After Rio, Vanward goes for gold

A Vanward workshop in Foshan, Guangdong province. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Guangdong Vanward New Electric Co Ltd (Vanward) is expecting the 2016 Rio Olympic Games to be a springboard for the company to expand its presence in world markets in the coming months.

Vanward, a major gas appliance manufacturer in the mainland, raised its image after its products won acknowledgment in the Rio Olympics, according to Huang Sheng, general manager of Vanward.

The Foshan-based company sold 10,000 gas water heaters to the Rio Olympics and the quality was well received by their users, Huang said.

More than 99 percent of the water heaters were installed and used in 3,604 apartments in 31 buildings in the Olympic Village and 120 supplementary business facilities before the Olympic Games opened this month.

"Vanward is the only manufacturer that offers water heaters to the Rio Olympics and that indicates the quality of Vanward's products has well been recognized in Brazil and the world," Huang told China Daily on Tuesday.

But Huang refused to reveal how much Vanward earned from selling the water heaters to Rio Olympics, saying it is a commercial secret.

"With the successful sales to the Rio Olympics, Vanward is now seeking strategic cooperative partners to increase its sales in world markets in the coming years," Huang said.

"Although Vanward has no plan to set up production facilities abroad or purchase overseas companies at the moment, we hope to be able to establish a long-term strategic cooperative partnership with offshore companies and use their sales networks and channels to jointly expand into the international market in the future," Huang said.

Huang said he believed Vanward's sales would continue to grow in the coming years, as the quality of its products had been recognized by the market.

To this end, Vanward has signed a contract with Germany's Bosch group to jointly construct a new production facility to expand its production in Foshan in October.

According to their terms, both parties will equally share the total investment of 412 million yuan ($63.38 million) for the factory, located in Foshan's Gaoming district.

The joint venture will mainly study and produce new gas water heaters and related products and components.

Vanward is not alone in promoting its world presence via the Olympic stage. Foshan companies, including Midea Appliance and Chigo Air Conditioning, are also sparing no efforts to promote their sales during the Rio Olympics that will not end till Aug 21.

Chigo has also won public biddings to install about 20,000 air-conditioners in Olympic Village and related venues and commercial buildings.

In addition to competitive sports, the Olympics is also an important stage for major international companies and manufacturers to demonstrate and promote their technologies and products, according to Chen Ming, professor and director of the marketing department with the School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology.

Xie Xintian contributed to this story.