China's role as a global supply center is irreplaceable
Wang Hui, president of Sweden's bearing giant SKF China and Northeast Asia, said in a recent interview with China News Agency that China's strategic advantage resources and huge market space still attract the attention of the industry.
"We believe that in the field of rotating equipment, China's role as a global supply center will remain irreplaceable for the foreseeable future."
After the Spring Festival in the Year of the Rabbit, China's consumer investment market has rebounded significantly.
Wang Hui said there is reason to believe that China's "red start" in the first quarter can become "red for the whole year", which will bring development opportunities to industrial enterprises including SKF.
First of all, as the epidemic prevention and control enters a new stage, household consumption has rebounded. Market confidence and expectations for economic growth have increased significantly. At the same time, China's connection with the world will be smoother, and the exchanges in the international market will be closer. This will create a window of development for industrial enterprises.
Second, China has a strong supply chain and huge market space.
Wang Hui said that as the only country in the world with all the industrial categories in the United Nations Industrial Classification, the resilience, safety and stability of China's industrial chain can bring better expectations to foreign-funded enterprises. Among the industries related to SKF's business, China already accounts for more than one-third of global demand.
At the same time, China has a well-established supply chain, accounting for more than 40% of the world's supply of bearing parts. "We believe that in the field of rotating equipment, China's role as a global supply center will remain irreplaceable for the foreseeable future."
At the same time, the determination and action to achieve the "dual carbon" goal have brought many structural opportunities for China's economic development. He expects that the demand, investment and production capacity of wind power, new energy vehicles and related supporting industries related to the energy transition will expand rapidly.
In addition, China has introduced a series of relevant policies to promote the "steady progress" of the industrial economy.
For example, vigorously support new energy, new materials, high-end equipment and other fast-growing and high-potential emerging industries, and cultivate new growth engines; Focus on promoting mass consumption fields such as automobiles with long industrial chains and strong driving force.
At the same time, China's policy of expanding opening up and continuously optimizing the business environment will also provide a broader development platform for enterprises such as SKF.
Wang Hui said that in SKF's view, the future development opportunities in the Chinese market will focus on two aspects:
The first is to enhance core competitiveness with intelligent manufacturing technology;
The second is to achieve a "win-win" between economic and environmental benefits. As a foreign company that has been in the Chinese market for more than 110 years, SKF's development strategy in the Chinese market is highly aligned with the direction of China's national development. SKF has proposed a "smart" and "clean" development strategy for the global and Chinese markets.
After years of development, SKF's investment in China is not limited to production facilities, but also forms a full value chain from manufacturing, technology research and development, procurement and supply chain localization.
In the past three years, SKF has built the first phase of the Changshan production base, the first and second phases of the Xinchang production base, the Wuhu plant, the third phase of the Dalian production base, etc., and moved the global R&D center of the largest bearing product line from France to China, while also establishing global railway R&D capabilities in China.
Wang Hui revealed that SKF will continue to increase investment and layout in China. At the beginning of 2023, the 500,000th ceramic ball bearing produced by SKF's Xinchang ball bearing production site for the new energy automotive industry officially rolled off the production line.
At present, SKF Xinchang Production Base Phase III Project, Changshan Phase II Project, Jinan Production Base Phase II Project, Dalian Phase IV Project are under steady construction. After the completion of the new base, it will have the ability to utilize sealing, intelligent remanufacturing, lubrication management, clean technology, etc., and will radiate the whole country as a central hub. SKF is also investing in the SKF China Green and Intelligent Technology Centre in Jiading, Shanghai.
The new version of the Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment, which came into effect on January 1 this year, further expands the scope of encouraging foreign investment, continues to encourage foreign investment in manufacturing, and further expands the space for foreign enterprises to invest in China.
In addition to SKF, since the beginning of 2023, a large number of multinational companies, including Schneider Electric, Bosch, Swire Coca-Cola, L'Oreal, etc., have landed new projects or investments in China.
