Nexans' cables pull ahead in the Chinese market
Julien Hueber, executive vice-president of the Industry Solutions and Projects business group and the Asia-Pacific region at Nexans shared his insights into the company's growth in China.
How has Nexans developed in the Chinese market from the 1980s to today?
As one of the world's leading providers of cable and systems solutions, Nexans has operated in the Chinese market since the mid-1980s. At the very beginning, Nexans only exported cables from Europe to China. With China's continuous strong economic growth and development, this business model has evolved to meet customers' ever-increasing requirements. Since then, Nexans has increased its investment and local presence in China.
Today, we have two manufacturing bases - one in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, for industrial cables and cabling solutions; and the other in Shandong province for power cables and accessories. We have also built a strong local team of around 800 people.
In the past decades, Nexans has been supplying cables and cabling solutions in many industries, for infrastructure and key areas of people's daily lives in China.
Our rolling stock cables are used in railways and metros. Our shipboard cables are used for shipbuilding and marine engineering. Some nuclear power plants are equipped with our nuclear cables. Our high-temperature wire and telecommunications cables help in the aeronautic and aerospace sector. Our automation cables fuel industrial automation, and our low-and medium-voltage cables and accessories as well as submarine cables are applied in China's electric power networks. Our integrated cabling systems are used in hyper-scale data centers.
Today, we can proudly say that we are a trusted partner for our industrial and infrastructure customers in China. For example, all high-speed train types use Nexans rolling stock cables, including CRH1, CRH3, CRH5, CRH6 and CEMU(Fuxing bullet train), which are running on most of the main lines in China such as the Beijing-Shanghai line. Nexans' rolling stock cables are also used on more than 100 subway lines in large Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Nanjing.
In what way have your products helped to change Chinese people's lives?
Over the past decades, Nexans has continued to bring premium European technologies and innovations to China, which have helped to improve the standards in local industries.
In addition, Nexans' strong commitment to safety and reliability also ensures that people are always safely on board. This creates the awareness of reliability and safety in cable-related industries.
Most importantly, our localization in China has helped to develop a strong team with expertise, who are now able to make "go-to-market" innovation. This helps to strengthen the whole value chain of the industry.
We are providing our total solutions to our rolling stock customers, including cables, accessories and cable loops in China. The successful cases will be duplicated in other parts of the world as well.
What are Nexans' development plans in China?
China is the world's second-largest economy. It is not only a global manufacturing center but also a huge consumption market. Therefore, we will continue to develop and grow in China; and through China to export to other areas of the world.
Today, we have exported products from China to Australia, Singapore, Japan and other countries. With the strategic importance of the Chinese market, Nexans chose Shanghai as the hub for its industry, solutions and projects business group this year. This move has enabled us to be closer to our Chinese and international customers.
Nexans invested in a new automation cable production line in its Suzhou factory this year. Nexans China imports our German comprehensive industrial ethernet cables to suit static and dynamic automation applications. We will also produce the cables locally so that our customers can benefit from original European designs paired with timely local services.
(China Daily 11/06/2019 page15)
