R&M, the globally active developer, producer and provider of cabling systems for high-quality network infrastructures, based in Wetzikon, Switzerland, has opened a new production plant in China. The company in the Pinghu Economic Development Zone (PEDZ) assembles FO and copper solutions for data networks. R&M therefore now has two plants in China since its takeover in April 2019 of Durack Intelligent Electric Co. Ltd. in the Jinshan District. Both sites are located southwest of Shanghai and are part of R&M’s global supply chain.
The two R&M plants supply the IT market in China and other Asian countries. The main customers include data centers, which R&M serves as a full range supplier of network infrastructures. The Pinghu site produces copper and FO cable harnesses and assembles a range of platforms. Further production activities will be added in the coming years. R&M Durack develops and manufactures network cabinets and enclosures for data centers and server rooms. In China, the brand is seen as a premium manufacturer for finance, government, education and suppliers of colocation data centers.
«Despite difficult conditions and restrictions, we were able to commission the new production site with a minimal delay. Thanks to the great commitment of the local employees and the experts from the Swiss headquarters, it was possible to secure the construction of the plant,» says Laurent Amestoy, Executive Vice President R&M Asia Pacific. The Chinese IT market is already recovering from the pandemic. R&M is registering rising demand and is continuing to invest in market development.
«The new production plant will continue to fulfill our goal of also offering custom-made solutions for the data center market in China and Southeast Asia. Customer requirements can be dealt with flexibly at short notice and tailored to precisely what they are looking for,» says Laurent Amestoy. The Chinese data center market will experience strong growth in the coming years. R&M is planning on acquiring a significant share of the market in China and Southeast Asia with its high-end cabling solutions and the local manufacturing capacities.
The location in the PEDZ business park is a perfect environment for international technology companies, a fact confirmed by the one thousand companies which have already settled there so far. R&M is located in a new, six-story industrial building. In addition to production and packaging, it houses a warehouse, a showroom and offices on an area totaling 4,700 square meters. In the months to come, over 100 new jobs will be created here.
Due to the pandemic, the Corporate Operations Support Team from R&M HQ has not been able to visit since January 2020. Together with the local managers, the extension of the building with showroom was realized with intense use of digital media. The China local Production and Product Management Teams in Pinghu, and the Corporate Operations Support Team coordinated assembly and the commissioning of the production lines in web conferences. Process audits took place via action camera and smartphone. R&M will use the new experiences of cross-site, mainly digital project management worldwide to further optimize the supply chain and remain equally capable of action during the pandemic.
