With a background in programmable logic controllers (PLCs), drives and motion control systems, Xing (Alex) Chen joined Eurotherm China in 2017 as Glass and Power Business Development Manager, having previously worked in the pharmaceutical sector, food & beverages and in the automotive industry. He is now the company’s Glass Business Development Manager in China.

From a global perspective, Eurotherm has been in the glass industry for over 50 years. “In China we’ve been active for around 17 years but with a much stronger focus over the last six years,” reports Mr Chen.

Formerly part of Schneider Electric, Eurotherm was acquired by industrial thermal systems manufacturer Watlow on 31 October 2022. Under this new ownership Eurotherm’s sites in Worthing, UK and Dardilly, France will become Advanced Development Centres for Watlow’s electronics and controls product offering, while the Poland facility will be designated Watlow’s Manufacturing Centre of Excellence in Europe. Additional capacity and capability is also intended to ‘provide a path to growth’ in other parts of the world including the Americas and Asia. Keen to capitalise on Eurotherm’s heritage in the controls industry, the acquisition will “create new global opportunities for our collective customers and allow us to focus our advanced thermal systems in important areas, such as China,” commented Watlow’s CEO Rob Gilmore at the time.

Accordingly, Eurotherm China’s General Manager and Managing Director Rui Kong is now also responsible for the Watlow China sales team.

Strong local presence

Eurotherm’s China business currently operates from premises in Shanghai, with the wider APAC regions served by other Eurotherm/Watlow facilities. The Chinese operation comprises three people focused on glass, whose expertise covers power and process automation systems for applications such as furnace electric boosting and tin bath, as well as bushings in glass fibre production.

“We continue to develop our team to support the Chinese market and are expanding our operations and solutions to support product and solution sales of Watlow heaters and controllers,” says Mr Chen. “The integration of Eurotherm and Watlow allows us to operate globally with a strong local presence, which is essential to support the local market, while the additions in the portfolio enable us to offer larger, more comprehensive solutions."

“While in the rest of the world we typically provide turnkey solutions, most of our glass business in China is product-based sales through local system integrators,” explains Mr Chen. “This business requires us to have good working relationships with the end users to promote and support our products."

“We expect healthy growth in the years to come, particularly in technical glass where we can provide added value with our innovative functionalities,” he states. “We have been developing our glass business, with successes and new application breakthroughs in the areas of bushing control, ultra-thin display glass and optical fibre fabrication.”

Global reach

The business is also supported by Eurotherm’s global team of glass engineering and power and process automation experts, according to Mr Chen. “This network enables us to collaborate where and when needed to provide our customers with solutions that help reduce CapEx and OpEx and meet their efficiency and sustainability goals."

“I mostly work with the global glass team led by Mikael Le Guern, Global Business Development Manager for the Watlow glass business,” Mr Chen explains. “We co-operate as part of a global team which includes the global and regional business development managers, and technical power and process control team leads, all supporting our business in China.”

“China is such an important market with over 25% of the glass furnaces in the world, so we are continuing to increase our growth activities that will help with its effort to reduce carbon emissions and move to sustainable electric melting solutions,” commented Mr Le Guern.

Powerful position

As manufacturers around the globe are faced with increasing pressures to reduce their carbon footprint, the glass industry has a significant opportunity to lead the way with innovative electrification and decarbonisation solutions developed in partnership with Watlow and Eurotherm. In recent years Eurotherm China has established and developed relationships with many key account holders, focusing on high-efficiency power solutions to help save energy and reduce CO2 emissions.

Offering patented predictive load management technology to help eliminate flicker issues typically present in traditional systems that use burst firing control methods, the EPower SCR controller is the key to Eurotherm’s high-efficiency power systems, believes Mr Chen. “It also has automatic load tap changer technology that helps achieve improved energy efficiency through high power factor, enabling OpEx savings for faster return on investment,” he explains. “Process control is based around the Eurotherm T2750 PAC controller, designed to offer a cost effective distributed control system with dual redundancy for high availability of the system. Being part of Watlow enables us to extend our portfolio and offer key control, heater and sensor products from their range,” he adds.

“What makes us stand out in the Chinese glass market is our ability to combine the temperature control systems with the power control systems and now the heating elements,” Mr Chen expounds. “It’s a great combination that adds value and facilitates faster procurement from a single supplier, with the added expertise from our team.”

Advancing accuracy

Over the last year, Eurotherm China’s glass business growth has been significant and customers in China’s technical glass market recognise the value that the company provides via its solutions and expertise for high-end processes.

“We are often considered a trusted advisor to help the customer improve their process and reduce costs. We have a close working relationship with selected furnace OEMs and System Integrators to offer customers the best comprehensive solutions,” notes Mr Chen.

“China is a competitive market with a lot of local players,” he observes, “but in recent years there has been more demand for high-end glass types for the pharmaceutical and electronics sectors which need the level of high accuracy control we provide. Along with the OpEx savings that can be achieved through improved energy efficiency, these can achieve a faster return on investment compared to traditional control technologies."

“We’re committed to working with our customers with continued focus on better process performance and we believe China is still one of the biggest engines for fulfilling the world’s glass requirements,” he concludes.