A KISS for China
19 October 2005
The world's leading lifeboat and davit supplier, Schat Harding, is to begin building its state-of-the-art KISS lifeboats in China. In a further expansion of its Asian manufacturing activities, Schat-Harding is also developing a 32-person free-fall lifeboat for dry cargo vessels and tankers to be manufactured at its Umoe Schat-Harding Boatbuilding (Qingdao) Co. Ltd plant at Qingdao.
Ove Roessland, ceo of Schat-Harding, says, "It is over a year since we began implanting our Schat-Harding quality standards into this factory, and we are now ready to step up production of our top ranges of boats to meet the needs of Asian shipyards in volume production of cargo vessels. We have invested several million NOK in development, completely reorganised the production and quality control process, and invested in training Chinese staff in our Norwegian plants. We took the hooks and other complex units back to Norway and re-engineered them for higher standards. Now we can step up production in China of boats, hooks and davit systems for the cargo ship market. It is not a shift of production from Norway, it is an increase in production for the group, serving key markets locally."
Schat-Harding's Chinese plant currently produces a range of five models and 100 boats annually. Three of the models have been redesigned, and new equipment will be brought in to build the KISS700 50-person boat and the new FF680 freefall 32-person system. Production of the KISS boats will begin in January, and the free-fall vessel in mid 2006. "We expect to lift production to over 250 boats annually," says Roessland. "Our largest clients in Asia, yards like Samsung and Daewoo, have audited the plant and want the sort of quality craft we can supply. Now with the changes to SOLAS requiring owners to use OEM technicians to service their boats and davits, yards and owners must increasingly choose high quality manufacturers who will be able to support the systems in the long term."
"We are the world leader in lifeboats and davits in the cruise, offshore and specialist ship markets, and our lifeboat factories in Norway have strong order books. This expansion of quality production will give us the ability to produce boats for a major segment of the conventional cargo ship market which is built in Asia and which does not want to import boats from Europe."
Brands now supported by Schat-Harding include Watercraft, Waterman, Fiskars, Davit-Company, William Mills Marine, Schat, Harding, Mulder & Rijke and the Beiyang Boatbuilding Co. Schat-Harding has a worldwide network of authorised service agents, and only these are permitted to service this equipment.
Schat-Harding is the world's leading supplier of lifeboat and evacuation systems for the cruise, offshore and shipping industries. It aims to be a FIRST in safety for all its customers. With factories and offices in Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, Canada, the Czech Republic and the USA, and now China, and agents in thirty other countries, Schat-Harding provides a global service and supply network. Schat-Harding is a member of Norway's Umoe Group.
