Voith, a German mechanical engineering product manufacturer, recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with Shandong Huatai Paper Co Ltd, one of the largest paper manufacturers in China.

Under the framework agreement, Huatai Paper and Voith will strengthen their cooperation in a number of areas in the next five years, including the upgrade of existing production lines, the expansion of R&D activities, and the implementation of Industrie 4.0, which will be supported by a total investment of 840 million yuan ($132.5 million) from Huatai.

Huatai Paper is the world's largest newsprint manufacturer, operating six newsprint production lines with a total annual output of 1.8 million tons. The five-year partnership with Voith will involve improvement of five newsprint production lines and an increased capacity for the production of graphic paper and packaging paper, as well as the establishment of a joint R&D center focused on papermaking.

Huatai will also work with Voith to adopt "Papermaking 4.0", a concept modeled on Industrie 4.0 to achieve smart manufacturing in the papermaking process. Introduced by Voith, Papermaking 4.0 is well aligned with China's efforts to upgrade and transform key manufacturing sectors, including paper, steel, and nonferrous metal, as outlined by the recently released "Made in China 2025" plan.

"Voith has long been a reliable supplier and partner for Huatai Paper. We are pleased to expand our partnership, which will facilitate our long-term development by addressing our top priorities, including transformation, R&D and smart manufacturing," said Jianhua Li, Chairman of the Board of Huatai Group.

"As a global provider of technology and industrial services, the Voith Group is committed to supporting our customers around the world to achieve sustainable business growth. The strategic partnership aims to capitalize on the emerging opportunities in China's paper market with our combined energies," said Hubert Lienhard, President and CEO of Voith Group.