ROCKWELL Automation, a world leading supplier of industrial automation power and control solutions, will speed up localized production in China. The move comes as the United States company tries to boost overseas sales to more than half of its revenue, company officials said in Shanghai yesterday.

The company opened a 13,000-square-meter plant in the city yesterday for assembling and testing its bestsellers, including a driving and motor-control center. The facility cost US$6 million and will create 300 jobs.

About 90 percent of the plant's output will be sold in China where the growing manufacturing industry and logistics sector call for more sophisticated automation solutions. The rest will be exported to neighboring Asian countries, it said.