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The Textile Magazine
JUly 2012
China over the last three years.”
Significantly, the new Shanghai
building will be the global head-
quarters of Oerlikon Textile, the
largest segment of the company.
This will allow the global textile
business to be directly led from
Shanghai and for innovation created
originating in China to be rolled out
into other important markets.
As announced in November last
year, the segment’s activities will
be directly led from the largest and
most important textile market in the
world by Clement Woon, a Singa-
pore native. By the end of 2012, 40
per cent of Textile’s senior man-
agement will be based at the new
headquarters in Shanghai.
The company’s systematic focus
on the growth markets of Asia
has made a significant contribu-
tion to Oerlikon’s positive busi-
ness development in recent years.
In 2011, the group generated 28
per cent of its total sales, or CHF
1.2 billion (RMB 7.9 million), in
China, a growth rate of 32 per cent
compared to 2010 and 138 per cent
compared to 2009. In 2011, Asia
overall was responsible for 49 per
cent of Oerlikon’s total sales. In Q1
2012, the group’s growth rate of six
per cent was significantly supported
by China, with sales up 22 per cent
compared to Q1 2011.
Oerlikon has a long history of
successful operation in China.
Oerlikon Textile has been present
in China since the 1960s. Some
of the long-term investments
in China in recent years have
been: the textile segment’s
opening of its Suzhou produc-
tion site in 2005, Oerlikon’s
largest production facility in
China; Oerlikon Coating’s
opening of two new coating
centers in Jinan and Chong-
qing in 2011, bringing the total
number to nine; and the more
recent tripling of capacity at
the Suzhou site.
In 2012, Oerlikon Drive
Systems began production
operations at its first factory in
Suzhou, and Oerlikon Vacuum
boosted capacity at its produc-
tion site in Tianjin by about
30 per cent. As it stands today,
Oerlikon employs about 2,500
people throughout China.
“Oerlikon’s new headquar-
ters in Shanghai also reflects
how the Chinese economy
has developed from a source
of low-cost production to a market
with more developed and technol-
ogy-driven industries. To benefit
from this trend, Oerlikon is not only
enhancing its production capa-
bilities in China step by step with
engineering knowhow, but is also
developing China as a source of
new technologies to benefit its busi-
ness globally,” said Mr. Buscher.
“There is still huge potential
in the Chinese market which we
have not developed yet. The new
headquarters gives us an additional
push to take advantage of this very
significant opportunity”, he added.
w
corporate news
Mr. André Wissenberg, Vice President (Marketing & Corporate
Communications), Oerlikon Textile GmbH