High Modulus opens China office

by High Modulus News on 11 Apr 2008 High Modulus is pleased to announce the opening of its operation in Qingdao, China, well–placed to serve the company’s growing number of Asian customers. Last month the company opened a Representative Office, which will focus on the sales and market development of customers in the region.

High Modulus has also entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Sino Composites, an established materials distributor in China. This new collaboration enables the B3 SmartPac, an engineered composite construction solution for production boatbuilders, to be offered to customers in Asia more cost-effectively and more efficiently.

High Modulus has been supplying customers in Asia for many years, most notably Cheoy Lee Shipyards in Hong Kong, with whom it has a relationship for more than twenty years. However, the past four years have seen a more proactive approach to the market growth, hence these recent developments.

'We have been building our presence and relationships in the Asian market over the last few years,' says High Modulus CEO, Richard Downs-Honey, 'And we are excited to have taken these next steps which will allow us to realise the potential of the growing domestic boatbuilding market in China, Malaysia, Thailand and other locations in Asia. There is much chat and hype about the growth economy in China, but to really leverage the opportunity you have to be proactive and do something – which is what we have done and will continue to do. Being able to provide the B3 SmartPac from a local base will mean that customers benefit from improved delivery times and cost efficiencies.'

The High Modulus Qingdao Representative Office will be run by Linda Teoh. Since 2003, Linda has managed the company’s Asian customers from its head office in Auckland, New Zealand, but has now relocated to Qingdao to be closer to the market. Linda studied in Singapore, and graduated from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland with an Honours Degree in Engineering, specialising in Naval Architecture. She has practical experience of working in Asian shipyards and speaks fluent Mandarin.

Sino Composites is an established materials distributor with its head office in Beijing and ten branches across China, including a 1400sqm warehouse and 4000sqm factory in Qingdao. The company represents many major international suppliers of composite materials such as Airex, BYK-Chemie and GlasCraft Inc.

The B3 SmartPac solution combines optimised and practical laminate specifications with pre-cut reinforcement and core materials. The laminate specification, development work and prototyping for each new project will continue to take place at High Modulus’s head office in Auckland, New Zealand. This ensures that each Asian project benefits from the wealth of composites knowledge and experience within the High Modulus engineering team, which now boasts over 50 staff members. The engineering design is converted into cut-files (or templates) and sent to Sino Composites. They in turn use these cut-files to pre-cut and label each individual material part before packaging them in the order to be used and delivering them to the customer with a comprehensive construction manual. This complete package enables the builder to produce repeatable high-quality boats cost-effectively.

Two of High Modulus’s current Asian customers are Zhuhai Sunbird Yacht Manufacturing Company and Cheoy Lee Shipyards. Sunbird manufactures the Brian Holland-designed 62ft and 75ft motoryachts using the infusion process and a B3 SmartPac solution. High Modulus provides structural engineering solutions for Cheoy Lee’s extensive range of motoryachts, from 14.2m pilot boats to the Ron Holland-designed 45m luxury motoryacht, Marco Polo.

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