Atlas Copco Group, headquartered in Sweden, will remain committed to consolidating its position in China in order to capitalize on the great potential of an increasingly smart and green industrial sector, according to the group's CEO.
"In so many sectors, China is leading, not following." "We need to follow the leaders to ensure that we have a presence and that we collaborate closely with them," Mats Rahmström, president and CEO of Atlas Copco Group, told Xinhua on a recent trip to China.
Unlike his prior journeys to China since 2003, Rahmström brought the company's board members with him this time to provide them with firsthand knowledge of the thriving business. They paid visits to the business's China headquarters in Shanghai as well as the Chinese industrial hub of Wuxi City, where the company is increasing its investment in compressor production and R&D.
In the 1920s, Atlas Copco Group, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, entered the Greater China market. In China, it now has 46 firms, 16 manufacturing facilities with their own R&D, and one high-tech R&D center.
"At first, China was just an import market for our products." "It's now a complete hub," Rahmström explained.
Based on its expertise in compressor, hoover, industrial, and power technologies, the company offers an array of innovative products and services to empower China's emerging sectors, ranging from offering joining equipment and solutions to the manufacturing of automobiles and semiconductors to developing pneumatic devices for infrastructure construction and medical use.
"The number one thing that comes to mind is speed," Rahmström said of the Chinese market. "The speed of development and the speed of innovation."
Rahmström is particularly intrigued by China's quick expansion in the vehicle business, particularly the EV market. "In Shanghai, I can see the green number plates everywhere now," he told me. "Two years ago, I had never seen a Chinese EV in Sweden, but today, it's advertising every day."
"Size" is the second adjective Rahmström used to define the Chinese market, which has massive market demands due to its 1.4 billion population.
China is the group's largest market in Asia and the world's second-largest market.
He emphasised that the Chinese market plays a "very international role." "In the past, we were focusing on China due to China, but now we also see that China has a strong influence on the rest of Asia."
Rahmström is optimistic about China's "future potential." China's goal of sustainable growth offers a tremendous pool of economic potential for Atlas Copco Group, which has set its own science-based aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
"If you're going to see more electric vehicles, more hydrogen, and more liquified natural gas, then we play a very important role as an enabler for these new technologies," he added.
According to Rahmström, Atlas Copco Group will continue to increase investment in China to expand local presence and R&D in order to deliver clients innovation, cost savings, higher quality, and faster service in order to "be relevant" in the Chinese market and beyond.
"For a company, in some sense, if you're not number one in China, then you cannot be number one in the world," he said.