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 | | |  Scanners soaring overseas
| | | | | | WU CHONG,China Daily staff | | | While the Australian Customs
Service (ACS) was celebrating winning gold at the Prime Minister's Awards for
Excellence in Public Sector Management, that joy was shared by China's Nuctech
Co Ltd for its role in the victory.
Since 2001, the ACS has bought four sets
of container/vehicle inspection systems from Nuctech, a high-tech security
inspection system manufacturer affiliated with Tsinghua University.
So far,
these machines yielded 1.5 tons of various narcotics. As well, 30 million
undeclared cigarettes, 11 tons of undeclared tobacco and significant quantities
of undeclared alcohol going into Australia have been
uncovered.
"Australia is our first stop toward the overseas market, and
has proven a great success. Since that stop, we have seen a steep climb in
overseas sales," said Nuctech Vice-President Miao Qitian.
Until now, the
company has exported 51 sets of container inspection systems at a total export
value of nearly US$150 million to 14 countries and regions.
These include
Australia, Turkey, Iran, Belgium, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Norway, Malaysia, Kenya,
Nepal, Slovakia, the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Korea (ROK).
"Now there are also a number of projects under negotiation with other
countries," Miao said.
Surveys have shown that the THSCAN machines abroad
have detected illegal or undeclared goods valued at US$18 million every
year.
In 2002, the company's container inspection system commanded more than
30 per cent of the global market share, ranking as tops in this field.
Miao
attributed the team's victory mostly to their unique products, which feature
sophisticated techniques and user-friendly designs.
And the THSCAN MB1215 is
a best-seller.
"Armed with a 6MeV linear accelerator, the MB1215 is
both relocatable and environmentally friendly, at a cost of 40 per cent lower
than the fixed types," said Chi Minghao, director of Nuctech's overseas
Marketing Division.
Both Miao and Chi stressed that Nuctech own all
intellectual property rights for all of the core techniques they provide, which
implies a lower cost and a customized design.
"Compared with other
X-ray scanners of the same class manufactured by some foreign companies, our
products are priced as low as 40 to 60 per cent of theirs," Miao
revealed.
Additionally, the flexible design of the related software
facilitates the ability to make various changes on the products for the
different requests by customers.
"The software is designed for a
commercial use and thus boasts powerful compatibility," Chi added.
Taking
advantage of superior products, Nuctech won its first battle overseas in
Australia and has since then swept over other markets in a row.
Australia
gave the fledgling high-tech venture a good start and it quickly grew into a
giant.
"We have won over a number of markets in Asia and Oceania, but
we are still shopping ourselves around European countries and the United
States," said Sun Xiaoming, Nuctech's general manager of marketing.
However,
the company has chosen some peripheral countries of those regions for a
breakthrough, such as countries in northern or western Europe like Belgium and
Norway, Sun added.
In addition, Nuctech has steered most of its staff and
capital to the scientific research and service sectors to sharpen its
competitive edge, which account for 39 per cent and 28 per cent of its total
strength respectively.
"Though we eyed the anti-smuggling market at
first, the security inspection system is the main sector Nuctech will be working
in for the next few years," Miao said.
Apart from being a world leader in
container/vehicle inspection systems, the company has also created a mail
sterilization system. It can handle 400,000 pieces of mail every day and kill
bacteria or viruses those items could carry, such as anthrax.
Its latest
invention is a radiation detector, which will be used by the ACS soon.
The
company has also dedicated 5 to 10 per cent of its annual profits into
scientific research and development.
First-rate aftersales service is another
key reason for Nuctech's overwhelming popularity across the world, and has
gained strong support from the company's authorities.
According to Yi
Jianguo, supervisor of Nuctech's overseas general maintenance division, the
company offers three types of maintenance service for overseas users.
On most
occasions, it sends technicians to the client, where the system is fixed for
long-term maintenance needs.
Nuctech has established 13 duty stations, each
of which has at least one technician in most of the countries where the systems
are in use.
As for the ROK which is close to China, the company uses a method
of remote diagnosis, and thus costs have sharply decreased.
Nuctech now plans
to apply another maintenance method in 2004 to Turkey, which will rally local
technicians and the company's own skilled workers together for system
maintenance.
"Efforts will be made to find different types of
maintenance methods in the future," Yi said.
However, on the other side of
coin, Nuctech's high-quality products all boast an average low breakdown rate of
0.31 per cent, which helps save a lot of energy and money for both the company
itself and the users.
"We are proud to be able to strengthen
foreigners' trust in Chinese products, as China can produce outstanding
high-tech products," Miao said.
As far as he was concerned, Nuctech's
successful story can be a good example for other Chinese high-tech companies who
also aim at global market.
"Ownership of intellectual property rights
of high-tech products is the foremost factor which makes you different from
competitors," Miao said.
Besides, inviting foreign buyers to visit the
company and its factory is another important step in marketing, he
added.
"Most of the foreigners have little idea of China's high-tech
products out of their ignorance in China's fast development in recent years. So
we keep inviting customers to China and having them experience and feel the
country's great change in person, Miao said.
"In this way, we
advertise our products as well as China in the mean time."
Now the company is
eyeing the 2008 Beijing Olympics, ambitious to become the largest security
service provider for it.
A special department has been set up to design
products related to the event.
"As for our goals ahead, we are
confident to grow into an all-rounder in the security inspection sector," Miao
said. | | | | | | |
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