A pioneering joint venture between Morgan Advanced Materials Greater China and Yongda Technology Group has come to fruition with the opening of a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Wuxi, in the People's Republic of China.

The Morgan Ceramic Core Technology Co Ltd facility based in Wuxi, Jiangsu, will specialise in the manufacture of sacrificial ceramic cores and other ceramic injection products for use in investment casting processes. It was officially opened by Dr Pete Raby, Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Advanced Materials during his visit to China.

The nine-month £1 million project has created a facility that will help to serve Morgan's growing customer base in the industrial gas turbine and aerospace sectors in China. It will eventually employ around 160 staff.

The venture follows extensive growth within the civil aviation sector where Morgan's high performance ceramic cores are instrumental in the creation of durable yet lightweight turbine blades. Similarly, seismic demographic changes in China continue to fuel growth in energy demand in the region, subsequently driving demand for Morgan's proprietary range of engineered cores for industrial gas turbine applications.

The opening ceremony in Wuxi was also attended by senior Morgan executives from Greater China and across Asia, as well as guests from Yongda and its subsidiary, Suvast, who also took the opportunity to tour the facility.

Pete Raby commented: “This joint venture has created a facility which is ideally placed to serve the developing needs of key industrial sectors in China and further afield. Our partnership with Yongda has been a close and mutually beneficial one to date and will continue to be so as the facility now moves into full production mode.”

Raymond Gao, General Manager of JMCC, added: “Morgan Advanced Materials is a globally-renowned leader in its field and we see this as an invaluable opportunity to pool our collective expertise and resources in order to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Ultimately, we believe that this working relationship will enable us to better serve our customers, add real value in our target sectors and, above all, achieve a greater competitive advantage within the marketplace.”