Qure Medical opens first Chinese facility

ERJ staff report (RN)

Dong Guan, China – Q Holdings Co. has brought its Qure Medical subsidiary to China, reported Rubber News.

Earlier this month, the firm celebrated the grand opening of its second Dong Guan facility, which will serve its QSR subsidiary and give its Qure Medical subsidiary its first manufacturing presence in the region.

The firm invested more than $2 million (€1.5m) in the expansion. Bernie Stritzke, executive general manager of Qure Medical, estimates the firm will add about 150 people at the new plant over the next year.

“We really recognise that there is a market out there in China,” Stritzke said. “There are a lot more Chinese people than there are US people, and they need medical help just like we do. We see China as an emerging market. The whole focus is to manufacture the parts out in China and sell them there.”

Q Holding's QSR subsidiary – which focuses on automotive and industrial production – already had a 70,000-sq.-ft. (6,500-sq-metre) facility in China. The new building has a natural divide, which will allow Qure to split its production about evenly. The medical side takes up about 46,000 square feet while the automotive side occupies 30,000 square foot of space, all on the first floor.

The facility includes a clean room and is ISO 1345 certified. Stritzke said most of the equipment investments are centred on new China-built compression presses and liquid silicone presses.

Qure is optimistic about growth based on the previous success of QSR. Stritzke said the automotive side has grown at a rate of about 40 percent per year.

“Our intention always was to establish Qure as a global supplier,” said Nick Brust, vice president of sales at Qure Medical.

“With us acquiring that building, it was perfectly suited to have a medical side on one side and an automotive expansion on the other,” he said. “The timing was perfect.”

Qure is only occupying one third of the new building. Stritzke estimated that with the space occupied, the firm could produce close to $20 million in capacity with two unused floors available for additional output if it sees the need to expand further.

The facility is capable of working with liquid silicone, HCR materials and performing silicone extrusions. Stritzke said the firm sees the facility as a one-stop shop for all sorts of elastomer products.

Dong Guan was a natural location for the Qure plant, mainly because of its existing facility at the same site.

Stritzke said Qure has a number of customers in the area, which lends itself to easier transportation logistics. The proximity to the existing facility allows for synergies between mixing of materials.

“Customer meetings that we had last week really pointed in the direction that we have things aligned correctly,” Brust said. “We're going the right way with doing the clean room, doing the 1345, and we feel there is going to be big demand over there for it.”

Q Holdings operates facilities in Rock Hill, South Carolina; Jasper, Georgia; Twinsburg, Ohio; North Canton, Ohio; Sturevant, Wisconsin; and now two in China.

Stritzke said the firm is looking to add facilities in Mexico and Europe to complete its global footprint. He said it is not out of the question that one or both of those purchases could occur in 2014.