was necessary: Compared to around 2,200 square meters of factory space at the old site, the new one currently provides almost 3,800 square meters. Another 1,500 square meters will be added in the course of 2023 because Schreiner Group has big plans: While, so far, most of the products manufactured in China have been for the Schreiner ProTech business unit, more and more products are planned to be produced for Schreiner MediPharm going forward. In the next two years, the number of employees is supposed to increase from the current 30 to 50. Since the beginning of the new year the new site has been audited Tigerinternally and externally. “We are very proud and happy that everything worked out and that we are well prepared for the future,” says Jamie Long, General Manager of Schreiner Group Ltd. China. “And best of all is the fact that we managed to continue serving all customers and complete all orders as planned in spite of the move.”