Athanasios Hatzopoulos Packaging Materials Industry SA signed an EIB-backed project to expand its flexible packaging materials production in Greece, replacing old equipment and buying new production lines. The total project cost is EUR 29 million, with EUR 12 million of EIB finance.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Haier (Qingdao) Air-Conditioners Co., Ltd. (MHAQ) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new factory in Qingdao. The new factory will triple the scale and double production capacity, using Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' latest equipment and technology.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-Haier (Qingdao) Air-Conditioners Co., Ltd. (MHAQ) opened a new head office and manufacturing plant in Qingdao's Jimo District, replacing its previous facility. The new plant has a total floor area of approximately 60,000 m².

Hitchiner Manufacturing plans to construct a new 85,000-square-foot facility on its Elm Street Campus in Milford, New Hampshire, representing a $50 million capital investment. The expansion is expected to create 85 local jobs and is scheduled to begin mid-2018.

thyssenkrupp will produce cold-rolled grain oriented (CRGO) electrical steel from cold rolling for the first time in India at its Nashik plant, increasing capacity to 35,000 MT per year.

Fresenius Kabi has started a major expansion of its medical device production site in Haina, Dominican Republic, with a €20 million investment. The 7,400-square-meter expansion will create about 500 new jobs and is scheduled for completion in late 2019.

Sterling Pharma Solutions is investing £6 million to expand its pilot plant facility in Dudley, UK, adding three new reactor trains and increasing capacity by 33%. The expansion is expected to be operational by mid-2018.

Metalcorp Group plans substantial investments in a second continuous casting line and homogenisation plant at BAGR Berliner Aluminiumwerk GmbH in Berlin, and intends to fully take over Stockach Aluminium GmbH.

Honeywell Automation India Ltd. expanded its Fulgaon manufacturing facility in Pune, doubling operational space to 151,000 square feet to meet growing demand for automation solutions and factory instrumentation.

Columbus McKinnon Corporation will invest $5.4 million to expand its Anson County facility in Wadesboro, North Carolina, creating 19 jobs and introducing the STAHL line of crane products to the North American market.

LEIPA Georg Leinfelder converted the former UPM newsprint machine PM 11 in Schwedt into packaging paper machine PM 5 for white top testliner, with Voith rebuilding the machine. LEIPA invested over 160 million euros, and the handover was signed on 19 April 2018.

Honeywell will double the operational space of its Fulgaon facility in Pune to 151,000 square feet to meet growing demand for automation solutions. No cost was given.

Honduran group Polygroup invested US$17.5 million to expand its facilities and acquire new technology, raising production capacity by 35% as it targets US and Caribbean markets.

Spirit AeroSystems unveiled its second center of excellence at its McAlester, Oklahoma site, focusing on fabrication of complex commercial and military aircraft parts, with 18 new machines imported from Mexico.

Toray announced it will construct nylon and PBT resin compound production facilities at its Indian subsidiary TID in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, with an annual capacity of about 5,000 tons, aiming for operation to begin in September 2019.

TLMAL is transitioning production of approximately 2,000 previously imported C-130 empennage parts to Tata Sikorsky Aerospace (TSAL), another Tata-Lockheed Martin joint venture in Hyderabad.

Stauff put a new round-cycle machine for pipe fittings into operation at its Werdohl headquarters, part of a 6.2 million euro investment that raises annual capacity from 10 to 15 million parts.

Chinese valve maker Geonhwa Valve signed an MOU with Chungnam province and Boryeong city to invest 10 million dollars in expanding its cast iron pipe valve factory in the KXD industrial complex by year-end, creating 50 jobs.

Hyundai Power Transformers (HPT) will begin a $33 million expansion of its Montgomery, Alabama facility in July 2018, expected to create 86 jobs and increase power transformer production by over 60%.

Molded Acoustical Products of Easton (MAP of Easton) is adding new production lines at its Clarksdale, Mississippi manufacturing facility, a $480,000 investment that will create at least 24 jobs.

Russian Innovative Aluminium Company (RIAC) commissioned the second phase of its aluminum profile plant in Ali-Yurt, Ingushetia, doubling capacity from 3,300 to 6,608 tonnes per year. The project cost 436.7 million rubles and created over 100 jobs.

Mitsubishi Electric de Mexico aims to increase yearly elevator production capacity at its Queretaro plant from 1,000 to 2,000 units by 2020 and to 4,000 units by 2025, requiring land acquisition for expansion.

Weiss-Aug Co. Inc. is expanding its facility in Apodaca, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, by adding two 22-ton high speed Bruderer presses for metal stamping and three Arburg injection molding presses. Metal stamping operations are expected to begin in Q2 2018, and molding presses by end of 2018.

Proto Labs Inc. will receive $850,000 in state aid for a 202,000-square-foot expansion in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, investing $29.9 million and creating 139 new jobs. The company purchased a 152,000-square-foot facility and plans to add 50,000 square feet, relocating CNC machining operations from Plymouth.

Kronospan OSB will invest over PLN 300 million in two projects at its Strzelce Opolskie plant: increasing OSB board production capacity and building a waste wood processing installation, creating 22 new jobs.

tna officially opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Woerden, Netherlands, dedicated to food processing equipment. The 3,600 m² facility is three times larger than the previous Florigo factory and includes an expanded Food Technology Testing Centre.

Brehob Corp. plans to spend more than $3 million to renovate and expand its headquarters in Indianapolis, adding 17,000 square feet of production space and 24 new jobs.

Fico Tay Ninh Cement (Tafico) plans to start building a second production line at its plant in Tan Hoa, Tan Chau District, Vietnam in mid-April 2018. The US$212 million project will have a clinker capacity of 4,000 tonnes per day and is scheduled for completion in 2020.

Infineon Technologies Corp. is investing $1.5 million in its Livonia, Michigan facility and creating 25 high-tech jobs to expand in the autonomous vehicle industry. The company received a $200,000 performance-based grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Smith-Carolina, a subsidiary of Smith-Midland Corporation, will invest over $3 million to build a new 15,000 sq ft manufacturing facility on 46 acres in Reidsville, North Carolina, creating 10 new jobs by end of 2018.

Drylock Technologies is investing £200 million to double European production capacity in 2018, with a new plant in Segovia, Spain and expansion of its existing plant in Hradek, Czech Republic.

Allura has re-opened its 438,000-square-foot plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, which manufactures exterior siding, trim, soffit and shakes. The facility employs 60 workers and plans to double employment and increase capacity.

Emerson installed a new production line at its ASCOVAL plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to assemble TopWorx valve controllers for South American customers, shortening delivery times.

Flomatic Corp. is investing $3.3 million to add production, research and training space at its valve manufacturing plant in Glens Falls, New York, which will add jobs and speed up production.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation approved a capacity expansion project at its Mobile, Alabama manufacturing facility to support bath tissue category growth. The estimated investment is more than $100 million over two years.

Formosa Plastics Corporation USA is well underway with a $5.1 billion expansion at its Point Comfort, Texas complex, including a 2.65-billion-pound-per-year Olefins 3 ethylene unit, an EO/EG unit, an LDPE unit, and a polyethylene unit. Completion of the ethylene unit is expected in Q4 2018.

tremco illbruck commissioned a new production facility for sealants and adhesives at its Traunreut site in Upper Bavaria on 12 April 2018. The €6.5 million investment, the largest single investment by RPM in Europe, will double production capacity with a high degree of automation.

McAree Engineering Ltd, a sheet metal fabrication and silo manufacturer, announced a €5 million expansion at its Ballinode facility, including a new 3,700m² factory unit and 30 new jobs over two years. A new Trumpf Laser will be commissioned by mid-July 2018.

Kubota announced that its new tractor and wheel combine harvester plant (second plant) at Kubota Agricultural Machinery (Suzhou) in China began full-scale operation in November 2017. The investment was 2.97 million RMB (approximately 56.4 billion yen).

Danfoss opened a new Industrial Automation assembly line in Wuqing, China, to produce pressure sensors for global customers. The line is capable of up to one million sensors by 2020 and two million by 2022.

Agropur Inc. announced a $21.3 million expansion at its processing plant in Wyoming, Michigan, to modernize production lines and increase capacity, creating 62 new jobs over three years.

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) is upgrading its district cooling plant in Dubai International Financial Centre with a $16.3 million project, adding six Trane chillers to raise capacity from 43,000 to 62,000 TR.

Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) announced a AED 60 million expansion of its district cooling plant at Dubai International Financial Centre. The expansion will add 19,000 TR of capacity, bringing the total to 62,000 TR.

Baylis Medical is building a new state-of-the-art Baylis Medical Innovation Centre in Mississauga, expanding R&D and product development, creating 233 new jobs and retaining 339 positions, with a total investment of CAD 130.91 million.

Sunward Intelligent is building a high-end engineering machinery R&D and industrialization project at its Sunward Industrial City in Changsha, with a total investment of CNY 1.02 billion. The project includes a hydraulic excavator production workshop, shield machine assembly workshop, and engineering vehicle assembly workshop, expected to be completed by June 2018.

Patates Dolbec completed an expansion and modernization project at its potato packaging facility in Saint-Ubalde, Quebec, supported by a federal government investment of up to $4.5 million. The project includes new robotic equipment for sorting, grading and packing potatoes.

Coated Solutions has been granted a 45-year concession for over 60,000 m² of land at the Port of Santander to build the second phase of its facilities. The company will invest €45 million and create 200 direct jobs, with construction starting in two to three weeks.

NTN-SNR has completed a €27 million expansion and modernization of its production unit in Argonay, France, dedicated to aeronautical bearings. The project added 4,000 m² and the plant is already producing parts for major engine contracts.

RBC Aerostructures is investing $3.8 million to expand its existing manufacturing facility in Westminster, South Carolina by 13,500 square feet and add new equipment, creating 22 new jobs over five years.

Evonik's Methacrylates Business Line is investing in the low single-digit million-euro range to expand production capacities for VISIOMER methacrylate crosslinkers at its Mobile, Alabama site. Start-up is scheduled for Q3 2018.