Thermax operates in China through the newly formed subsidiary, Thermax (Zhejiang) Cooling & Heating Engineering Co Ltd, China. In this market, the company focuses on its cooling business and has set up an absorption chiller manufacturing facility.
The new facility began full commercial production in July 2008. Located near Shanghai, the plant will initially produce 100 chillers per year, and scale up to 400 chillers a year. Primarily catering to China, it will gradually meet the needs of other Asia-Pacific markets.
The plant has state-of-the-art machinery and is based on a lean manufacturing platform. Chillers are assembled on trolleys and robotics is used for improving welding quality. Materials are sourced locally to speed up production, while dedicated small cranes at work stations, reduce lead times.
Starting with the production of chillers in the 500 TR range, the plant has the capability of building chillers upto 3000 TR. The plant has performance testing infrastructure that meet the global standards desired by international markets.
Once the plant obtains ASME and CE-PED certifications for the US and European markets respectively, it can support the Indian facility in Pune, catering to these markets.