Innovation and technology leadership secure long-term HST business in China.
Water management in China faces major challenges when it comes to tackling the country’s massive environmental problems. Most of the Chinese rivers are heavily polluted and most cities need appropriate solutions to prevent flooding caused by heavy rainfall and the associated pollutant input into the rivers. For several years now, the Chinese government has been making enormous efforts and investing heavily in the water management infrastructure in order to tackle these problems. Companies in the German water industry enjoy a high reputation as technology suppliers due to their high quality and innovativeness in China.
The increasing environmental awareness in China is, among other things, a consequence of the positive development of average living standards across the population. The sometimes dramatically polluted surface waters are tolerated by the population less and less. The central government in Beijing is reacting to these social changes with extensive medium and long-term investment programs in urban water protection. A well-known example is the central government’s “Sponge City” initiative. Its aim is to increase at least 80% of urban surface waters by at least two levels in terms of water quality by 2022. As rainwater and wastewater in Chinese cities are collected in common pipes of corresponding mixed water systems and discharged to wastewater treatment plants, the increase in heavy rainfall is a massive increase in storage capacity (e.g. rainwater retention basin) necessary. Otherwise, unpurified wastewater flows in large quantities directly into the rivers. This particular part of the wastewater infrastructure has been HST’s field of activity for more than 35 years. Many HST innovations have already become the industry standard in this field.
It is, therefore, no wonder that Chinese municipalities and wastewater experts have been relying on HST’s expertise in municipal sewage technology and infrastructure for nearly four years, and that sales in this Far Eastern market are steadily rising. The expertise is based on a broad product portfolio and the associated solution-oriented sales activities, which has enabled HST to establish itself on the Chinese market in this segment as one of the leading solution providers for Machinery & Equipment (M & A) and IT & Automation (IT & A).
The HST team in China with Jennifer Zhang and Klaus Bathen 
Three AWS Jet Cleaners with IntelliGrid 
Photos of the project Fuzhou / PR China
Where there are opportunities, there are also risks
While HST only had to compete on the Chinese market in the first two years with a very manageable number of foreign, mostly German providers, due to the increasing investment and the fast learning curve of Chinese companies every year, local competition is growing rapidly. German technology is very often simply copied. The only answer to this rapidly developing competitive situation sees HST in it, to offer only extremely innovative technologies. HST is optimally positioned for this. On the one hand, because HST has the most complete product portfolio in the field of the rainwater tank and sewage network M & A on the market, and on the other, it is regarded as a leading supplier of IT & A for process control technology and management systems.
This almost unique combination of M & A plus IT & A from our own development and from a single source is an important market advantage. But in the long run, it is no guarantee for sustainable success in the Chinese market. But these create a permanent readiness for innovation and effort. By means of intelligent M & A products, technology leadership must also be safeguarded in China in the mid- and long term.
Innovation expectations in China promote new products in Germany too
Chinese customers are constantly looking for new and innovative technologies, especially from German engineering companies. Since HST has been consistently focused on innovation for many years, HST will be able to play a leading role in China and other Asian countries today and in the future. Innovation examples include the Intelli functions for optimizing mechanical/hydraulic machines. In pool cleaning, HST consistently develops new innovative products, for example, a novel “3D jet cleaner” for simultaneous floor, wall and ceiling cleaning. Current innovations such as intelligent AWS jets for pool cleaning (IntelliGrid) or overflow rakes for better fabric retention/water protection (IntelliScreen) have already been planned or already implemented in several projects in China.
Water management in China faces major challenges when it comes to tackling the country’s massive environmental problems. Most of the Chinese rivers are heavily polluted and most cities need appropriate solutions to prevent flooding caused by heavy rainfall and the associated pollutant input into the rivers. For several years now, the Chinese government has been making enormous efforts and investing heavily in the water management infrastructure in order to tackle these problems. Companies in the German water industry enjoy a high reputation as technology suppliers due to their high quality and innovativeness in China.
The increasing environmental awareness in China is, among other things, a consequence of the positive development of average living standards across the population. The sometimes dramatically polluted surface waters are tolerated by the population less and less. The central government in Beijing is responding to these social changes with extensive medium and long-term investment programs in urban water protection. A well-known example is the central government’s “Sponge City” initiative. Its aim is to increase at least 80% of urban surface waters by at least two levels in terms of water quality by 2022. As rainwater and wastewater in Chinese cities are collected in common pipes of corresponding mixed water systems and discharged to wastewater treatment plants, the increase in heavy rainfall necessitates a massive expansion of storage capacities (eg rainwater retention basins). Otherwise, unpurified wastewater flows in large quantities directly into the rivers. This particular part of the wastewater infrastructure has been HST’s field of activity for more than 35 years. Many HST innovations have already become the industry standard in this field.
It is, therefore, no wonder that Chinese municipalities and wastewater experts have been relying on HST’s expertise in municipal sewage technology and infrastructure for nearly four years, and that sales in this Far Eastern market are steadily rising. The basis for this expertise is a broad product portfolio and the associated solution-oriented sales activities, which has made HST one of the leading solution providers for machines & equipment. Systems (M & A), as well as IT & Automation (IT & A) in this segment on the Chinese market, was able to establish.
Where there are opportunities, there are also risks
While HST only had to compete on the Chinese market in the first two years with a very manageable number of foreign, mostly German providers, due to the increasing investment and the fast learning curve of Chinese companies, local competition is growing rapidly every year. German technology is very often simply copied. The only answer to this rapidly developing competitive situation sees HST in it, to offer only extremely innovative technologies. HST is optimally positioned for this. On the one hand, because HST has the most complete product portfolio in the field of the rainwater tank and sewage network M & A on the market, and, on the other hand, as a leading supplier of IT & A for process control technology and management systems.
This almost unique combination of M & A plus IT & A from our own development and from a single source is an important market advantage. But in the long run, it is no guarantee for sustainable success in the Chinese market. But these create a permanent readiness for innovation and effort. By means of intelligent M & A products, technology leadership must also be safeguarded in China in the medium and long term.
Innovation expectations in China promote new products in Germany too
Chinese customers are constantly looking for new and innovative technologies, especially from German engineering companies. Since HST has been consistently focused on innovation for many years, HST will be able to play a leading role in China and other Asian countries today and in the future.
Innovation examples include the Intelli functions for optimizing mechanical/hydraulic machines. In pool cleaning, HST consistently develops new innovative products, for example, a novel “3D jet cleaner” for simultaneous floor, wall and ceiling cleaning.
Recent innovations such as the intelligent AWS jet cleaning jets (IntelliGrid) or the overflow rake for improved fabric retention/water protection (IntelliScreen) have already been planned or implemented in several projects in China.
Due to the strong affinity of China and other Asian countries to digital technologies, it is expected that innovative technologies developed for these markets and used early will find their way back to Germany. Due to the speed of implementation and the size of the challenges in environmental protection, it can be assumed that in the foreseeable future, the technical innovations in the Chinese municipal infrastructure will be ahead of Germany. This is also to be expected for the use and implementation of digitization, networking and artificial intelligence (AI). With its “Next Level Technologies” in China and Asia HST meets open and highly receptive markets. The risk of losing market share through “copy products” is thereby decisively minimized. The motto for HST is therefore: do not be afraid of “fake products” – these only fuel innovation at HST.