A ‘Gateway to China’ for device suppliers
04 January 2012
China's industrial development is set to be one of the main driving forces behind global growth for decades to come; market accessibility is therefore vital to many automation companies' growth prospects. The CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA) has put together the ‘Gateway to China’ (G2C) programme using its strong presence in the region to support and enable greater European participation
CC-Link has become a de-facto standard in many Asian industries, with the majority of the flat panel display industry using CC-Link, for example. The CLPA is using its strength in Asia to help European device manufacturers develop and promote CC-link enabled products that will find far greater market acceptance in China. As a well supported open-standard it also has a far higher potential for growth in the future, as many partner companies have already recognised.
Twenty years from now global manufacturing will be unrecognisable. Technology, particularly control engineering, will have advanced massively, and just as significantly; its geographic distribution will be completely reordered. The long-term result is that manufacturing will become truly global in terms of distribution and connectivity. And the focus of this globalisation is China. So why is CC-Link so widespread in China and Asia in general?
Since the late 1970s, China has risen to become the world's second largest economy. In the beginning, much of this growth was based on largely manual, labour intensive processes; however, in recent years, the cost penalties of this approach have become clear and China's industries have been racing to automate to maintain their leading position in world manufacturing.
In addition, many of the world's leading Asian manufacturing companies have joined the rush to set up plants in China. Since CC-Link was already a standard for many of these companies, it was natural for them to take the network with them. This trend, combined with the rise in automation, has led the CLPA to launch the G2C campaign in order for European companies to catch this wave of opportunity.
Initially G2C is being targeted at European device manufacturers, the campaign being divided into two key areas of assistance. The first is to help get a CC-Link product ready for the Chinese market. To do this, the CLPA will provide free-of-charge assistance with development, free kits of sample components and cable from partner 3M. Further, CLPA partners Hilscher and HMS are offering special deals on their netX and Anybus systems for companies wanting to implement CC-Link in this way. Weidmüller is also providing a starter kit for a 10-Gigabit field attachable RJ45 connector for the CC-Link IE-Field infrastructure.
Once a product or system is ready for the market, the second step is to assist with promotion. CLPA will provide free advertising in leading Chinese automation journals and websites, along with further promotion at road shows, webinars and fairs. Finally, partner Mitsubishi Electric has also offered the chance to tour key Asian facilities as a promotional tool. Even for companies already active in the market, this will extend their coverage and provide the added credibility of third party endorsement.
The activities in China will also be supported by CLPA's extensive network of offices in the country, with over 20 locations operated either directly by CLPA or its partners. All that is required in return for this programme of benefits is regular membership of the CLPA, at a nominal annual fee.
Launched last month, the programme is expected to run for at least one year initially and is planned to roll out globally in the long term. The key details can be found here: http://www.cc-link-g2c.com/.
The G2C programme is being supported by fourteen key European CLPA partners (3M, ABB Robotics, Balluff GmbH, Bihl+Wiedemann GmbH, Cognex, Datalogic S.p.A., Hilscher Gesellschaft für Systemautomation mbH, HMS Industrial Networks, IDEC Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Europe B.V., Pepperl + Fuchs GmbH, Pro-face Europe B.V, WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG and Weidmüller's Ethernet infrastructure business unit).
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