Shanghai/Kunshan. With a ceremonial first cut of the spade, Voith cele-brated the official construction start of its new Voith Training Center in Kunshan in the South-Chinese province of Jiangsu today. The company is investing about Euro 7.3 million in the new Training Center, which will be opened in 2014. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Hubert Lienhard, President & CEO of the Corporate Management Board of Voith GmbH, as well as leading representatives from local government and administration.

The new building is the largest training facility of Voith outside Germany. With the new Training Center, Voith intends to meet its growing demand for qualified personnel in China. Against the background of the current Five-Year-Plan of the Chinese government, in which subjects such as re-newable energies, protection of resources and mobility are high on the agenda, the Voith Group sees great opportunities for its core markets en-ergy, raw materials, as well as transport & automotive and paper. Voith has more than 20 subsidiaries and employs approximately 3,000 people in China. In the course of planned further expansions, the number of Voith employees in China will have increased to about 5,000 by 2016.

"Voith is a company that has always set standards in vocational education and training. We are pleased that we can now bring our experience gained in this field to Kunshan, in order to train Chinese Voithians here. Wherever possible, we would like to introduce our Dual Education principle in all countries, in which we are actively represented as a company. We already do that today, for example in Brazil, where Voith has been taking an active part in the market for almost 50 years. With our new Training Center in Kunshan we underline the importance of the Chinese market," said Dr. Hubert Lienhard in his speech.

Training and education have, by tradition, always had high priority at Voith. The company has been one of the key pacemakers in vocational training and education for more than 100 years. Only a few weeks ago, Voith also started with the construction of a new Training Center at the company's headquarters in Heidenheim. This project represents an investment of Euro 16 million. The fact that Voith is establishing two dedicated training centers in two key markets not only proves the local commitment of Voith in these markets, but also demonstrates the sustainability and long-term orientation of the company.

Voith sets standards in the markets energy, oil & gas, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Founded in 1867, Voith employs almost more than 40,000 people, generates €5.6 billion in sales, operates in over 50 countries around the world and is today one of the biggest family-owned companies in Europe.