Oldenburg Group Signs Accord with Chinese Firm

Oldenburg Group Signs Accord with Chinese Firm

Oldenburg Group Incorporated, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of advanced heavy equipment and lighting products, has entered into a five-year strategic cooperation agreementwith Zhengzhou New Dafang Heavy Industry Science and Technology Company, Ltd., (NDF) a Chinese engineering and manufacturing company.

Announced at a signing ceremony in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, on December 5, the agreement calls for Oldenburg to build NDF-branded heavy transport products in its American factories and market these products throughout North and South America.

“The strong desire of NDF to have their products built in our Wisconsin and Michigan factories speaks volumes about the quality, productivity, and commitment of our workforce here,” said Oldenburg President Tim Nerenz, adding, “In a time when so many American
products are produced in Chinese factories, we are happy to return the favor.”

The NDF products to be built by Oldenburg are custom-engineered shipyard transporters, wind turbine cranes, bridge girder launchers, rail layers, and gantry cranes. Their size, weight, and customization requirements make local manufacture advantageous for customers in the Western Hemisphere. Oldenburg was selected by NDF from a large pool of potential manufacturers from around the country based on its experience and reputation building similar highly engineered heavy equipment.

Under the terms of the agreement, NDF will introduce selected Oldenburg products into China, further increasing exports from Oldenburg’s Midwestern factories.

New business bookings in Oldenburg’s heavy equipment segments have increased by more than 40% this year, driven by a combination of strong export sales facilitated by its other international partnerships, the introduction of several new product lines, and successful bidding of several multi-year Defense contracts.

The company has increased employment in all four of its major manufacturing facilities over the past year and currently has over 50 openings for skilled trades, technical, and professional positions.

The strategic agreement with NDF is expected to add 100-200 additional jobs at Oldenburg over the next few years, and will drive investment in facility expansion as sales of the new NDF product lines ramp up.

Oldenburg Group Incorporated is a Milwaukee-based supplier of performance-engineered products used in the defense, mining, energy and architectural lighting industries worldwide. Founded in 1981 by Wayne C. Oldenburg, its manufacturing and distribution facilities are
located in Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Rhinelander), Michigan (Kingsford and Iron River), Virginia (Newport News) and South America.

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