A semi-hermetic ammonia heat pump system was installed in September 2018 at a refurbished former Philips factory in Eindhoven, Netherlands, to heat and cool 40,000 m² of apartments and business premises. The system uses two twin screw compressors and was developed by Van-Hout, ECR Nederland, and SRM (part of Fujian Snowman).

Grupo Gondi announced plans to build a new corrugated and high-graphic packaging plant near Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, with an investment of over $44 million. The plant will create 250 permanent jobs and will supply local manufacturers including Constellation Brands' Obregón brewery.

Turkish company Feka Automotive signed a memorandum of understanding to build a car component plant in Cuprija, Serbia, with an investment of EUR 15 million. The plant will initially employ 110 workers, with plans for up to 1,000 eventually.

Sulzer inaugurated a new manufacturing site for Applicator Systems products in Wrocław, Poland.

GSK inaugurated a new €30 million, 1,500 m² plant at its San Polo di Torrile site in Parma, Italy, for production and packaging of fostemsavir, an HIV drug for heavily treatment-experienced patients.

Greif opened a new steel drum production plant in Vorsino Industrial Park, Kaluga, Russia.

MEILLER GmbH held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Austrian headquarters in Oed-Öhling, Lower Austria. The company will consolidate production from two existing plants in Waidhofen an der Ybbs and Asten into a single site on a nearly 6-hectare plot, to produce around 1,500 tippers annually.

Swiss instrumentation maker Endress+Hauser will build a 100,000 square foot industrial and office facility in Pearland's Lower Kirby District, employing about 110 staff for its growing US business.

Tamil Nadu Cements Corp Ltd has completed 95% of the erection of a new 1Mta cement plant in Ariyalur, India, with an investment of INR 7.5 billion ($101 million). Commercial production is expected to start in January or February 2019.

BKT plans a greenfield project in Waluj, Aurangabad on 22 acres of freehold land, with a capex of approximately ₹500 crore, including a co-generation plant and warehousing.

BKT's board approved a capex of up to $100 million for a greenfield tire plant in the USA with 20,000 MT p.a. capacity, to be completed within 30 months.

Sundaram-Clayton Ltd. inaugurated a new foundry at Oragadam, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with an investment of over Rs. 150 crore. The plant has a capacity of 8,000 tonnes and will produce machined aluminium castings for the automotive industry.

ABB inaugurated a new high voltage gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) manufacturing facility in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia. The 1,000-square-meter plant produces 170 kV gas-fueled electrical panels and is part of a $30 million investment plan.

AB InBev opened a new automated warehouse at its largest UK brewery in Magor, Wales. The facility, supplied by Consoveyo, can store 23 million pints of beer and uses robotic cranes to retrieve pallets in under a minute.

Safran inaugurated a new 8,000-square-meter nacelle integration plant in Hamburg, Germany, for the Airbus A320neo. The company invested nearly €10 million in the facility, which will employ about 100 people by 2020 and aims to assemble 400 nacelles per year.

Linde Hydraulics plans to locate new production operations in Rock Hill, York County, South Carolina, in a 67,200 sq ft facility, with a $13.4 million investment projected to create more than 60 jobs.

Panasonic began production of residential air-to-water heat pumps at its PAVCCZ facility in Pilsen, Czech Republic, with one line initially, aiming for 40,000 units yearly.

Momentive has opened a €30 million production plant for NXT-brand silanes in Chempark Leverkusen, Germany. The facility is the first NXT plant in Europe and doubles Momentive's capacity in its fastest-growing product line.

German company VOSS Automotive will invest €15 million to build a new plant in Bahovitsa, Lovech region, Bulgaria, for manufacturing wiring and connecting electrotechnical systems for automotive applications. The plant is expected to employ 400-500 people by end of 2019 and up to 1,000 by end of 2020.

BorsodChem, owned by Wanhua Chemical, plans to construct a new aniline plant at its industrial complex in Kazincbarcika, Hungary, with EU-approved state aid of €45 million. The plant will create 50 jobs.

Hengyi Petrochemical's subsidiary Hengyi High-tech Materials will build a new production base with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons of functional polyester fiber in Hangzhou, China. The investment is CNY 119.3 million and the project will be completed in two years.

KROHNE Inc. opened a new flow and level instrument manufacturing and calibration facility in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Covestro's supervisory board approved an investment of around EUR 1.5 billion to build a new world-scale MDI plant with 500 kilotons annual capacity at its existing site in Baytown, USA. Start of production is expected in 2024.

Ceres Power announced plans to build a £7 million solid oxide fuel cell plant in Redhill, UK, with an initial capacity of 2 MW per year, expandable to 10 MW. The plant will serve as a lead facility for volume production and process development.

Alliance Environmental Group opened a new office in Fresno, California.

Unisplendour (Ziguang) Group held a groundbreaking ceremony for Phase I of its Nanjing Integrated Circuit Base project in Pukou Economic Development Zone. The project, with a total investment of $10.5 billion for Phase I, will produce 3D NAND Flash and DRAM memory chips with a capacity of 100,000 wafers per month.

Shandong Yashishi Co., Ltd. plans to invest 5 million yuan in a new heat exchanger production line project in Weifang, China. The project will lease 5,295 square meters of space, purchase 13 sets of equipment, and produce 72,000 sets of heat exchangers annually.

BorgWarner inaugurated a new production plant in Wuhan, China, to produce drive motors, P2 motors, Belt Alternator Starter Systems, starters, alternators and related components for combustion, hybrid and electric vehicles. The plant occupies 48,595 square meters and integrates production, engineering, quality, sales, logistics, administration and finance.

Voestalpine started operations at a new automotive components plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, with a $30 million investment, creating 90 jobs. The plant produces body and structural components for a high-range automobile manufacturer under a $600 million order.

TIL Ltd revived its plan to set up a second factory in Kharagpur, West Bengal, to manufacture a new range of high tonnage mobile cranes. The project cost is INR 180 crore (including INR 50 crore land cost), and construction will begin soon, with financing from sale of land assets in Uttar Pradesh.

Uponor has started PEX pipe production in a 237,000-square-foot facility in Hutchinson, Minnesota, which it bought for $6.35 million in 2017, and will hold its grand opening ceremony.

Sunny Yi Feng Tiles Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd received government approval to build a $30 million tile and ceramic plant in Norton, Zimbabwe, expected to create 1,700 jobs. The plant will have an annual output capacity of 18 million square metres of tiles, with production starting by April 2019.

German conglomerate Grob received clearance from Andhra Pradesh's Industries Department to establish a high-precision aircraft parts manufacturing unit at Gudipalli in Anantapur district, with an investment of ₹300 crore.

Kiswire, a South Korean steel wire and cable producer, has opened a second production hall in the Triangl industrial zone near Žatec, Czech Republic, doubling its capacity. The new hall features Demag cranes and will produce bead wire and cord for tire reinforcement.

Crown Holdings will invest R$343 million over 12 months to build its first plant in Brazil's Center-West in Goiás, expected to employ 600 people and start operating at the end of 2019. The municipality is to be announced.

German auto parts maker Kauth plans to build a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Windsor, Ontario, starting in 2019 with production to begin in 2020. The company will employ 350 at the new plant and invest $15 million.

Eldor Corporation, an Italian manufacturer of automobile systems, started production at its new plant in Botetourt County, Virginia. The company invested $75 million in the facility, which features fully automated production lines and will create more than 350 jobs.

Waldinger Corp. plans to build a $20 million corporate headquarters and production facility in Des Moines, Iowa, following its acquisition of Wolin Mechanical-Electrical. The total cost could reach $22 million.

SK Hynix opened a new production line for NAND flash memories, part of a 20 trillion won ($17.7 billion) investment to boost NAND chip output by 40%.

ESMO (formerly NEXEN TECH) received an investment certificate for a $26.5 million electrical cable factory in Ninh Binh, Vietnam. The facility is expected to create about 2,000 jobs.

SK hynix has officially opened a new semiconductor fabrication plant called M15 in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to produce NAND flash memory chips, with an investment of about 2.2 trillion won ($1.95 billion).

Hexcel has officially opened a new carbon fiber and pan precursor plant at the Les Roches-Roussillon Chemicals Industry Platform in Isère, France, with an investment of $229 million, creating 120 direct and 250 indirect jobs.

Edwards Lifesciences announced National Technology Park, Castletroy, Limerick as the site for a new 170,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for transcatheter heart valve therapy components. The €80 million investment is expected to employ approximately 600 people and be operational by 2021.

Knauf launched a new plant in Novomoskovsk, Tula region, Russia, to produce cement boards under the AQUAPANEL brand. The investment was 1.6 billion rubles, with a production capacity of 10-12 million square meters per year.

Caterpillar Inc. will locate a casting facility in Greenwood County, South Carolina, investing $13.5 million and creating 85 new jobs. The company purchased an existing 103,000-square-foot building in Hodges, S.C., to produce specialty castings for engines and transmissions.

KOSTAL Kontakt Systeme, Inc. has formalized plans to invest $57.8 million to construct a new North American Headquarters and production facility along M-59 in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The company designs and manufactures electrical connectors for the automotive industry.

Blum GmbH built a new 4,000 sq m plant on a 25,000 sq m site in Hettenleidelheim, Germany, to create space for growth. The facility includes a Kasto Uniline sheet storage system for automated material handling.

Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) inaugurated a new 14,000-square meter manufacturing facility in Niska Banja, Niš, Serbia on September 29, 2018, to produce automotive electronic components.

Sumitomo Rubber South Africa officially launched a new Truck and Bus Radial tyre factory in Ladysmith, KwaZulu Natal, as part of a R970-million investment. Production commenced in July 2018.

Evanesce Packaging Solutions will locate its first large-scale production facility in Walterboro, South Carolina, to manufacture compostable food service trays. The $70 million investment is expected to create 368 jobs over five years, with production starting in early 2019.