Source: Qian Tongxin / Yicai
(Yicai Global) March 10 -- After the Consumer Electronics Show in the US, China’s largest home appliance exhibition, the Appliance and Electronics World Expo, has become the main arena for domestic firms to flex their tech for the world.
Chinese appliance giant Haier Group Corp. occupies an entire pavilion at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. “This is home turf,” a manager said. “What cannot be accomplished overseas can be achieved here.”
“On the other hand, foreign firms can’t ignore the exhibition, it’s the biggest of its kind in China,” he added. “They have large booths too.”
Next-gen home appliances are a theme for this year’s exhibition. Global titans including Panasonic Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH and Siemens AG will all be sharing their latest advancements to the world’s largest consumer market.
“Exhibitors are integrating more high-tech elements into their products,” a director of a US consumer electronics show said. “They’re hoping to convert traditional home appliances into high-tech products using concepts like smart connectivity.”
“Chinese brands, including Haier and Huaiwei Technologies Co. all want to challenge the market position of more established firms using high-end technology,” said Zhou Qun, general manager of GFK China.
“This year’s most prominent theme is smart manufacturing and industrial connectivity,” the Haier manager said. “It marks the first time this concept has been emphasized at the AWE.”
In order to display the connectivity concept, Haier showcased an ‘internet factory’ demo line this year. The production line can complete mobile orders for customized products via an integrated software platform, ComosPlat, with the help of robots from ABB Ltd. [NYSE:ABB] controlled by powerful sensors.
“I’m very interested in Haier’s Big Data management platform,” said Stefan Ender, a market manager for Germany-based Kuka Robotics GmbH [FWB:KU2]. “We’re also studying what user data are useful for industrial production.”
Midea Group Co.’s [SHE:000333] acquisition of Kuka has pushed the competition in the field of intelligent devices represented by robots to a new level, Ender said.
“Kuka wants to work with Haier. We’ve already talked,” he added. “Though Kuka has been taken over by Midea, we still hope to share our robotics technology with more Chinese partners.”
Haier is also open to cooperation. “Haier’s competitiveness lies in its open platform,” said Wang Hongtao, operating director of the firm’s CosmoPlat. “We hope users can take part in our mass customization campaign to achieve total-factor connectivity at our company.”