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Dr. Wolfgang Brendel, Sales and Marketing Manager of infoteam Software GmbH in Bubenreuth, Germany, accepted an invitation to give a seminar entitled “Modern automation technology for China” at the South China University ofTechnology, which is located in Guangzhou, provincial capital of Guangdong. The participants were primarily drawn from the sector dealing with electronic equipment for commercial vehicles and the manufacturing industry.

“Whilst automotive manufacturers in Europe, Japan, and the USA have well and truly conquered the global market with their products, China is now getting ready to build up a huge industry of commercial vehicles. The main drive behind this is the proliferation of major building sites which can be seen in all Chinese cities and can only be compared with the explosion of construction work seen in Berlin after the fall of the Wall,” Dr. Brendel tells us from China. The electronic equipment required in the excavators, cranes, tar machines, cement mixers, and other similar machinery is to all intents and purposes comparable with that found in Europe. Dr. Brendel continues: “The main things lacking in China are the software used to configure this type of control system and the expertise in how to develop industry-standard software for use in applications which may be critical with regard to safety.” It is no wonder, therefore, that infoteam’s products are being very well received. Back in 2005 infoteam established its own office in China, from where most of its Asian business is conducted.

When asked whether infoteam is considering relocating its software development activities to China too, Dr. Brendel replies: “The high level of IT training found in Germany is only offered by a handful of top universities here in China. But if we are able to meet our customer support commitments here using local workers, we will be very happy with that. We work according to the motto: ‘Go international, be local!’”

Background information on the South China economic area and the Guangzhou region

China’s incredible evolution into the world’s consumer-goods factory has led to a considerable increase in demand for automation-technology products, particularly in the southern provinces where the textile- and electronics-manufacturing industries are concentrated. But in China the competition to achieve the lowest manufacturing costs does not stop at the factory gate. Previously underdeveloped provinces, with their enormous potential for cheap labor, are exerting pressure on established sites. These sites in turn are reacting just as Western countries are, by investing in automation in order to put them in a position to manufacture products competitively.

The provincial capital Guangzhou (also known as Canton in the West), which is located at the mouth of the Pearl River where it flows into the South China Sea, was one of the first regions to become highly industrialized, along with Hong Kong. From the 1980s on, a large number of foreign companies began to invest in Guangzhou. At first, their main aim was to open up the South China market. In 2002, the city of Guangzhou achieved the distinction of becoming mainland China’s third most successful economy, with only Shanghai and Beijing ranking above it. Guangzhou’s economy is not only the largest, but also the most varied when compared to other cities found in the Pearl River Delta. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that it is here that the second phase of the industrial revolution, namely the rise of automation, is starting to completely change the face of the factory.