Jason Industrial Inc. has joined forces with Megadyne SAS and San Wu Rubber Mfg. Co. Ltd. to form a rubber belting joint venture in China. The result is SJM Belting Co. Ltd., located in the city of Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. The province of Jiangsu is along the eastern coast of China, just north of Shanghai.
The 100,000-square-foot SJM facility houses 250 employees producing a variety of rubber belts, including industrial V-belts, synchronous belting, and raw edge belting.
SJM had its beginnings in 2003, when the facility in Wuxi was opened by San Wu Rubber, a manufacturer of industrial rubber products based in Chang Hwa, Taiwan. Jason Industrial and Megadyne then teamed up with San Wu to form the joint venture, which was finalized in October 2004.
“The joint venture gives us the opportunity to expand our capacity and to have greater control over the quality and pricing of our product,” said Phillip Cohenca, president and owner of Jason Industrial. “Of equal importance, SJM will serve as a springboard into the rapidly growing Chinese market.”
The three partners plan to double the size of the joint venture in 2005 with the construction of a second 100,000-square-foot facility at the same site. SJM will then begin manufacturing urethane belts and a variety of other belt products.
