Front Runners: Meet A Wonderware Field Manager Who Works with Our Distributors, System Integrators and Customers Worldwide

China is one the fastest-growing markets in the world for industrial automation and information software because of its rapid industrialization during the past 10 years. Wonderware® System Integrators (SIs) have been at the forefront of this transformation and offer Wonderware solutions in a variety of industries and vertical markets in China.

In order to understand the complex, wide-ranging efforts of Wonderware SIs’ activities in this huge and dynamic country, we interview one of the people responsible for managing the Wonderware SI Program in China: Wen Hao, Wonderware China’s Application and Sales Support Manager.

How many Wonderware SIs are there in China right now?

Wen Hao: Approximately 200.

In which regions are they located?

Wen Hao: They are widely spread. However, Shanghai and Beijing have the most.

How many people does the typical SI firm employ and what are their areas of expertise?

Wen Hao: A typical Chinese SI firm employs around 20-to-30 people. These companies typically focus on establishing strong customer relationships rather than on developing technological or IT knowledge. They are starting to find their niche market, which is why you will find Wonderware SIs in almost every industry.

What are your major industries and markets?

Wen Hao: Lately, Wonderware China has been active with key accounts such as local Chinese-owned corporations and huge multinational companies including 3 major steel producers, a global food company and a global supplier of rubber products.

Do you have a favorite Wonderware SI Success Story?

Wen Hao: The Yellow River system. This is China's first ArchestrA® Success Story and it describes the value of ArchestrA technology very well. This project is a remote supervision and operation system installed in one of the largest river systems in the world. The Yellow River has been an important part of Chinese history as Chinese civilization started along its banks.

The Yellow River System covers 84 riparian sluices distributed over 700 kilometers along the downstream. These sluices span 22 provinces, 13 districts and 32 counties. The system includes 5 executive management levels as well as:

• The Yellow River Water Regulation Center;
• The Shandong/Henan Province River Bureaus;
• 13 District and 32 County Bureaus;
• 84 riparian sluices;
• 4 tiers of monitoring, supervision and control (each tier will have different priority to monitor and control the sluices);
• 3 types of functionality (e.g., scalability, control and monitoring); and
• 2 interfaces with the "Yellow River Water Regulation" and "Digital Yellow River" systems.

What are the challenges that Wonderware and its SIs have to overcome in China?

Wen Hao: Because establishing strong business relationships is of the utmost importance to our customers in China, Wonderware SIs in China must spend many hours focused on making each of our current and potential customers feel comfortable. Therefore, they have less time to spend developing their technical capabilities. Also, unless the SI is already well-known in small territories, it is hard to pursue new opportunities there. Another very important concern is cost. Due to fierce competition in China, the market is very price-sensitive.

The lack of available solutions is another challenge. Wonderware provides horizontal products, but business opportunities in Wonderware China are usually in vertical markets. Because SIs in China do not focus on customizing the Wonderware solutions for use in specific vertical industries, my team must provide this type of support to its SIs in order to sell effectively in China.

Are any of the SIs in China currently involved in projects that leverage ArchestrA technology?

Wen Hao: Yes. In China, we have sold about 60 Wonderware systems that have ArchestrA technology. All of these projects were implemented by local SIs. Our customers and SIs like products based on ArchestrA technology because of its flexible architecture, ability to re-use engineering, and tools that facilitate easy system and application maintenance and management.

What are the major advantages of implementing solutions that incorporate ArchestrA technology in China?

Wen Hao: There are many advantages. Our customers have been raving about how:

• Much easier it is to maintain their systems and propagate changes
• The flexible architecture allows for easy system expansion and re-architecting
• The object-based engineering accommodates standardization from project to project
• Re-using templates saves them engineering time and money
• The single namespace reduces engineering efforts when integrating multiple systems

What do you see as the business benefits for solution providers in the adoption of Wonderware technology?

Wen Hao: Being an independent software vendor, Wonderware is ideal for solution providers. Wonderware does not compete with them and always provides them with support to help them to win. Also, Wonderware provides a common industry-software infrastructure and enables our solution providers to build their domain solutions on it. In terms of intellectual property and security, solution providers can create and sell their products and solutions based on Wonderware software. The Chinese SIs have begun to recognize this advantage of working with Wonderware.

Do you have any customers in the area of geographically distributed SCADA (Geo-SCADA)?

Wen Hao: Yes. Other than the Yellow River Project mentioned above, we still have significant installations in Geo-SCADA such as Oil & Gas Pipelines, Tunnels, Oil & Gas Upstream, etc. The advantages presented by Wonderware and ArchestrA technologies makes us most competitive in this market, and this is where we're looking forward to the new growth.

Please tell us about some of your projects in the area of Supervisory HMI Software Solutions.

Wen Hao: Supervisory HMI is the market where Wonderware is dominant in China. We have a very good reputation and an equally strong market share. Almost all the main industries that use Supervisory HMI have Wonderware software installations, especially in the Steel, Power, Utility, Manufacturing, and Oil & Gas industries.

More and more customers are requiring some kind of integrated supervisory and control system for entire production lines, instead of a single island of automation for each production cell. Wonderware's products are very suitable for this kind of market. Also, the market for Wonderware legacy supervisory HMI systems remains very strong. We will continue to grow in the Supervisory HMI market in the future.

Do you have any legacy system projects in China at this point in time?

Wen Hao: Yes, we still have lots of projects in which we modernize older systems with Wonderware technology. A primary area for this type of project is in stand-alone sites with relatively small automation systems.

What do you think about Wonderware Certification for SIs in China?

Wen Hao: I think it's very important for Chinese SIs. Certification enhances their reputation in the market.

What is the SI response to Wonderware products in China?

Wen Hao: The SI Community in China welcomes Wonderware software solutions, which is clearly indicated in our market share. Wonderware's InTouch® HMI is currently the top HMI in the Chinese market. I believe that there is huge potential for Wonderware in the Chinese SI market. We're ready to push the Solution Provider Program aggressively in the coming years to promote growth in the Chinese market. We're confident that we will leave a mark not only on the SI market, but in China's overall rapid industrialization program as well.