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Innovation and smart manufacturing: the future of German SMEs' in Taicang

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2016-11-28

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The German program "Industry 4.0" complements the national program "Made in China 2025", a plan aiming to raise manufacturing standards and add value to national products. In 1993, the first German companies settled in Taicang, Jiangsu province. The city hasn’t looked back since and is currently home to nearly 260 companies, predominately small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).

Time-tested good quality and a desire to innovate stand at the core of these German companies. This high-level of performance has led to their supplying many Global 500 giants. It is exected that over the coming years these companies will increasingly focus on practicing smart manufacturing practices. Oechsler, a German Taicang-based supplier of high-tech precision plastic products and components, clearly demonstrates the growth of German SMEs' in Taicang.

Oechlser moved to Taicang in 2005 and has enjoyed rapid development over the past ten years. In 2009, it claimed to have an output exceeding 100 million yuan ($14.53 million) and this figure is expected to increase to 740 million yuan by the end of 2016.

Hu Huanbo, managing director of Oechlser, has confidence in this expectation and offers the companies development of an innovative parking brake system as the backbone of the company's success.

"Our parking brake system is highly advanced and unparalleled," he said. The company supplies a range of leading automobile companies and is widely regarded as the dominant force in the parking brake market.

Oechlser has continually upgraded its leading product and is currently manufacturing the sixth generation. Oechlser is also making strong efforts in smart manufacturing construction.

"We started the construction of an automated factory several years ago. Now we hope to popularize automation equipment for mass production," Hu explained.

From Hu's perspective, the construction of a smart factory not only reduces labor costs, it also raises the quality of goods, giving the company an edge in a fiercely competitive market.

"Many German companies in Taicang have attached importance to automation production, including Trumpf, Krones, Ejot," an official at Taicang Investment Promotion Bureau said.