Already half of our Preparatory Seminar is passed and the speeches keep on to be very rewarding!
Today, we welcomed Mr. Jonas Wernli from ABB Switzerland who is the General Manager Substation Automation. His presentation focused on the connection between ABB and the initiative “Made in China 2025”. With the tendency of Chinese facilities to move to the western part of China, also providers of logistics, such as ABB, will have to make the move there to be close to the local partners. As Sebastian, Delegation member, states: “The example that in the future trains in Europe might be developed and produced in China is prove of the “Made in China 2025″ goals.” As our experienced speaker explained, China aims to move from mass production to a country standing for innovation and high-standard products.
After that we welcomed Felix Sutter, Head Asia Desk of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) who gave us interesting insights on threats and opportunities for Swiss and Chinese companies. He pointed out that for China the growth in international markets is necessary in order to create partnerships for business alliances. The delegation was surprised by the example that many raw food materials are wasted in agricultural sectors of Asia as there is a lack of infrastructure for the transportation. Due to this fact many farmers are forced to throw away about 25 % of their agriculture products. This is where a cooperation with Switzerland could be very beneficial as our industry can provide particular tools and know how in this complex situation.
Furthermore, Beat Schumacher, Financial Analyst for Asia and Emerging Markets at Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) gave us a presentation about the Chinese financial market. He enhanced that despite the lower GDP growth in the Middle Kingdom, its importance for the global economy will further increase. As he explained in order to avoid a hard landing it is important for China to stabilize its GDP short-term, for example by developing higher-quality products.
After that the whole Delegation went to its first company visit to our Silver Partner Acutronic Ltd. The participants got their first impression of one of our sponsors, which has its expertise in engineering. The company we visited today is the leader in the development, design and manufacturing of precision motion simulators. While being guided through their facilities the delegation learned that precision is one of the most important success factors for Acutronic Ltd. as well as keeping the knowhow within the company.
We would like to thank our speakers for their valuable inputs and for sharing their experiences. We would also like to thank Acutronic Ltd., our Silver Partner, for the interesting company tour in Olten and the nice apéro they offered.
