Currently, the global economy is standing at the historical intersection of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Cutting-edge technologies such as AI are accelerating out of the laboratory and towards industrial application.
At the same time, the global supply chain has been deeply restructured, and the K-shaped differentiation between old and new industries has intensified. Under the interweaving of multiple variables, the development logic of the industrial automation industry has been rewritten.
Faced with an uncertain market environment, as a core enterprise in the global industrial measurement field, WIKA chose to buck the trend and increase its exposure to the Chinese market, opening a new stage of localization 2.0 development.
With the official opening of the second phase of WIKA’s Suzhou factory, this layout towards in-depth localization has also released a clear positive signal for the Chinese market for the global measurement and sensing industry.
Increasing multi-base collaboration and anchoring the main line of localized growth
With the transformation and upgrading of China’s industrial structure, many foreign-funded enterprises have adjusted their investment layout in China in response to market changes.
The relevant person in charge of WIKA China said that although there are multiple uncertainties such as geopolitical conflicts and industrial chain fluctuations in the current market, the Chinese economy has extremely strong development resilience, coupled with the guidance of medium and long-term industrial policies, the main line of industry growth is clear and stable: on the one hand, traditional industries such as petroleum and petrochemicals, steel, and papermaking are accelerating upgrading, and the demand for high-end precision measurement continues to be released; on the other hand, emerging industries such as semiconductors, data centers, biopharmaceuticals, and green energy are booming, bringing new market increments.
This iteration of the industrial structure is in deep agreement with WIKA’s high-end precision positioning.
In the past ten years, WIKA China’s business scale has exceeded RMB 1 billion, and it is now moving towards the next goal of doubling its performance.
As the business volume continues to expand, expanding production capacity and planning for future growth space in advance have become inevitable choices.
Following the debut of Kepler’s new R&D and manufacturing base in Shanghai, the second phase of the Suzhou factory was officially opened, further establishing a localized full industry chain layout that integrates WIKA’s R&D, production and services.
The two bases have formed a complete R&D and production network with differentiated division of labor and complementary collaboration: the Shanghai Kepler base focuses on the R&D, production and localization services of a series of level products; the Suzhou Phase I and II factories undertake the delivery of a full range of measuring instruments such as pressure, temperature and flow.
Relying on the “multi-base” collaborative manufacturing system, WIKA will build a service system that integrates inheritance of German quality standards, strengthening local research and development, and achieving rapid response to the local market, so as to better meet the needs of customers in high-voltage power transmission and distribution, semiconductors, data centers and other segmented tracks, and truly realize “in China, for China.”
Wika China’s localization process has now entered the fourth stage of deep rooting: from initially moving mature German production lines to China to complete product assembly and local sales, to completing simple customization and in-depth customization according to the needs of local customers, and gradually realizing the localization of the supply chain, it has now entered a new stage of developing products that meet local needs based on the actual working conditions and application challenges of local customers, and realizing complete localization of the supply chain throughout the entire process.
The relevant person in charge revealed that the Suzhou Phase II factory will not only serve the Chinese and Asia-Pacific markets, but will also support the development of the global market. In the fields of new generation intelligent instruments such as smart transmitters and level measurement products, WIKA China will assume the role of a global core manufacturing base and continue to deepen its development by adhering to the core positioning of “based in China, radiating to Asia, and serving the world.”
Two-way deep cultivation of technology scenarios to seize the growth dividends of emerging tracks
The continued deepening of localization capabilities will ultimately come down to precise responses to market changes.
As China’s industry accelerates its evolution toward automation, digitization, and intelligence, customers’ demands for industrial measurement are also changing: now customers not only need a single measurement hardware, but also one-stop service, stable and reliable product quality, and fast and flexible delivery capabilities, which have become the core criteria for measuring the value of suppliers.
WIKA’s products cover local display instruments, smart instruments and industrial IoT solutions, which can meet the diverse needs of customers under a one-stop service framework. The complete layout of local R&D, manufacturing and services has also laid a solid foundation for rapid response to market demand.
In the context of the deep integration of AI and industry, customers’ requirements for industrial measurement do not stop at “accurate measurement.” Whether data can be effectively collected, analyzed, and applied has become a new value yardstick.
WIKA collects and analyzes measurement data in areas such as pressure, temperature, level and flow through industrial Internet solutions to help customers implement predictive maintenance, optimize factory resource allocation, and comprehensively improve the profitability of the value chain.
WIKA stated that decarbonization, digitalization and demographic structural changes are macro issues faced by the global industry. Behind the challenges also lie new opportunities. WIKA will adhere to the concept of smart sensing and launch more smart sensing products and industrial Internet solutions for different scenarios, allowing sensing technology to create greater value.
The continuous upgrading of products and technologies also allows WIKA to accurately capture the growth dividends of emerging industries in the K-shaped differentiated market structure of the industry.
Faced with the market situation where traditional industries are under pressure and emerging tracks are emerging, WIKA focuses deeply on high-growth areas and tailors industry solutions to meet the needs of different industries.
In the liquid-cooled data center track driven by the explosion of AI computing power, the market has put forward extremely high requirements for the accuracy, reliability, flexible production capabilities and rapid delivery capabilities of sensors. WIKA has established in-depth cooperation with liquid cooling equipment manufacturers and data center owners to provide the industry with multiple categories of sensors such as pressure, temperature, and liquid level. With its accurate and reliable product performance and local capabilities of rapid delivery, WIKA has served many domestic and foreign AI data center projects.
In the semiconductor field with more stringent requirements, WIKA’s advantages are even more prominent.
Semiconductor production has very strict requirements on the measurement accuracy, cleanliness and corrosion resistance of instruments. As a core instrument supplier in the global semiconductor industry, WIKA’s products have been widely used in wafer production and chip manufacturing.
At present, the ultra-high-purity mechanical pressure gauge dedicated to semiconductors in the second phase of the Suzhou factory has been put into production, and the ultra-high-purity pressure transmitter will soon be put into local production. In the future, it will further enhance its service capabilities for China’s semiconductor industry.
Steady and long-term growth with China’s manufacturing industry
Entering the new stage of localization 2.0, WIKA is advancing the next performance doubling plan and is committed to becoming one of the major leaders in China’s instrument sensor market.
From local production to local R&D, from serving China to radiating across the Asia-Pacific and even the world, WIKA leverages its dual advantages of high-end technology base and in-depth local capabilities to build core competitiveness in the market landscape of upgrading traditional industry stocks and explosive growth in emerging tracks. This is what gives it the confidence to resolutely increase its exposure to the Chinese market amid uncertainty.
Looking back at the development history of China’s automation industry, foreign-funded enterprises have always been important participants and promoters.
From early technology input and product output to today’s local R&D and ecological co-construction, the depth of localization determines the long-term vitality of an enterprise.
WIKA’s localization 2.0 layout, based on nearly thirty years of deep cultivation and with R&D as the core, has developed a keen perception and agile response to market changes, growing together with China’s manufacturing industry, thus continuing to create industrial value in the global wave of industrial intelligence.
