Carl Zeiss has opened its first production facility in China, the company announced on 18 May 2004. Optical modules, initially for digital projectors and later for rear-projection televisions (micro-d…
Carl Zeiss has opened its first production facility in China, the company announced on 18 May 2004. Optical modules, initially for digital projectors and later for rear-projection televisions (micro-display TVs), will be produced at the 3,000 m sq factory in the city of Suzhou, approximately 80 km west of Shanghai. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH, Carl Zeiss Display Technologies (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. was founded in 2003. Carl Zeiss said the aim of the Suzhou operation is to supply the Asian market, as approximately 80% of the Carl Zeiss Display Technologies Division“s customers are located in the Far East or have their production facilities there. “The production facilities in Suzhou have a pilot character for Carl Zeiss in China,” said Dr. Norbert Gorny, a member of the Carl Zeiss Board, during the inauguration celebrations. Approximately 200 guests were invited, including politicians, the Counselor General of the German Consulate in Shanghai, the mayor of Suzhou, representatives from the Suzhou industrial park and friendly companies. “To remain competitive and take part in the sustained growth in new markets, Carl Zeiss also produces and sells within the currency area where our customers operate. This becomes particularly clear when using the modules for micro-display based projection as an example: without our own production facilities in China, we would not have received several customer orders”, Gorny added. “We came to China to be closer to our Asian partners. In China alone, a large market for digital projectors and new generations of TVs is developing,” explained Albrecht Richter, V.P. & General Manager of the Display Technologies Division at Carl Zeiss, adding that “the combination of sales and product-related activities in China provides us with direct access to our customers.” Carl Zeiss is investing approximately EUR 7.5 million in the building, machinery and equipment. The company sent managers from Germany to oversee construction of the new factory while Suzhou employees were trained in Jena. Experts from the Display Technologies Division are on site to supervise the start-up of production. By the end of the year, the plant is expected to have a workforce of up to 100 employees producing 25,000 optical modules a month. In the mid-term, the company expects to double the number of employees to 200. As well as the investment in Suzhou, Carl Zeiss says it has also doubled output of optical modules in Jena, in an effort to guarantee supply lines for micro-display televisions. The Asian region has the world“s highest growth rates and is becoming an increasingly important market for Carl Zeiss. During fiscal year 2002 – 2003, Carl Zeiss generated revenues of EUR 270 million in Asia, equivalent to 13% of total revenue.