Dynamic Controls Relocates To China

Sent on behalf of Dynamic Controls

Dynamic Controls Relocates Mobility Manufacturing To China

Dynamic Controls today announced it is relocating the manufacture of its electronic controls for power wheelchairs and scooters to China, however its contract manufacturing business will remain in Christchurch. Around 200 staff will be affected.

Acting CEO, Charlotte Walshe, said that the decision to move some of the manufacturing to China was primarily based on the need to shorten the supply chain and cut costs.

"Most of our customers in the mobility sector are located in Asia. Moving our manufacturing operation to China means we will be more responsive to customer demands and therefore more competitive.

"Not all our business is relocating to China. We are committed to keeping and growing our contract manufacturing in Christchurch. Our global research and development centre will also remain here."

Dynamic Controls is one of the largest sub-contract manufacturers of electronic equipment in Australasia. For over 30 years it has been manufacturing products for some of New Zealand's leading technology companies.

Ms Walshe said, "Contract manufacturing currently accounts for over a quarter of our business and we expect to grow this by 20% in the next two to three years."

Relocating Dynamic's mobility control manufacturing to China will happen gradually over the next 18 months, with initial production starting in four months at purpose-built facilities in Suzhou, outside Shanghai.

"The company deliberately chose the long lead time for this announcement in order to ease the transition for staff," said Ms Walshe. "While there are unlikely to be any immediate redundancies, the more notice we can give our staff the better. We will be providing outplacement support and assistance for our staff, and counselling will be available.

"This decision was not made lightly. Over the last few years we have worked hard to streamline and cut costs from our business. We have instigated initiatives to make our processes more efficient but to remain internationally competitive we need to realise the opportunities that China presents," said Ms Walshe.

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