Panels & Furniture Asia November/December 2023

PANEL MANUFACTURING
Siempelkamp in China:
“It is not the wind but
the set of the sail that
determines the direction”
management effort. Siempelkamp
Qingdao was awarded certification
in accordance with ISO 9001 — the
internationally most common standard
for quality management — in February
2023. It covers the primary production
spectrum at Siempelkamp’s Qingdao
location, which now includes the
main components for the ContiRoll
continuous press as well as pre-presses,
bunkers and modules for the forming
lines.
Siempelkamp’s
booth at the WMF
exhibition in
Shanghai
Siempelkamp’s teams from Germany
and China extended a warm welcome
to all representative from the woodbased
panel industry in Shanghai,
China at their booth in the Shanghai
International Furniture Machinery &
Woodworking Machinery Fair (WMF),
which ran from 5-8 Sep. Both teams
worked as a coordinated unit and are
‘setting sail together’, as a Chinese
proverb would say — towards greater
teamwork, quality and customer
proximity.
Siempelkamp has consistently
and sustainably strengthened its
commitment in China. The first
successful collaborations with Chinese
customers in the 1980s were followed
by an office, and then production in a
rented space. Since 2015, Siempelkamp
has its own production facilities in
Qingdao, and has established its
production, sales and service in the local
market. Whether it is quality assurance,
project management or field services,
Siempelkamp today combines the
strengths of its European management
with those of its Qingdao team. It is
increasingly broadening its local valueadding
chain while its Chinese team’s
expertise is becoming more and more
refined.
INTEGRATED QUALITY MANAGEMENT
An example of quality collaboration
between German and Chinese
colleagues is the joint quality
Siempelkamp Germany and
Siempelkamp China worked hand-inhand
throughout the entire certification
process. The common goal: To increase
customer satisfaction in the Asian
market. A major factor in achieving
this goal is the establishment and
continuous assurance of Siempelkamp’s
quality policy in Qingdao.
In total, 150 employees work for
Siempelkamp in Qingdao. Nine of
them work in the quality department
headed by Nick Wang. The range of
tasks is complex, as described by Wang:
“Our quality control focuses on all
the core processes in Qingdao — from
incoming goods to manufacturing, the
final product and the overall quality
system. That raises the quality of all our
performances to peak levels.”
ON COURSE FOR SUCCESS: THIRD
U-FLAKER FOR CHINA
It is not only the teams at the
headquarters in Krefeld and in Qingdao
who are setting sail for a jointly
34 Panels & Furniture Asia | November / December 2023