China Recruiting Blog

China’s Changing Advantages-How About R&D?

Here is a good thought from David Rae of The Procurement Leaders.

“Oerlikon’s new headquarters in Shanghai also reflects how the Chinese economy has developed from a source of low cost production to a market with more developed and technology driven industries,” he said. “To benefit from this trend, Oerlikon is not only enhancing its production capabilities in China step by step with engineering know how but is also developing China as a source of new technologies to benefit its business globally.”

China’s growth is the business story of the last hundred years. But the next phase, which will see Chinese R&D facilities and innovation centres pumping out ideas and technology advancements on an industrial scale is one that threatens to reset the global business compass forever.

You can see the whole article here.

With an economy in a massive transition like China, keeping up with the trend is not easy and quite important.

Smart companies are doing R&D in China. They may do it small with one or two design engineers, but smart companies are finding innovation in a country famed for not having it. They are doing it whether they have manufacturing here or not.

Chinese engineers are great. Also, cheap engineering has always been the sleeper. Leadership often is weak in China, so Chinese companies lack innovation though they have good engineering.  Properly led, they can be world class.  Industrial scale R&D and Innovation centers are already coming and are the next big thing here.  I am intimate with a few R&D centers and know they are a good investment.

Improving manufacturing processes and development of R&D centers is the story of the next 5 years in China manufacturing.

Thoughts?