Interface News Reporter | Gao Jing
"Through business restructuring, the company's business has become more in line with market development trends."
On April 25th, Chai Xiaozhou, Vice President and General Manager of Honeywell Intelligent Industrial Technology Group in China, told Interface News at a media day event.
On January 1, 2024, Honeywell's business portfolio adjustment officially took effect. The updated organizational structure focuses on three major development trends: automation, future aviation, and energy transformation, including four business groups: Intelligent Industrial Technology Group, Aerospace Technology Group, Intelligent Building Technology Group, and Energy and Sustainable Technology Group.
Among them, Intelligent Industrial Technology Group is currently one of Honeywell's largest businesses in China, providing automation control systems, automatic identification equipment and software, and comprehensive personal protective equipment for industries such as new energy vehicles, energy storage, industrial production, and semiconductor manufacturing.
"In China, labor costs continue to rise, and domestic enterprises are transforming towards automation, digitization, and intelligence. At the same time, the country is also advocating intelligent manufacturing, providing growth opportunities for intelligent industrial technology groups." Chai Xiaozhou said.
The venue for this media day event is Honeywell's Nanjing factory, which is Honeywell's largest sensor production and manufacturing base in China. According to Chen Yong, the director of Honeywell's Nanjing factory, the factory can produce 300 million sensors annually, equivalent to producing 9.5 sensors per second.
The products produced by the Nanjing factory include sensors and gas detectors, which are not only supplied to China but also to the global market.
A sensor is a detection device that can sense external signals, physical conditions (such as light, heat, humidity) or chemical composition (such as smoke and mist), and transmit the detected information to other devices. It is mainly used in industrial control, medical, automotive, environmental detection and other fields. A gas detector is an instrument that detects gas concentration.
According to Chai Xiaozhou, the localization rate of the Nanjing factory has reached over 70%, and most products are managed by local Chinese teams throughout the entire process from design to production.
In terms of supplier selection, Honeywell will also prioritize domestic enterprises and, in the process of cooperation, reverse enhance the product strength of local suppliers. "For example, some suppliers were originally only able to supply consumer grade raw materials, but now they have further developed the ability to provide industrial grade raw materials," said Chai Xiaozhou.
The current research and development focus areas of the Nanjing factory include the new energy vehicle industry, energy storage industry, industrial production industry, etc.
In the field of energy storage, Honeywell has products such as gas sensors, thermal runaway sensors, and current sensors, which play a role in ensuring the safety and normal operation of energy storage systems.
Liu Wei, Vice President and General Manager of the Sensing and Security Technology Division of Honeywell Intelligent Industrial Technology Group, pointed out that in the past two years, the energy storage industry has developed rapidly.
He stated that the "Safety Regulations for Electrochemical Energy Storage Power Stations" released by China last year is the first guiding document in the field of energy storage safety in China, and fully reflects the country's high attention to the safety issues of electrochemical energy storage power stations.
In Liu Wei's view, compared to the "cost issue" that has been discussed in the industry, the field of energy storage sensors should pay more attention to the safety of products and whether they themselves comply with international or national regulations.
Looking ahead, Liu Wei stated that Honeywell's Nanjing factory will continue to make efforts in the fields of new energy and semiconductor chips. Meanwhile, shipbuilding and hydrogen energy may become the next business growth point.