Around the world with Autotype

摘要

The Chinese screen printing market is probably the most dynamic and diverse in the world. The sheer scale of everything in China is echoed in the vast number of screen printing plants, producing work with outstanding levels of efficiency and productivity. Standing back and looking at China as a manufacturing centre generates some impressive statistics. Annual industrial growth rates over the past 10 years have been pushing double figures, with printed circuit board (PCB) production typically growing at 10-20%. PCB production is at the heart of all electronic products, computers, mobile phones, televisions or DVD players. China is now producing over 50 million colour TV sets per year, representing one third of global consumption. Remarkably, 35 million of these sets are for the domestic market. Over 100 million mobile phones are produced per year, which represents almost 30% of global production. 400 of the top 500 multinational corporations have now invested or set up factories in China. Underpinning this growth is a work ethic that wants products made in China to represent the very best in terms of quality and value for money. If you consider that, in the last 30 years, 'made in Japan' has become a symbol of quality, this is exactly what the best Chinese companies are striving to achieve. Organisations and individual workers demonstrate a willingness to learn and are keen to adopt the latest ideas and technologies.