Hong Kong medical device maker to build China plant as US, EU raise trade barriers
Vincent Medical Holdings, a Hong Kong-based medical device maker, has doubled down on manufacturing in China by investing in automation and digitalisation, instead of moving operations abroad amid rising trade barriers in the US and Europe.
The maker of disposable radiology products and respiratory devices is building a factory in Kaiping in the western part of the Greater Bay Area, CEO Raymond Choi Cheung-tai said in an interview. Trial operations could start before the end of the year, he added.
'We are transforming into a new business model that will give us the flexibility to set up operations in multiple markets to get around the trade barriers,' said Choi, an industrial engineer by training. 'Our new factory will be nearly fully automated, except for some equipment that requires maintenance by technicians.'
The firm has a plant in Dongguan in the southern province of Guangdong, which produces 70 million imaging and respiratory consumables and 100,000 hospital electronic respiratory devices annually. The first phase of the new facility was expected to cost HK$200 million (US$25.5 million), it said.
Dongguan is one of the nine cities in the province, which together with Hong Kong and Macau, make up the Greater Bay Area - Beijing's vision for a manufacturing and technology powerhouse to drive the nation's economy.
Choi joined Vincent Medical in 2020. He is the son of founder and chairman Choi Man-sing, who controls about 60 per cent of the firm. Sales of disposable imaging products grew 38 per cent to HK$393 million last year, or 49 per cent of the group's revenue. The US and Europe contributed almost 40 per cent each to its sales.
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