Manufacturer establishes Chinese subsidiary to meet strong demand

A Shropshire manufacturer has established a new subsidiary operation in China following the huge demand there for its products.

Telford-based Filtermist has exported its oil mist collectors to China for more than 20 years, using a Beijing-based agent En-Creative.

Growing customer demand resulted in the appointment of a dedicated Business Development Manager, Carl Yu, in 2014 and since then a number of sub-distributors have also been appointed throughout the country.

Filtermist, which recently opened its new £3m headquarters and manufacturing base, said China’s booming manufacturing sector offered huge potential, especially as awareness about the importance of air quality was continuing to gain prominence.

James Stansfield, managing director, Filtermist said its products were used by manufacturers around the world to remove oil mist, fume and vapor from workplace air.

“Whilst debate in China is mainly centered around external pollution, there is also a growing awareness about the quality of internal environments – particularly amongst younger people,” he said.

“Sales of Filtermist units in China have continued to grow year on year with sales in 2016 up by a staggering 54% on 2015. This has been attributed to three key factors – increased awareness of the importance of clean air, working with a proactive distributor and our investment in additional resources focusing purely on sales in China.

“Having a licensed business will enable us to build on the strong foundations already in place to ensure as many people as possible employed in China’s manufacturing industry benefit from clean working environments and air which is safe to breathe.”

Mr Stansfield visited China earlier to talk with Mr Yu, En-Creative and some of En-Creative’s customers, who told him of the growth their businesses had seen since they began selling Filtermist oil mist collectors.

“Longtu Mechanical Company was established in Suzhou in the Jiangsu Province of China 10 years ago,” said Mr Stansfield.

“The company was appointed as an En-Creative distributor in 2015 and has since grown to eight employees, including three engineers recruited specifically to install and service Filtermist oil mist collectors.

“We have invested significant resource into raising awareness of the Filtermist brand in China and we are confident that this latest development will help to strengthen our presence in this key growth market.”