The first electric car off-line ceremony was jointly produced by JAC and the Volkswagen Group. The second left is Jochen Heitzmann.
Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Kaishe
In the past two days, Hefei, Anhui Province, and Hefei, the central city of Hefei, ushered in the 'roots' of Whirlpool and Volkswagen. First, Whirlpool’s global R&D center and China’s headquarters were officially opened on the 24th, followed by Volkswagen’s first new energy vehicle joint venture in China. A SUV off the assembly line on the 25th.
The first World Manufacturing Conference held in Hefei attracted more than 4,000 Chinese and foreign guests, including 315 overseas well-known manufacturing companies, to share the dividends of China's manufacturing transformation and upgrading.
In JAC's automation plant, Johan Heitzmann, president of Volkswagen Group (China), witnessed Volkswagen's first electric vehicle production line in China. This purely electric SUV model is based on JAC's new energy technology framework. The design concept of Volkswagen's Seat brand will be launched in the second half of this year. Since the joint venture company was formally established at the end of last year, it took only less than half a year to reach the first car, and thousands of orders have been received.
'In terms of electric mobility, smart travel and connectivity, China is developing much faster than the rest of the world. This is where our opportunities lie. 'Hezman said that choosing JAC as a partner is because of its technology in the field of new energy vehicles. Advanced, can give the public an opportunity to provide more models for Chinese customers.
China will cancel special vehicles this year, limit the ratio of foreign-invested shares of new energy vehicles, cancel the restriction on foreign-invested shares of commercial vehicles in 2020, cancel the foreign-invested-to-equity ratio of passenger vehicles in 2022, and abolish the limitation of no more than two joint ventures. Thanks to this, it became the third joint venture company in China and the first Sino-foreign joint venture automobile company to focus on new energy vehicles.
An industrial robot produced by China EFT Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. exhibited at the World Manufacturing Conference. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Kaishe
Like the general public, Whirlpool, the US home appliance giant, has taken root in China for more than 30 years. Unlike many multinational corporations whose headquarters are located in developed coastal regions, Whirlpool has chosen to put its new headquarters in Hefei.
Whirlpool's CEO Mark Bizel said that choosing to place the business center in Hefei is to create a highly competitive industrial cluster.
'Anhui is a big province of home appliances. Whirlpool has many strong competitors here, but if you want to win in your industry, it is not enough to operate an isolated factory efficiently. You must compete with the strongest competitors on the same stage. It is a success because it can attract the best suppliers, the most talented technicians and the best university graduates together. ' Bizel said.
Bitzel said that Whirlpool has responded to the transition from 'low-cost, low-tech' to 'high-tech, high-quality' transformation of China's manufacturing and benefited from it. The smart factory that was put into operation last year in Hefei is the company's three largest smart manufacturing demonstrations in the world. One of the factories, equipped with a digital, automated and intelligent logistics system, can realize intelligent control of product production processes, obtain back-end data feedback, and support real-time dynamic data monitoring, effectively improving production efficiency. The Hefei R&D Center opened on the 24th is also One of Whirlpool's seven global R&D centers.
Ji Ruida, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said that the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry has brought opportunities for US-China business cooperation. In addition, many US companies have factories in China and they are also beneficiaries of this process.
Wu Xiaohua, deputy dean of the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, said that China's transformation and upgrading of manufacturing aimed at high-quality development, continued to open wider to the outside world, and created a large number of investment and market opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises.
Wu Xiaohua said that the new round of opening up of China's manufacturing industry may have a bigger bonus for foreign companies than the first round because of the high added value and stronger market purchasing power.
Industrial drones displayed at the World Manufacturing Conference. Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Kaishe
China’s newly revised “Industrial Guidance Catalogue for Foreign Investment (2017)” significantly reduced the restrictions on foreign investment access. Among the 609 sub-categories of the manufacturing industry, 585 were completely open to foreign investment, accounting for 96.1% of the total.
According to statistics, in 2017, China established 4,196 foreign-invested manufacturing enterprises, which was a year-on-year increase of 24.3%. The total foreign direct investment in manufacturing attracted 33.5 billion U.S. dollars.
At present, the focus of foreign investment has gradually expanded from processing and manufacturing to high-tech fields such as computers, integrated circuits, and intelligent manufacturing. In China, a regional headquarters has been set up, and nearly 2,000 multinational companies have participated in R&D centers.
It is precisely the huge opportunities in the manufacturing cooperation between China and foreign countries. Thomas Reinbach, who is headquartered in Munich, Germany's Industry 4.0 education and communication platform, Thomas Reinbach, came to the world manufacturing industry to find business opportunities.
Ryanbach said that the platform has brought together more than 100 manufacturing experts from more than 50 German manufacturing companies, including Volkswagen and BMW, and hopes to turn German manufacturing experience into 'shared knowledge' and share with Chinese companies.
'China's manufacturing industry is undergoing tremendous changes. There are many excellent companies, such as Haier and Chery. We hope to spread the experience of German Industry 4.0 to China and grow together with Chinese manufacturing companies.' Ryanbach said.