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Six Questions: David Bergman Discusses China and IPC
January 13, 2010 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
As IPC's vice president of international relations, David Bergman is intimately familiar with China. David is the former vice president of standards and technology for IPC, and he remains involved in the standards development efforts internationally.
IPC opened an office in Shanghai in 2001, and the office became a wholly owned foreign enterprise a few years later.
We e-mailed David six questions about China, its electronics industry and the role of IPC China. If your Mandarin skills are up to it, this interview also appears on PCB Design007 China.
Andy: Tell us a little bit about IPC China. David: One of the first major steps of a plan approved by IPC membership was to position IPC as a more globally involved trade association. IPC China was the first office opened outside of North America due to our growing membership base there. It also made sense because so much electronics manufacturing is done there that it had the highest potential to be a sustainable office.
Andy: How does IPC standards development in China differ from the process we see in the West? Is there a similar base of volunteers working on standards? David: It only differs in the language that is being used in the meetings. IPC has not changed our standard process for other regions of the world. We use the same ANSI-approved process which, in our opinion, represents best practice in standards development. Much of the early efforts were to accurately translate existing standards, but now China task groups are able to participate in document revision activities along with their English-speaking counterparts. Currently IPC China is developing the first IPC standard initiated outside of North America. This document will follow the IPC ANSI-approved standards procedure and will need to be translated from Chinese to English for the global consensus vote.
Andy: How important is it for Western electronics companies to understand China? David: China is a formidable manufacturing nation with formidable competitors to Western electronics companies. I believe it is very important for Western companies to have some awareness of activities taking place in China.
Andy: What is the biggest misconception that Westerners have about China? David: I believe there are some who underestimate the size of the companies that manufacture in China. The largest operations are international companies (Taiwan, Hong Kong, U.S.). The local Chinese companies are very similar in size to their Western counterparts.
Andy: Does China's government play an official role in its electronics industry? David: The Chinese government has taken steps to provide support organizations for China's electronics industries. CEPREI is one example. This organization is a reliability laboratory that is part of the government. Also, the government provides support to some of the universities, which in turn have been able to help local manufacturers.
Andy: What advice would you give a North American electronics company considering opening an office in China? David: Have a clear understanding of the activities you want the office to undertake. If it is just a window to China, then a representative office should work. If you are trying to collect money locally, or get money in and out of the country, it is much more complicated and would require import export partners, joint venture or a wholly foreign-owned enterprise.