Not long-ago China was still considered to be the “workshop of the word”. Many workers produced with simple machines in big factory halls lower take products in many consecutive steps.
This is now changing: not only since ”Made in China 2025” Automation of production processes and utilization of robots are important for the Chinese production footprint. Especially in newly built factories, the level of Automation is as high as in Europe.
How can German SMEs be successful in China and benefit from this trend? Which chances exists to shape the market?
The discussion will not only consider details regarding the technical status quo of the Automation in China but also looks at the future market chances for German enterprises.
The economic part of the 14th Five-Year-Plan China working on will be under the signs of the change of global economic structure and the influence of the Covid19 pandemic. 2 core elements of the Chinese strategy will be the enhancement of the internal economic circle and the domestic substitution.
This adjustment will be a double-edged sword for the German automation and machine building suppliers in China:
- On the one side build-up of complete high-end production lines of key industries in China means huge potentials for suppliers with process knowhow and international reference,
- On the other side enormous invest and aid will establish local suppliers as serious competitors, not only in China
Other than in a model of work bench for the world, in an internal economic circle the domestic customers are in the focus. A change of mindset in the engineering will be a pre-condition of the success.
Our customers are global Automotive companies and typically provide the same product in multiple markets, with project-specific variations. In many cases the products are nearly the same, and the same equipment planner is designing lines for Europe and China. Of course they would prefer one global equipment manufacturer to provide the same line in Europe and China. In the past 20 years, this requirement has allowed European machine builders to experience strong growth in China.
The past five years have shown both a growing competition from Chinese equipment suppliers with rising quality and lower cost, but also the decision power of the Chinese production planners have increased. Now, it is important to be able to fulfill international requirements while competing with local Chinese competition. This requires flexibility and competence in the Chinese locations of equipment suppliers, including Engineering and Design. JULI Automation can provide this for high end electric motor projects.