Announce Plant Near Mumbai
Thomas Fahnemann, chairman of Lenzing’s management board, (right), shakes hands with Satish Modi, chairman of India’s Modi Group, following a joint venture agreement between the new conglomerates.
ustria- based synthetic fiber manufacturer Lenzing Group plans to build a new viscose fiber production plant in India in cooperation with India’s Modi Group. The US$200- million plant, which will employ 700 to 800, will be located in an industrial park in Maharashtra State, about 45 miles (72 km.) south of Mumbai. Production is slated to start in late 2010 or early 2011 after a two- year construction period.
“After the successful startup of our plant at Nanjing, China, this is the next logical step of our expansion focusing on Asia,” said Thomas Fahnemann, chairman of Lenzing’s management board. “India is seen as the second important market for viscose fibers after China.”
The Modi Group is one of India’s most successful conglomerates, with an annual turnover of about $1.2 billion. Lenzing will hold majority ownership in the plant, which is its seventh production facility.
Lenzing began operations at its Nanjing plant in China in April. That facility is a joint venture with Nanjing Chemical Fibre Co., with Lenzing holding a 70- percent stake. The plant was completed in less than two years and employs 540.
he Modern Engineering Group, an outsourced industrial engineering company headquartered in Rochester Hills, Mich., opened a new facility in Saint- Etienne, France, in April. The facility is in the Metrotech technology park. The expansion includes a new engineering center, and will create 160 new engineering positions over the next three years. The company provides services to the aerospace, agricultural, automotive, and heavy industrial sectors.
Ron Wood, Modern Engineering’s CEO, said the site in central France was chosen over sites in Belgium and Germany, due to the quality of the region’s engineering schools and the presence of several regional and national industry clusters.
According to Enterprise Rhône- Alpes International, those clusters include the Lyon Urban Bus and Trucks Competitiveness Cluster (which features operations from Caterpillar, Renault and Volvo, among others), as well as a renewable energy cluster.
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