XIAMEN, May 26 (Xinhua) -- As China has successfully brought the COVID-19 epidemic under control, many Japanese-funded enterprises in the eastern Chinese city of Xiamen have not only recovered their production capacity, but are also increasing their investment.
Yamaha Motor Solutions Co., Ltd. Xiamen is a global research and development center for Yamaha motors. Its business covers more than 10 countries and regions including China and Japan.
According to Zhao Fujun, general manager of the company, the epidemic has greatly affected the company's performance in the first quarter of this year. The company has, however, recovered about 90 percent of their planned production capacity.
The epidemic has also brought opportunities to the company and it expects to see better performance in the Chinese market this year.
"Customers have increasing requirements for information solutions and services because of the epidemic, especially those enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta," Zhao said, adding that they could make up the losses caused by the epidemic.
Zhao said that the company has pinned high hopes on the Chinese market since China has taken efficient measures in epidemic control and prevention. The company's investment in China will increase by 30 percent this year.
Electric Glass (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of liquid crystal glass blocks. Ohashi Nobuo, general manager of the company, said that they had effective measures to guarantee production resumption and there was great potential in glass substrate demand in the Chinese market.
Ohashi Nobuo also praised Xiamen's business environment. "Our production processes need a stable supply of water, electricity and gas, which is very difficult to control. However, Xiamen has done a great job in this respect. In addition, Xiamen has developed harbors to ensure smooth logistics," he said.
Ohashi Nobuo said that the company will add over 2 billion yuan (about 281 million U.S. dollars) in investment in the company's third-phase project in Xiamen this year. This will ensure a production scale of 1.5 times larger than present.
"China is the global development center of display devices. Complete industrial chain and industrial restructuring have promoted industry development. We hope to produce more competitive products to meet the demand of the Chinese market," said Ohashi Nobuo.
Sodick Amoy Co., Ltd., a company focusing on manufacturing CNC discharge machines, only resumed business on February 17 as a result of the impact of the epidemic.
"We overloaded our production capacity in March and April, thereby making up for the losses in February. We will achieve our production goal in the first half of the year," said Yoshiaki Daichi, deputy general manager of the company. "We are grateful that the local government provides medical supplies to help enterprises prevent epidemic spread while resuming operations."
Yoshiaki Daichi said that China is the most important market for the company and they will continue to enlarge their scale and invest more.
"Our company's second-phase project is under construction, with a planned investment of 60 million yuan. The annual output value will increase by 250 million yuan after the project is put into operation. Meanwhile, we will increase investment in research, equipment and human resources," said Yoshiaki Daichi.
Affected by the epidemic, the production capacity of JTEKT Steering Systems (Xiamen) Company only reached between 25 percent to 40 percent of its previous projections in February and March.
According to Peng Daohong, deputy general manager of the company, the production capacity of the company reached 80 percent and 90 percent in April and May respectively.
"Transportation is going back to normal in China. Our mechanic parts suppliers in China are returning to normal too. Although our overseas suppliers are still being restrained, we have purchased the equivalent mechanical products after we got approval from our customers," Peng said.
"At present, the cost competition in the Chinese market is fierce. In these situations, we will continue to innovate and lower the cost to benefit our customers," said Peng, "China is the largest auto consumption market in the world. We should take it seriously."
Peng said that the third-phase factory of the company covering 20,000 square meters is under construction. In addition, a new production line will be introduced to manufacture a new steering system product. Enditem
