BST International establishes new subsidiary enterprise in China

BST International GmbH, manufacturer of quality assuring components for the web processing industry, has opened a new production and sales base in Songjiang, Shanghai.

The ‘BST International Shanghai Co., Ltd’, 100 per cent subsidiary of the German company, will, with at first 15 local employees, both supply the Chinese market with BST products and organize sales and service in the East Asian region.

‘The Chinese expectations of products of German manufacturers are very high’, said BST managing director Wolfgang Kster. ‘With our subsidiary enterprise we want to be in a position to react quickly to the market and at the same time guarantee German quality’.

The company is not a newcomer to China. For more than 20 years already BST International has been present in the country through commercial agencies and latterly a representation office. BST was already operating successfully before the current boom and can now strengthen and consolidate its position with help of the new subsidiary.

The current share of the Chinese business in the total turnover of the company is about one eighth. In Songjiang BST has invested about €250,000 both to manufacture the country-specific components, e.g. the mechanical guiding devices for the BST web guiding systems, and to conduct sales activities, especially for the expanding tire segment.

With Jenny Zhang, the previous head of the representation office, a managing director was appointed who is familiar with the German as well as the Chinese culture.

For BST International the foundation of the Chinese company is closely related to the expansion of the headquarters in Bielefeld, Germany. ‘We need both, the investment in German know-how and a presence in the international markets’, said Wolfgang Kster.

Thus China is not the only interesting market into which BST International GmbH would like to expand. In the future, India, Brazil and Eastern Europe will be in the focus of the company's activities concentrating on increasing business operations already run successfully by local BST enterprises.