Thermo Fisher to set up new factory in Suzhou

BEIJING - Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, the world's largest scientific instrument company by sales, plans to set up a new factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, to develop and manufacture laboratory consumable products for the local market.

"Laboratory consumable products is the fastest growing part of our business in China, with a growth rate of more than 20 percent," said Marc Casper, president and chief executive officer of Thermo Fisher.

The Suzhou factory, the company's fifth in China, is scheduled for completion in early 2012. The New York-listed company built its first factory in China 11 years ago, mainly for exports, but the new factory will entirely focus on Chinese customers, Casper said.

According to Michael Shafer, Thermo Fisher's vice-president and general manager in China, the company will soon add cold temperature refrigeration assembling and manufacturing capability after completing the first phase of the unit, to make Suzhou factory a long-term life-science research and manufacturing site.

Thermo Fisher currently employs 1,400 people in China. The local business contributed a revenue of $400 million in 2010, up 14 percent year-on-year. China's revenue amounted to about 3.6 percent of the company's total revenue, which was $11 billion last year.

"China is getting the most attention by far," said Casper. "Today China represents about 5 percent of the company's revenue, it gets much more than 5 percent of our attention." He added that Thermo Fisher hopes its revenue in China will reach $2 billion by 2020.

Casper said, considering the company's size, there are not many strong competitors in China. The company will continue to be well-positioned and become more localized.

Its leadership team, with Casper, Shafer, and its President for Asia Pacific Syed Jafry, will talk to its 60 clients in China this week to understand their needs and interests.

Casper said the company decided to invest more in emerging markets like China in 2009. It moved its global headquarters on environmental protection - for conducting air and water quality testing, radiation security analysis - to China in 2010 and enjoys the biggest market share in this field in China.

China Daily

(China Daily 03/10/2011 page15)