NORD's headquarters facilities in Bargteheide near Hamburg, Germany, are currently being extended, with plans to increase the location’s floor space from 31,300 m² to 52,000 m² by 2009. In the course of the extension, 100 new, highly qualified jobs will be created in Bargteheide. EUR 26 million will be invested in a number of new professional buildings. The capacity of NORD's high bay warehouse, which is just under three years old and currently stores 8,000 euro-pallets, will be doubled. Two new gearbox assembly halls will be built, one of which will also house a paint shop. A new five-story building will provide 2,900 m² floor space for management offices and training classrooms, and a parking garage will provide 300 parking spaces for employees. With the expansion in Bargteheide, NORD continues its policy of quickly making substantial reinvestments to expand production capacities. This enables the company to keep up its growth rates, which have consistently been in the double-digit range during the last years. NORD's new 20,000 m² production and assembly center in Suzhou near Shanghai is another example of this strategy. Moreover, newly established facilities in countries such as India, Poland, Russia, Portugal and Romania have increased the number of countries with NORD subsidiaries and assembly centers to near 40. Today, NORD employs a staff of approx. 2,500 worldwide. Gross sales totaled EUR 270 million in 2006, and are expected to exceed EUR 310 in fiscal 2007.