New STEP plant in Anhui: it's all about the ecosystem
The Shanghai robot and elevator-control maker's leased factory in Wuhu will make high- and low-voltage inverters, with room set aside for robots.
Wuhu's government news site describes Shanghai's STEP (新时达) as holding the world's second-largest share of the elevator-control market and China's second-largest in frequency inverters, the drives that control electric motors. On Sept. 24, STEP started production at a new inverter factory in Wuhu, a city in eastern China's Anhui province.
The plant fills about 17,800 square meters of leased space in Wuhu's Wanzhi district. It is built to make 2,000 high-voltage and 60,000 low-voltage inverters a year, plus inverters for specific industries and complete cabinets, with annual output worth up to RMB 700 million (about US$104 million). The city says space is reserved for expanding robot production.
Why Wuhu? It's all about the industrial ecosystem. The city points to Wanzhi's local electrical and auto-parts suppliers, and says the plant fills a gap in the district's supply chain for motor-speed control.
On its own site, STEP says it makes industrial robots under its STEP and ADTECH brands, including articulated and semiconductor-wafer robots, and has its own control-system, servo and software technology for robots carrying 1 to 600 kilograms.
Sources: 芜湖市人民政府 Wuhu municipal government (芜湖新闻网), 新时达 STEP (company website)
Editor: Ian Lamont
