Bridge of Weir announces new joint venture in China
03/09/2009
Bridge of Weir Leather Company, part of Scottish Leather Group, announced on September 3 that it is to launch a joint venture in China as demand for its predominantly Scottish hides continues to increase.
Founded in 1905 Bridge of Weir Leather is a privately owned company specialising in seating leather for the automotive industry.
Joint venture partners Zibo Polygrace Dahuanjiu Tannery Group, from Shangdong province, brings a wealth of experience as a manufacturer and exporter of top quality upholstery leathers and views the joint venture with Bridge of Weir as an ideal opportunity to combine the talents of both companies to tap into the fast growing Chinese car market.
Around $3 million has been invested in a new state-of-the-art automotive leather finishing, testing and cutting facility in China, which will allow the company to increase its share of the domestic market.
The new facility will use crust tanned from raw hides to wet blue at Bridge of Weir’s partner tannery, NTC Leather, and to crust at the Bridge of Weir facility in Renfrewshire, Scotland.
The new joint venture company, which will be known as Zibow Automotive, has already secured Volvo as a customer for its Chinese-finished leather interiors for some of the cars the Swedish company is making in China.
Zibow plans to target other car manufacturers based in China and is forecasting a turnover of $20 million in year five. Initially it will concentrate on the domestic Chinese market but will look to expand its operation to export into the Far East from its Chinese base.The joint venture will create 20 jobs in the first year with additional recruitment planned.
A reception to mark the launch of the joint venture took place in Shanghai during the All China Leather Exhibition. At the event, the chairman of the Scottish Leather Group, Jonathan Muirhead, said China would soon be the world's biggest producer of road vehicles and that becoming a joint venture partner in Zibow Automotive marked the beginning of a new chapter in his company’s history.
The president of the China Leather Industry Association, Madam Zhang Shuhua, said at the reception that she wished the joint venture great success and commented that she believed initiatives like this one would help China to “upgrade” its own leather industry.
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