Company Special: TUV Rheinland: The 'art' of industrial testing

TV Rheinland, a leading provider of international testing, inspection and certification services, announced that it will continue to expand its investment in China and begin construction on the second phase of its integrated testing building this year.

"China is an important strategic market for us," said TV Rheinland AG CEO Manfred Bayerlein. "We not only work to ensure that products from Chinese companies conform to the technical requirements of developed countries, but also that products bearing our mark gain widespread acceptance regarding quality and safety."

Bayerlein said the company's revenue from China reached 2 billion yuan ($316.4 million) last year, 13 percent of its group total.

With China's position as the biggest exporter in the world, TV Rheinland is looking forward to further tapping the potential of the market, he noted.

"There are Western companies with strong brands, like Siemens or GE. People believe they stand for quality. But for some brands that are not so famous, people do not trust them. Testing institutions like us provide certification and trust for them," he said.

Bayerlein said many of the company's Chinese customers are already advanced in technology, and can gain better market acceptance in Europe with its help.

He said Chinese companies are very willing to learn and are "making tremendous progress", it also pushes TV Rheinland to continue to improve our know-how and then share it with our clients.

"In addition to offering only inspection or testing or certification, we go further in offering solutions to our customers nowadays," he said.

"Chinese manufacturers have made tremendous progress in the last 20 years in the quality of their products and also in terms of their production processes," he added.

"But people in the West are also raising requirements - they want not only safety, but also fitness for use, they want to use it for longer time, then they require it to be more environmentally friendly. That is where we continue put in effort and help our customers."

Since entering China in 1986, TV Rheinland has provided local businesses with safety, quality and environmental services and solutions.

It offers inspections and testing for Chinese companies in transportation, photovoltaic industries, renewable energies, energy saving, carbon emissions control, civil engineering, food safety, and healthcare.

TV Rheinland Shanghai, one of the group's six global technology assessment centers, houses one of the largest and most modern integrated testing spaces in Asia.

As an extension of the ideal of precision, TV Rheinland was the first in the industry to propose the "the art of testing" concept.

As with art, the company believes success built on talented people, state-of-the-art equipment and a passion for exacting work.

"As one of the world's leading inspection and certification service providers, we focus on helping Chinese enterprises improve their globalization capability, as well as achieve sustainable development, a corner stone that is instrumental in pushing forward China's economic and social growth," said Bayerlein.

In 2011, the global economy was buffeted by the ongoing financial downturn and EU debt crisis. The outlook for the global economy remains uncertain in 2012, but TV Rheinland remains confident about the China market, the CEO said.

Its new building is now ready to meet testing needs for consumer product, machinery and solar-power manufacturers.

Its advanced equipment is used to carry out chemical, electrical safety, calibration and validation testing, as well as both physical and mechanical tests.

To advance its local testing capability and even better meet the requirements of Chinese customers, the second phase of its Shanghai building will enable expansion of testing scale and equipment, particularly for photovoltaic, commercial and industrial products.