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German optical leader Zeiss has doubled its local revenue in Suzhou within its first year of opening a new factory in the eastern city. The facility has now become the largest global source of microscope shipments.
Although China is Zeiss’s biggest and fastest-growing market worldwide, the revenue increase at the new Suzhou plant surpassed expectations, according to the company’s China COO during the factory’s one-year celebration. Previously, the company operated another plant in Suzhou specialized in eyewear and medical equipment.
The COO highlighted that confidence in China’s market remains crucial to ongoing investment. The Suzhou plant combines the manufacturing of high-end optical products with research and development, serving both domestic markets and internationally.
During the event, Zeiss introduced three new high-end microscopes developed at the Suzhou facility, exemplifying the latest innovations in optical and electron microscopy imaging. The company has become the first international firm to locally produce such advanced microscopes, widely used in medicine and semiconductor manufacturing.
China’s advancements in intellectual property protection and its reliable supply chain, especially in the Yangtze River Delta—where Suzhou is situated—allowed the company to begin production of these sophisticated devices in less than six months, the COO noted.
He added that China’s evolving manufacturing landscape is raising more advanced demands from local clients. Often, products designed to meet Chinese standards also align with global requirements, giving the Suzhou plant a strategic advantage in strengthening the company’s international competitiveness.
He also mentioned that healthy competition fuels technological progress. Zeiss operates in China on par with local businesses, which fosters a dynamic environment that helps the company stay at the forefront of innovation. For example, the COO shared that Zeiss improved the inspection speed of its electric vehicle battery testing equipment from one minute down to just five seconds in response to increasing customer expectations.
Wang Miao, vice president of microscopy for China, stated that Zeiss welcomes local competition, which motivates the company to introduce more advanced technologies to China. He described the Chinese operations as an emerging innovation hub, citing the Shanghai R&D Innovation Center’s role in developing solutions tailored for both local and global markets.
The company’s localization approach has shifted from a top-down model to one where Chinese teams participate in every phase—market expansion, product development, manufacturing, and support.
The COO emphasized that Chinese consumers set very high standards for product performance, resulting in even stricter quality controls at the Suzhou plant compared to Zeiss’s German factories. Despite manufacturing coordinate measuring machines in China, India, Germany, and the U.S., many clients specifically prefer units made in China due to their perceived dependability, he concluded.
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