Forward View
Fig. 1. Training hours have increased by 100 per cent at the Trelleborg Automotive facility in Wuxi, China. Above employees hold a banner that says Trelleborg Elite Training Camp.
Photo: Trelleborg.
4 North and East Asia have experienced mixed fortunes in recent years, yet the area remains the world’s most dynamic region, thanks to China’s seemingly unstoppable economic growth.
China’s dragon and the Asian tigers roar on
T 6
www.engineerlive.com
he Chinese economic dragon continues to rumble onward, barely deflected from its path by the recession that stalled so many other nations. Having already passed Germany
as No 3 in the ranking of the world’s largest economies, China is expected by many analysts to leapfrog Japan into second place as early as this year.
That China’s economy plowed on through the
worst ravages of the global recession is due to a number of factors. One is that China’s domestic consumption stayed strong despite the drop in exports. In addition, more than half of China’s GDP comes from the less-affected service sector. A massive US$585 billion stimulus package, much of which has been spent on infrastructure improvements, has also played a role. “All the airports are recently built, and the roads
are brand new and pothole-free,” says Richard Clayton, Asia Pacific Sales Director, Trelleborg Automotive AVS. “The train stations are next.” As of late 2009 China was the world’s largest
automobile producer and consumer. With a strong demand and reductions in state-controlled gasoline prices and tax cuts on small cars, sales in 2009 were up some 46 per cent over the previous year, according to Chinese media reports. And
there is still considerable room for further growth. China is the world’s most populous country, and there are still only about 20 cars for every 1000 people, compared with 800 cars per 1000 people in the United States. The consultancy McKinsey & Company expects China’s car market to grow tenfold by 2030. China has about 120 auto producers, and while
the majority are domestic companies, the foreign companies dominate sales. Volkswagen, which is one of Trelleborg’s
customers in China, is the market leader and able to sell both the new models available in the West and older models, plus others specifically designed for the Chinese market. “If you look at the top 10 sellers in China,
including the domestic automakers SAIC and FAW, we supply to some of them at present,” Clayton says. “But with enhanced business with Nissan and more on the way with General Motors, we will be touching a majority of the top 10 platforms by 2011.”
Chinese manufacturers are increasingly
becoming quality conscious, meaning that other aspects are becoming more important than price. This puts Trelleborg in a prime position, as the company prides itself on its engineering skills. A major Chinese OEM turned to Trelleborg
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