As thousands of Chinese factories close their gates and western economies slump, it might seem that the Made in China tag has lost much of its attraction to western manufacturers. Don't you believe it....    more »

Chinese electric carmaker BYD attracted a lot of attention at the Shanghai Auto Show with its novel battery technology. But a General Motors exec says BYD's technology leaves a lot to be desired. That's rich, coming from a company that is facing Chapter 11 bankruptcy...    more »

It is depressing that the German government is subsidising yesteryear's technology -- the internal combustion engine. Germany should take a leaf out of China's green book and stimulate a new car industry based on electric technology...   more »

GE and SGS-CSTC, a Chinese JV of Switzerland's SGS group, have opened a centre in Shanghai specialised in non-destructive testing. China's manufacturing sector is only now waking up to the need to take QA seriously and so there are big opportunities in NDT...    more »

Should governments give consumers money to buy cars? Its a controversial topic in the west but China has just unveiled its own "economic stimulus package" for the car industry targeted at rural areas...    more »

The death throws shaking Detroit leave the road clear for Chinese upstarts to move up on established carbuilders from Asia and the west. But China is first going to have to brush up on its automotive design skills ...    more »

Airbus has signed a JV contract to establish a manufacturing centre for aircraft composite parts in Harbin. Airbus agreed to have up to 5% of the design and manufacturing work for the new A350 done in China and it has also agreed to assemble the smaller A320 in China, at a new facility in Tianjin -- the first Airbus final assembly line outside Europe...   more »

Cookson, the UK-based ceramics manufacturer, sees big opportunities in China's solar cell manufacturing industry and plans to build a second crucible manufacturing facility in China to copy with strong demand. All production from this facility will be supplied to Glory Silicon Energy...    more »

DSM, the Dutch nutritional products firm, plans to restructure its Chinese manufacturing sites. The announcement is interesting on two counts. First, it shows that restructurings are not confined to manufacturers' "legacy" installations in the west. Second, its interesting to see DSM stressing how it is working to reduce the inevitable social impact of the factory closure....   more »

Could Stork, the Dutch industrial group, be the next western firm to succumb to Chinese money? Avic-1, China's fast-growing state-owned aerospace company, is rumoured to be interested in buying Stork's aerospace division, better known by its historic name of Fokker...    more »