Netherlands company Koninklijke Ten Cate nv has opened a new factory for geosynthetic materials near the city of Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
TenCate Geosynthetics will use this plant to produce textiles for the growing Asian market. The initial workforce will number some 150.
The past year has seen a 20 percent increase in demand for geosynthetic fabrics (geotextiles) in Asia. The new Zhuhai production location for woven materials will combine with TenCate's existing location for non-woven materials in Shah Alam, Malaysia, in response to the burgeoning growth and opportunities in the Asian market. This will enable TenCate Geosynthetics to benefit from the many infrastructural projects and extensive road and hydraulic construction underway in China, India and other countries.
TenCate's new production location will cover a total of 135,000 square meters — of which 28,500 square meters have now been built on. This will include personnel accommodation. The Zhuhai factory will process Polypropylene into fibres for geosynthetic materials including TenCate Geotube, a dedicated product for dike building and land reclamation.
The new factory will start contributing to the revenues of TenCate's sector Geosynthetics & Grass as from the second half of 2008.