Press release
China as a partner: an immense market for automation
technology
With over 1.3 billion inhabitants, China is the world’s most populous nation with huge
demand for professional production and automation technology. The market has been
growing at record pace for several years now and Festo is investing heavily in order to
benefit from this growth and capture market share in China and the rest of Asia. Festo
supports its international customers and the Chinese economy with manufacturing,
automaton and skills training solutions – made by Festo. At its facilities in Shanghai
and Jinan, the company is now expanding its sales, production and logistics capacities.
On 21 March 2012, Festo officially opened the new factory buildings at its facility in
Jinan. “Customers in Asia expect the same service and excellent delivery as we are
known for in Europe,” stressed Dr. Eberhard Veit, Chairman of Festo AG’s
Management Board, at the opening ceremony. The plant extension will secure the
company’s regional supplies to the Chinese market over the coming years and includes
the expansion of local assembly, logistics and support. Located on the high-speed rail
link from Beijing to Shanghai, Jinan offers ideal conditions for Festo’s future growth in
China.
Festo has been enjoying double-digit growth rates in China for many years now. “The
People’s Republic of China already boasts the world’s largest domestic market, highest
industrial output and biggest automotive market – and as a result will also be the world’s
largest market for automation technology in the coming years. China’s manufacturing
industry is increasingly applying international quality standards. The clear trend among the
country’s domestic manufacturers is away from manual labour and towards automated
production processes. This offers tremendous growth opportunities, which we are already
utilising and will expand further in the coming years. We are therefore currently investing
€ 20 million in the extension of our facility in Jinan,” stressed Dr. Eberhard Veit. And he
added: “With our products, project engineers and engineering support specialists in China,
we enjoy close market and customer proximity. This is the only way to fulfil customer needs
in our largest growth market and perfectly tailor our products and services to local
requirements.”
Number
CC 14 / 12 / 03
Date
23 April 2012
Our reference
CC-E/CHAK
Legal form:
Limited partnership
Registered office: Esslingen a. N.
Register court Stuttgart
COR 211583
Value added tax id. number:
DE 145 339 206
General partner:
Festo Management
Aktiengesellschaft
Registered office: Vienna/Austria
Commercial register court:
Commercial court Vienna
COR FN 303027 d
Board of Director:
Dipl.-Kfm. Alfred Goll
Dr. Claus Jessen
Dr. Ansgar Kriwet
Dipl.-Kfm. Michael Mölleken
Dr. Eberhard Veit (Chairman)
Chairman of the Supervisory Board:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg
Festo AG & Co. KG
P. O. Box
73726 Esslingen
Phone +49 711 347-4630
Fax
“Demand for Festo products and services, as well as our Didactic offerings, is booming.
Energy-efficient solutions for green manufacturing and Metropolitan Solutions in the field of
water/waste water have never been more popular. Numerous large international customers of
+49 711 347-1861
chak@de.festo.com
www.festo.com
Ruiter Straße 82
73734 Esslingen
Festo and all important sectors for us are represented in China. Festo China generates almost
half its revenue with our customers in the Automotive, Tyres/Rubber, and Food & Beverage
sectors. We supply these customers with solutions tailored exactly to their respective
problems. This is why we are also increasing the number of support and service engineers in
our sales organisation,” explained Dr. Hualai Qiu, General Manager of Festo China.
There is a clear trend towards manufacturing in the region for the region. At the same time,
however, Europe – and especially the company’s high-tech manufacturing facilities in
Germany – are also benefiting from this additional boost to growth. These facilities still
create a high proportion of added value in all regions, and will continue to do so in future.
“Our Chinese customers expect top quality ‘made by Festo’, with guaranteed supplies and
next-day delivery at prices in keeping with local market conditions. At the same time, energy
efficiency, environmental protection and occupational safety are becoming increasingly
important. The factory extension in Jinan will secure our regional supplies to the Chinese
market for the years ahead,” concludes Dr. Hong Zhou, Head of Global Production Centre
Jinan.
Education partner Festo Didactic: skilled staff for companies in China
There is also a growing need for skilled staff in China. Over ninety percent of companies in
China are already experiencing considerable problems recruiting skilled employees. “With
our Didactic activities, we can help our European, international and also Asian customers
train their staff in Asia,” explained Dr. Eberhard Veit. As the global market leader in
industrial education and training, Festo is much in demand in China and is exporting
Germany’s successful “dual” vocational and tertiary education system. Festo Didactic
supports over 500 education partners, universities and industrial training centres – with
everything from basic courses to turnkey equipment for technical learning centres. In China,
Festo works particularly closely with five key universities in its field of expertise: industrial
automation. These include Zhejiang University, Shanghai’s Jiaotong University and
Huazhong University. Festo invests in the infrastructure of its partner universities to enhance
their respective courses, research and preliminary application studies. There is also close
cooperation in many fields with the renowned Tongji University in Shanghai, where Festo
supports an endowed chair of the CDHK (the Sino-German University College for
Postgraduate Studies) and an educational pilot project at the CDHAW (Sino-German College
of Applied Sciences). The motivation behind this Chinese-German university project
founded in 2004 was to export Germany’s successful practically-oriented tertiary education
system (the University of Applied Science) to China. Professor Dr.-Ing. Hans Wilhelm Orth,
General Coordinator of the project describes the system as follows: “The CDHAW trains
practically-oriented engineers with cross-cultural skills for the German-Chinese economy.
They are expected to find employment in German-Chinese business in both nations. A total
of 450 students have graduated so far, of which 80% had dual degrees. There has been an
overwhelmingly positive response from both German and Chinese industry. The current
demand for skilled employees vindicates the approach we took with this project.”
Festo China also needs well-trained staff. In close cooperation between the management of
GPC and Festo Didactic, a dedicated Training Center is to be established at GPC Jinan in
order to provide suitable training for all employees in line with the company’s requirements.
Based on the German “dual system”, there will also be a local educational institute where
theory and practice are already closely linked in the courses provided. In cooperation with
the German Chamber of Commerce Abroad, a local college and other companies, a threeyear course for industrial mechanics was launched in 2011. During the course, students also
spend time at GPC and are given an insight into production both at the company’s own
Training Center as well as in the factory. After graduating, students can expect to take on
highly qualified work at the facility.
Festo in China
Festo has been active in China since 1985. The cooperation between Festo Didactic and
Tongji University also began in this year. In 1993, Festo founded its own national company
based in Shanghai. In addition to a sales company and its National Service Centre (NSC),
Festo then set up its Global Production Centre (GPC) Shanghai in 2005. This was followed
in 2007 by the foundation of the Global Production Centre (GPC) Jinan – an industrial city
with seven million inhabitants – resulting from the acquisition of JPC. The factory extension
will lead to the relocation of the NSC Shanghai to Jinan in 2012 and the establishment of a
Regional Service Centre in China to meet local market needs. Festo also has 42 sales and
service centres throughout the country. Festo currently employs some 1,800 people in China,
of which about 1,000 are employed at GPC Jinan, 650 in sales and around 120 at GPC
Shanghai.
Related materials:
Festo press photo CC_14_12_03_Jinan.tif
Caption:
Same quality, ability to deliver and service as in Europe: Festo
plant in Jinan.
Related materials:
Festo press photo CC_14_12_03_CustomerSolutions.tif
Caption:
Customer Solutions: customers in China too will enjoy tailored
solutions for their applications.
Related materials:
Festo press photo CC_14_12_03_Didactic.tif
Caption:
Festo Didactic: high demand in China.
Related materials:
Festo press photo CC_14_12_03_Tongji.tif
Caption:
Cooperation with the Tongji University: educational policy
model project at the Chinese/German University for Applied
Sciences.
Related materials:
Festo press photo CC_14_12_03_MetropolitanSolutions.tif
Caption:
Metropolitan Solutions for water/wastewater: waterworks in
Nanjing, China - automated using Festo technology.
Further information and press photos are available online at www.festo.com/press