We now have 20 Industrial Members in China, and our journey into this new market, which we started three years ago, is progressing beyond our expectations.
Seven Chinese organisations joined Membership in 2008 alone. The TWI Beijing Office, efficiently manned by Wu Jian and Shi Zhenyun with support from TWI staff in the UK, is now busy with enquiries from local Members. We are confident that the organisation and the resources we have put in place are adequate to satisfy the demands of Chinese companies and to service our Members.
Most of our Chinese Members are now engaged in single client project work with TWI, ranging in topics from new product development, to the introduction of advanced manufacturing technologies and troubleshooting production problems.
We have also had our first ever Chinese sponsor of a Joint Industry Project. TWI has carried out several projects in China on behalf of Industrial Members based in Europe and the USA. In most cases, the objectives were to ensure that the Chinese operations (subsidiaries or joint ventures) were able to meet the quality standards required, and involved TWI audits of fabrication and inspection procedures, staff training and certification.
In order to establish ourselves in this vast market, we are taking part in many seminars, conferences and other events, as well as hosting Chinese delegations at our UK laboratories. Last year TWI sponsored the International Conference on Engineering Structural Integrity (ESIA9) which was held in Beijing and in 2008 TWI presented at the international forum on welding technology. It is the third time TWI has been involved in the latter, an annual event organised by the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society. The topic this year was on welding of lightweight materials. On 14 October 2008, TWI organised its own China Seminar in Shanghai, on the topic of Structural Integrity. A hundred delegates, representing 30 companies heard presentations by Geoff Booth, David Baxter and Liwu Wei on asset integrity management, Engineering Critical Assessments, fatigue, fracture, numerical modelling and engineering software.
The event was based on the well established format of the annual TWI Japan Seminar which TWI has held since 1992 at the British Embassy in Tokyo, with open sessions in the morning and Member only presentations in the afternoon. We intend to run these events every year in China, alternating the venue between Beijing and Shanghai, following the positive feedback from our Members.
On 21 October 2008, Steve Shi, who is now China Programme Manager at TWI Great Abington, and I gave presentations on TWI services and technologies for the aerospace sector. The event was organised by the China Aviation Industry Base(CAIB), a government body offering incentives for aerospace companies, Chinese and foreign, to establish themselves on a large technology park near Xi'an, with the intention of creating a major aerospace cluster in central China. A co-operation agreement was signed to explore partnerships between Xi'an aerospace companies and TWI.
Earlier this year, the Mayor of Chongqing, one of the fastest growing cities in China, visited TWI's Great Abington laboratories and an agreement was signed to facilitate technical co-operation between Chongqing companies and TWI.
Fred Delany - Manager, Industrial Member Services
fred.delany@twi.co.uk
