Automation Giant FFT Starts Building USD716.5 Million Global HQ in Shanghai
Chen Shanshan | Wu Rumiao
DATE:  Aug 04 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Automation Giant FFT Starts Building USD716.5 Million Global HQ in Shanghai Automation Giant FFT Starts Building USD716.5 Million Global HQ in Shanghai

(Yicai Global) Aug. 4 -- European automation solutions provider FFT Group has begun building its global headquarters in Shanghai, expecting to spend up to CNY5 billion (USD716.5 million) in the process.

The facility should be ready by 2022 to offer services to Shanghai's smart manufacturers, the German company, which China's Fosun International bought last year, told Yicai Global.

Founded in 1974, formerly Fulda-based FFT provides factory solutions for carmakers such as Daimler, BMW, and Volkswagen, as well as aircraft companies Airbus and Boeing.

Shanghai-based Fosun International purchased FFT in May 2019, without disclosing the price. The target firm's revenue was EUR856 million (USD1 billion) in 2017, with more than 2,600 employees, according to public data.

FFT's strategic move should fit Shanghai's intentions to house more than 100 unmanned factories in the next three years, based on the eastern city's action plan released in June. With the plan, about 10,000 new robots should be deployed and CNY30 billion (USD4.3 billion) invested.

FFT's HQ should serve no less than 10 smart factories while introducing Daimler's and BMW’s first-class smart manufacturing standards to the Chinese market, Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, said at the groundbreaking.

Editor: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine

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Keywords:   Fosun,Shanghai,FFT