Chongqing firm puts Paris on a brighter track

Paris is known as the City of Light and commuters over the past year will have noticed that railway and metro stations there have become much brighter.

This is due to the efforts of a Chinese company.

Public transportation authorities in the French capital decided at the end of 2012 to upgrade traditional streetlamps at the 300 metro and 66 railway stations with greener and brighter LED ones.

A worker makes adjustments on a production line at Chongqing Silian Optoelectronics Science and Technology Co. Provided to China Daily

After rounds of bidding involving more than 50 well-known companies from around the world, a lesser-known Chinese firm won the contract, cooperating with a French company, to install 50,000 LED lamps in Paris.

Light emitting diode technology has many advantages over incandescent light sources, including lower energy consumption and a longer life span. The technology is also smaller and more robust.

The project is expected to save 9.6 million kilowatt hours and reduce about 8,400 tons of carbon emissions annually.

Although it was set up just seven years ago, Chongqing Silian Optoelectronics Science and Technology Co has become a major player in the domestic and international LED sector.

"We are at the high end of LED production," said Wang Daofu, the company's chairman and general manager. "Our international expansion plans have just started."

In 2008, China Silian Instrument Group, a state-owned company based in Chongqing, acquired a Honeywell plant in Canada and set up a new company - Chongqing Silian - to enter the LED industry.

One of the keys to the newcomer's success has been its mastery of "big-size wafer manufacturing technology". Chongqing Silian is a world leader in this field, which allows it to fully meet standards set by the International Semiconductor Industry Association.

The company has cut the cost of LED lighting products by two thirds.

Last year, it set up an overseas business department to explore international markets, and its products are now sold in Canada, the United States, Argentina, France, Germany, South Africa, Australia, India and Southeast Asian countries. In November, Chongqing Silian won the bid to upgrade Madrid's subway car lighting system.

"We will focus on European, American and Southeast Asian markets. In three years, our overseas sales will account for 30 percent of our total sales," Wang said.

"We will first take the most difficult markets and then the rest will be much easier."

Chongqing Silian has also had to overcome doubts among international clients about China-manufactured products.

To demonstrate the quality of its products, the company built a model street lit up by its products.

"Although it takes longer to prove the quality of our products, we gain markets through our exceptional quality and better prices," Wang said.

The company is working with its partners in South Africa and Argentina to set up LED lighting factories. These are expected to start operating next year.

Wang said Chongqing Silian has three major advantages when investing overseas - technology, capital and talent.

"But we like to partner with local manufacturers who know the market," he added.

The company plans to promote LED smart technology globally.

Every lamp can be an integrated multifunctional monitor connected to the Internet and can collect information such as energy consumption, traffic volume, noise, levels of PM2.5 and weather conditions.

"LED plus the Internet will not only reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption, but also make the world smarter and prettier," Wang said.

tanyingzi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/01/2015 page3)