Southwest Chapter Meeting

11:00 to 13:00, April 26, 2007
The Eads Company
8020 Westglen
Houston, Texas 77063
Sponsored by The Eads Company, http://www.eadslink.com

“Current Filtration Situation and Market Opportunities in China”

AFS Southwest Chapter held a lunch meeting on April 26, 2007 at the Eads Company, Houston, TX. Dr. Hu Zhang from BCB Filtration Technologies, Beijing, China was the honor guest and gave a presentation on “Current Filtration Situation and Market Opportunities in China”.

Key areas of growth, current state of manufacturers, and products development in the fluid/particle separation business were presented. Dr. Zhang suggested three different strategies for US companies to enter Chinese filtration market -- “direct entering” for high technology products; “licensing” and collaboration with local manufacturers for unique but not very high technology products; and do not bother with simple common products which foreign companies are difficult to compete with local low cost suppliers.

Questions and concerns about intellectual property (IP) protection, patent and licensing were also discussed during the meeting. Dr. Zhang addressed that Chinese government is putting more and more efforts on copyright and IP protection, and there are always ways for U.S. companies to introduce products into Chinese markets with protections.

Finally, Dr. Zhang concluded that there are huge and growing opportunities in the filtration and separation market in China and there can be more collaboration between American Filtration Society and Chinese Filtration Society.

The meeting was very successful and well attended with 19 attendees. Dr. Ernest Mayer, Chairman of the AFS Chapter Affair Committee especially came to support the meeting. Dr. James Chen, Chairman of the SW chapter hosted the meeting, Dr. Wu & Amy Chen served as interpreters for the speaker, and Dr. Wenping Li coordinate the meeting. The meeting was sponsored by the Eads Company.