Leo Huang, Executive Vice-President of the Foshan Nanhai Machinery Equipment Association, opened the VDW’s symposium in Shenzhen.
From Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, 20 machine tool manufacturers, including VDW, were in Tianjin, Chengdu and Shenzhen, spotlighting technology from Germany. According to VDV, following a lean period, China, the most important market for the German machine tool industry, is regaining momentum. “We chose these three big cities for our symposium because they are strongholds of important customer sectors, and our members need more support in the provincial parts of China when it comes to market cultivation than in places like Beijing or Shanghai,” said Wilfried Schäfer, executive director of the VDW.Tianjin ranks as China’s leading free trade zone. No fewer than 142 conglomerates from among the world’s 500 largest corporations are registered here, including Toyota, Samsung, VW, Continental, Honeywell, Siemens and Airbus. Chengdu is famous for its engine manufacturers, and home, for example, to the aviation companies Avic and AECC Aero Science and Technology. Shenzhen, finally, has evolved into a high-profile electronics hub, exemplified by the mobile telephony giant Huawei.
Falk Herkner, Sales & Marketing Director of the machine tool manufacturer Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Waldrich Coburg, a subsidiary of Beijing No. 1 Machine Tool Plant, will be participating in the VDW’s symposium. “We want to show the flag in terms of “Made in Germany”, and we are confident it will help us to generate new customer contacts,” he said.
According to VDW, the Chinese machine tool market expanded by four percent during the first half of 2017 to reach 13.6 billion euros. This has boosted the previously ailing imports, which in the year’s second quarter soared into the plus zone. After Japan, Germany is the second-most-important supplier nation for China’s industrial sector. Following two years of decline, German deliveries rose by 18 percent during the first half of 2017. China thus remains by far the most significant market for the German vendors.
Participants in the VDW’s symposium included Alzmetall, Chiron, Heller, Hermle, Index, Kapp Niles, Leistritz, Liebherr, FFG, Mauser, Mikron, Niles-Simmons-Hegenscheidt, Open Mind, Peiseler, Samag, Siemens, Schwäbische Werkzeugmaschinen, StarragHeckert, Waldrich Coburg and Weisser.
“China is a huge, important market. The German machine tool manufacturers offer an enormously broad technological spectrum, for which in China there is a gigantic demand. In order to meet the wishes of Chinese customers, it’s vital to be represented in the Chinese market with a subsidiary of your own,” said Hongwen Li, general manager China, Index Trading (Shanghai) Co.
China aims to significantly upgrade its own industrial production operations. Which is why the approximately 750 Chinese participants in the VDW’s symposium from the automotive industry and its component suppliers, from the mechanical and electrical engineering sectors, and aircraft manufacturers listened with keen interest to the presentations from the German vendors on new machines, solutions and services. These focused on innovative high-tech complete-system solutions that meet the most stringent of requirements for productivity, flexibility, speed and precision.
