NEWS
ASIAN AEROSPACE SECTOR
China in your hands A
|D|S and business representatives from leading UK engineering SMEs recently completed a trade
mission to China, supported by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and the British Embassy to better understand the opportunities and challenges for the sector. High level discussions were held with government officials, including senior management from COMAC and AVIC, as well as UK companies successfully operating in China today. The trade mission was looking to reinforce previous meetings that had taken place last April. The context being that for A|D|S, China – along with Brazil, are perceived by many of its aerospace members as two of the most significant parts of the BRIC economies. “China is the most significant
marketplace of the future because it will become an industrial force to be reckoned in the coming years,” begins Ian Godden, chairman A|D|S. “It’s also gearing up its ARJ21 and C919 aircraft programmes and wants to be a serious prime systems integrator rather than a supplier.” According to Godden, China has the ability to become the ‘C’ of the ‘ABC’ as it’s known, i.e. Airbus, Boeing, COMAC: “There’s no doubt that long- term, COMAC will be both a partner as well as a potential future competitor to Boeing and Airbus on large airlines and region aircraft,” he notes. “For these reasons, China will be very important in commercial aerospace for the next 30-40 years, so it’s vital the UK establishes a better position.
“The dilemma for any UK SME is how to position itself in a market that’s
COMAC ARJ21 Regional jet airliner: China is gearing up its programme and wants to be seen a serious prime systems integrator
difficult to gain any foothold. The issue is not that China is there, it’s growing and will be substantial; the issue is how the SME plays in such a way that it’s financially attractive and it doesn’t lose its technological leadership and skills to a future competitor emerging in China.” Godden outlines intellectual property rights and issues above and beyond simply being a supplier that could conceivably accelerate future competition. “This is the dilemma for all companies, but all face this issue,” he adds. Another challenge is that China is a
vast country, so for any SME it’s very difficult to know where to locate and begin the whole process. “There’s no straight answer, as it depends on the SME’s product range and whether it’s seeking to supply what I would term ‘mid’ technology rather than innovative technology, and whether the Chinese are interested in this because in a way they are not; they would prefer to be working with leading edge technologies,” he continues. “Every company must look at this carefully to
REGISTER FOR YOUR FREE COPY OF AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING BY VISITING: WWW.AERO-MAG.COM
The burgeoning Chinese aerospace market presents huge, long-term opportunities for UK companies, but equally has some serious challenges and barriers to overcome in obtaining a lucrative foothold in the region. Mike Richardson reports.
understand the risks they are taking.” Godden adds that some SMEs
attending the mission may conclude they can’t operate in China because it’s too technologically risky at present, or that it’s too early to get involved in the aerospace supply chain.
“There are timing and scale issues,”
he confirms. “Other SMEs will feel that there is something to develop in China, but may need to deal with how they can operate within two places, i.e. Singapore as a stepping stone to China. If they haven’t started planning already then they could miss out in the future. “It may require many trips to China and ‘on the ground’ resources to get anywhere in its market,” Godden concludes. “Unless companies are willing to take the revenue risk and be patient, they may as well abandon the idea and look elsewhere else. It’s on A|D|S’ agenda that by 2011 we will have resources on the ground in China. Exactly what this entails will be debated, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we
will be present there eventually.”
www.adsgroup.co.uk
Ian Godden: Chairman, A|D|S AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING | JULY 2010 7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40