Zeiss sees rosy prospects in industry solutions biz on back of China's NEV growth

A Zeiss employee (left) addresses visitor queries on industrial quality solutions at a facility in Shanghai last week. [Photo/China Daily]

German optics company Zeiss is aiming high for its business unit's industrial quality solutions in the Chinese market and expects double-digit growth annually over the coming years, a senior company executive said.

The ambitious growth target came as the Zeiss unit, which mainly serves manufacturers of batteries for new energy vehicles, mulls plans to tap such a rapidly growing sector in the domestic market, said Richard Gaertner, a member of the management board and chief sales and service officer of industrial quality solutions at Zeiss, during an exclusive interview with China Daily last week.

"We already have over 10,000 clients, including over 2,000 in the NEV sector in China, our second-largest market worldwide. Last year, at least 20 percent of our business unit's global share was in China, and it was over 200 million euros ($218.5 million)," said Gaertner, adding that the company provides solutions for NEV battery manufacturers to produce safer products of better quality.

"Our targets in China for the future are still high and with the strong growth of the country's automotive industry, especially the NEV sector, I expect that China will perhaps become No 1 for us over the next three to five years," he said during his visit to Shanghai.

Thanks to the advantages of the new energy vehicle industry chain, the competitiveness of Chinese vehicle companies' products has significantly improved, changing the market structure with stronger technology and better costs.

As of June this year, the market share of domestic automobile brands in China reached 49.5 percent, followed by German and Japanese brands, with market shares of 21.4 percent and 17.6 percent, respectively, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Such strong development of the industry also prompted robust new product plans from the company, according to Gaertner.

"We receive quite a lot of requests from the China team for new products. I believe around 10 new products will be launched in China each year over the next few years," he said.

Gaertner explained that the company's solutions can help NEV clients, especially battery manufacturers, detect defects, particles and welding problems, among others inside the batteries throughout the manufacturing process. The company also has X-ray machines and microscopes to help battery manufacturers increase production efficiency and improve quality management.

He said the company has proved together with its Chinese clients that its service helps reduce the cost of batteries while improving their safety and quality.

"Performance, quality and cost are the key factors for NEV clients, and cost, in particular, is an important topic to make bigger markets," said Gaertner.

"Also, our solutions help customers reduce quality inspection time by 97 percent — from two hours to one to two minutes," he said.

China's businesses in NEVs are a decade ahead of the industrial level internationally, which is a big advantage for the country for the current phase, according to Gaertner.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers data showed that the market share of NEVs has continued to grow, reaching 32.7 percent in July, a record high. China's automobile exports reached 392,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 35.1 percent.