 Kari Rannisto / Workshop Taicang |
Today, the subsidiary of StrikoWestofen GmbH, based in Wiehl-Bomig, Germany, is able to fully manufacture all series of its most energy efficient aluminium melting furnace StrikoMelter and dosing furnace Westomat in China.
Chinese customers are rewarding StrikoWestofen's local presence. This is particularly reflected in the rapid increase in sales of StrikoWestofen melting furnaces in China. Despite the higher initial costs, customers are increasingly turning to melting furnaces of the highest energy efficiency class, several dozens of which have already been supplied. The reason is quite obvious: energy costs are also becoming a major concern in this fast growing country. Therefore, energy efficient furnaces with a higher purchase price can actually save operators money in the long term. On average, each furnace cuts annual energy costs by roughly 100,000 euros (900,000 CNY), even compared to the latest competitive products. Operating costs are also lowered by about the same amount due to reduced metal loss when melting and holding the temperature.
Moreover, the environment also profits from reduced consumption. The currently installed StrikoMelters in China help to reduce carbon emissions by roughly 22,000 tonnes each year when compared to conventional melting technologies. This volume corresponds to the annual CO2 emissions of more than 10,000 cars.
"Our team of well-trained local specialists is excellent and German engineers has managed the know-how transfer exemplarily," says Rudi Riedel, Managing Director of StrikoWestofen GmbH. "This guarantees that the quality of products manufactured in Taicang is the same as in Europe. Not only local high-end automotive industry suppliers have begun to realize that our products contribute significantly to an increase in their profitability. Our customers can therefore really earn hard cash with StrikoWestofen furnaces."
Kari Rannisto became the new Managing Director of StrikoWestofen Asia on 1 July 2011. For 12 years prior to his appointment, he held various management positions in China's capital goods industry. Kari Rannisto lives with his family in Shanghai and speaks fluent Chinese.
"Kari Rannisto is characterized by his entrepreneurial spirit and his excellent knowledge of local market conditions in China. Since StrikoWestofen Asia has outgrown its start-up image, Kari Rannisto will now focus on achieving important steps towards our continued expansion. He is the perfect person for our company," Rudi Riedel explains.
"In the future, we will place even more emphasis on customer needs and offering solutions based on specific local demands. Our goal is to optimize our services with our extensive know-how in order to pull even further away from our competitors," Kari Rannisto says.
The rapid development of service capacities in China results in faster, more qualified help should faults occur, thus increasing plant availability.
StrikoWestofen already offers a wide range of consulting services. Besides technical training for Chinese customer employees, this also includes professional support for process optimization. Furthermore, StrikoWestofen provides its customer with investment planning advice to ensure energy and material efficient plant operation. Customers profit, in particular, from increased cost awareness. The quality of customer advice is guaranteed by the growing number of engineers involved in the sales process.
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