At Nepcon Shanghai 2004, Cor Scholten, Assembléon's (Eindhoven, The

Netherlands) chief executive officer, confirmed that Asia, and in particular, China, is a key element of the company's long-term global business strategy.

 

In 2003, sales in Asia grew to 40% of the company's total sales, up from just over 30% in 2002, with China representing 30% of this growth. As a direct result of the company's aggressive drive to increase market share in this market, Assembléon expects China to represent 70% of total Asia sales in 2004.

 

"We recognized China as a growing force in the global market several years ago and moved quickly to position ourselves to serve not only the large multinational original design manufacturers (ODMs) and electronics manufacturing service (EMS) companies that were moving their operations into China, but also the large number of local Chinese enterprises that were becoming increasingly sophisticated and challenging the foreign-owned multinationals," said Scholten.

 

"Unlike many other vendors, Assembléon does not view China simply as a location for low-cost manufacturing," Scholten continued. "Instead, we firmly believe that China is one of the key market and technology drivers in the world. No longer is China just looking at its export markets, but domestic sales are booming and helping to drive new technology around the world. Also, many of the domestic brands, such as Bird, Eastcom, and TCL, are outselling multinational brands by swiftly incorporating new functionality as soon as it becomes available."

 

In addition to its distribution policy, Assembléon has continued its own direct commitment to China, and expects to more than quadruple its staff headcount by the end of 2004. The additional staff will be deployed in the new locations around the country and in a new training and demonstration center expected to open in Shanghai before the end of the year.

 

Assembléon's drive to increase market share and sales in 2004 is focused upon a number of industry segments: consumer electronics—including PC motherboards, mobile phones, LCD monitors and DVD/EVD players; telecommunications equipment, including PBXs and trunking systems; and the automotive electronics and GPS segments.

 

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