Cast Classics, a world renown manufacturer of luxury outdoor furniture headquartered in New Jersey, has inked a deal that will result in a dramatic increase in production for the 2014 season.  Cast Classics and Shanghai Metalworks have formed a joint venture with Zhengte Leisure Products, Ltd., a long time sub vendor owned by Mr Yunghai Chen. The parties have created a new entity in China and constructed a new state of the art manufacturing facility about 4 hours north of Shanghai Metalworks current location.

“We have found it increasingly more difficult to add capacity as demand has grown for our product over the past few years and this will relieve us of this restraint once and for all”, states Al Arad, President of Cast Classics.  “Labor shortages in the city (Shanghai) continue to make it difficult to increase staff size and continue to hold us back from being able to meet demand.  We are currently sold out thru the end of May as a result, which is frustrating to say the least.” Arad adds. 
The new facility will begin to operate in April of this year and will run parallel to the current facility for the first few months.  All equipment and staff from the current facility will eventually be moved to the new location when it is completely up to speed. “The employee retention is far greater than we could have ever anticipated.  Nearly 90% of our current team will be making the migration to the new facility once when all is said and done.  This is an amazing percentage and we are very grateful,” said Arad.

“Additionally, we have made a substantial capital investment in new state of the art equipment and technology.  Not only will our capacity be greater moving forward, so will our technical manufacturing capabilities;” stated Arad.  “We are excited about the possibilities. The sky is the limit now.”