The official inauguration of the Metso Technology Center will take place on May 28, 2010 in Shanghai. The opening of the center brings facilities for the world’s newest and most modern valve factory and supply center as well as facilities for the production, assembly and testing of process automation systems. In addition to the office premises, the center also comprises premises for Automation business line’s sales, project and engineering units in China. All of Automation business line’s units in the Shanghai area will be operating at the new center. The Metso Technology Center, located in the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, comprises 20,000 square meters of floor space for manufacturing and 9,500 square meters of office area. Initially, the center will employ about 250 people. Later, in 2013, the number of employees forming a functional entity is estimated to increase to 650. Metso’s applications, solutions and knowledge-based services are designed to improve customers’ process performance and profitability by increasing productivity, quality, process availability and environmental friendliness. With a strong presence in China, Metso can provide better service to energy, oil and gas, and pulp and paper customers, especially in China and Asia Pacific. It also enables the development of a global supply chain for valve production. One of the most notable transactions over the course of some years has been the delivery of more than 3,000 rotary control valves and 1,000 automated valves and 3,500 intelligent valve controllers to one of the world’s largest ethylene project in China. Metso is also a leading supplier of automation solutions to the pulp and paper industry in the Chinese markets. Metso is a industry leader in flow control devices for the pulp and paper industry, with a 60% share of the markets served. Metso has supplied over 100 control systems to the power industry and well over 100 control systems to the pulp and paper industry. Metso made its first deliveries to China back in the 1950s. It started its own operations in China through a joint venture in the 1980s. Today, Metso operates in 16 different localities in China, where it has about 2,600 employees.
