The world leader in kettle safety controls is making progress on a new factory more than twice the size of its current premises in China.

Kettles with a Strix safety control are used more than a billion times a day around the world.

The headquarters is at Forrest House, Ronaldsway, and in Ramsey there is a factory where around 39 people work.

Meanwhile progress has been made with the new Strix China factory located in Zengchen, Guangzhou.

An investment agreement was signed in early 2019 between Strix and the Chinese Government for a new factory more than twice the size of Strix’s current Chinese premises.

The new factory has 50 years right-of-use granted for the land and it will increase the company’s operations and provide efficiency improvements, additional automation capability and an opportunity to in-source filtration products and processes.

The first digger started operations for the foundations of the factory during mid October.

This was celebrated with a foundation stone laying ceremony.

Mark Bartlett, Raudres Wong, and Frank Gao, together with some of the directors and managers, attended the ceremony.

The top management of the construction contractor were also present at the event too.

The ceremony comprised a greeting between the Strix management team and its business partners.

This was followed by speeches from both the ground ceremony president and Strix chief executive Mark Bartlett. They both acknowledged the longstanding relation between the company and China, and their excitement to continue the working relationship.

Mr Bartlett said: ’Strix has made significant progress in recent years. This has been reflected in our increasing demand around the world and the consequent need for a new factory which is more than twice the size of Strix’s current premises. Our new facility will be the future of Strix, where we will develop new and exciting technologies and products that provide environmental benefits and promote sustainability. These are exciting times and we are pleased with the generous support for our project we have received and want to extend our gratitude to our constructors and contractors.’