Schunk Sonosystems officially opened its Chinese subsidiary Schunk Sonosystems China (SSO-CN) last Tuesday. This took place at a ceremony in Taicang, where the newly launched Schunk company shares the location with Weiss-Voetsch Environmental Testing Instruments (WVC).
Sonosystems is by no means starting from scratch in China; on the contrary, the Middle Kingdom has long been an important market. Sonosystems has been active there for more than 25 years through a representative office. Due to the strong growth, it was decided in 2012 to hire its own employees, and the first service technician for ultrasonic welding started work in the same year.
20 employees in Taicang
Intensive market cultivation then followed under the umbrella of WVC in Taicang. This included servicing the wire harness market, taking over the tube sealer business from the former agency, and developing the battery market.
Since 2021, the business has been managed by Dr. Huanlu Zhao. Then in the fall of 2022, SSO-CN received its own business license from the government and has been operational since the beginning of 2023, with Dr. Zhao as general manager and a team of 20 employees in total.
Especially in the field of electric vehicles, China is "the place to be"
"To achieve the ambitious growth targets in China, we need to be able to act quickly on the ground. To this end, we have expanded sales, application technology, assembly and service. Due to the increasing market growth for e-vehicles, we see great potential for both our wire harness and battery businesses. With a share of around 60 percent of global electric car sales, China was again the frontrunner in 2022. In addition, SSO-CN will also serve as a hub for the entire Southeast Asia business," explains Edwin Zijlstra, Managing Director of the Sonosystems business unit.