Since the “Beckhoff China” representative office was opened in April of 2001, the company’s presence in
the Chinese market has grown dramatically. Forecasted sales for 2002 are on target to double last year’s sales.To achieve this ambitious goal the number of workers employed at the Beijing
office has been increased from two to four. It is planned to open a second office
in Shanghai, one of China’s most important industrial metropolises, by the
end of 2002.
Beckhoff China’s, wide range of activities undertaken have provided the basis
for the continuous increase in business volume:
Trade fairs
Participation in the Industrial Automation & Control Expo in Shanghai (IAC),
one of the leading exhibitions for China’s automation industry, between
June 5 and 8, 2002, was very successful, establishing more than 700 customer
contacts from a wide range of industrial sectors. Support was provided by Kai
Ristau, the Beckhoff Export Manager, and by the firm of INSOFT, system integrators
and business partners to Beckhoff in Shanghai. Between January and
August 2002, the company was present, in co-operation with partners, at seven
other exhibitions in Jinan,Wuhan, Shenyang, Changchun, Beijing, Tianjin and Qingdao.
Presentations
Presentations and seminars on Beckhoff fieldbus technology and on PC-based
controllers were held in Beijing,Hangzhou, Shanghai, Anshan, Pan Zhihua
and Kungmin, involving 150 interested participants. The rapid growth in
the IT industry and the wide acceptance of the IEC 61131-3 programming standard
are leading to a rising interest in PC-based control technology in China. A
2-day training course in TwinCAT PLC, which was repeated this year, increases
the demand for PC-based control technology, and is an excellent marketing tool.
Extending the sales network
Developing the sales network requires adapting to the special features of the
Chinese market. The experience of other foreign firms that have been successful
has been integrated into the growth strategy. At present, Beckhoff China are
working in co-operation with 10 distributors in different important cities such
as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Qingdao. A promising partnership has also been developed
with the automation company Pepperl+Fuchs, based in Shanghai.
Successful projects
In the meantime it has been possible to complete a number of projects successfully.
In the I/O sector: projects in the automobile, textile, tire, glass and tobacco
industries, and in the manufacture of monitoring systems for trucks and
of intelligent control systems for use in urban infrastructure, building automation
and so forth. In the PC-based controller sector: door and window manufacture, remote monitoring
and control systems for distributed low-voltage systems.
In addition to this, more and more machines and production equipment containing
Beckhoff components and control systems are being imported into
China from Europe and the USA in the wake of the rapidly growing Chinese
economy. An important task therefore required of the Chinese subsidiary company
is technical support and service for Beckhoff customers operating internationally,
such as Zimmer AG, Herkules, Jagenberg, Continental AG, KAMPF and
Dr. Wirth Holding GmbH. Through these services, Beckhoff China are making an
important contribution to the worldwide growth of Beckhoff’s automation business.
