Borsboom

Prior to assuming his current, Netherlands-based post in mid-2005, Borsboom managed GE/Fitch Pte. Ltd. in Singapore for seven years, with responsibility for that industrial design consultancy’s activities across East Asia.

In the late 1990s Borsboom’s team along with a group at GE Medical found that a successful product innovation in Western markets does not necessarily resonate in China. Initially, GE Medical marketed its state-of-the-art X-ray machines in China, but the state-owned hospitals in rural areas could not afford to buy high-end products and needed only a technically basic machine that they could operate efficiently. GE Medical changed its strategy, and introduced a lower-cost X-ray machine, the Definium 6000, using technology and materials better suited for that market.

In a presentation at the December 1-2 conference “Design for the New China Markets,” sponsored by the Illinois Institute of Technology, in Beijing, Borsboom noted that in China “price is still the main competitive tool; innovation is in its infancy.”

But, he predicted: “China is all about rapid change, and [the changes] in design in China will be just as dramatic.”

High-end products represent only one aspect of the use of plastics in design. Counterfeit packaging and trademark infringement, a result of price wars in China, dramatically affects the bottom lines of many global and domestic Chinese brands.

Borsboom related the story of a GE Plastics client in China whose tea packaging became subject to counterfeiting. The unnamed tea manufacturer came to GE Plastics with this issue and the resin maker developed a solution using advanced materials that yielded an attractive package whose design was difficult to copy.

In an interview with Plastics News during the Beijing conference, Borsboom said he sees the automobile industry as the catalyst for cutting-edge design and materials developments in the near future.

“I’m excited about automotive glazing, where the technology is coming to a point where the momentum in the car industry and our technology are on the crossroads for what is going to happen.”

European automotive companies started using some of these new materials in 2005. Germany’s Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors Corp., uses GE’s Lexan SLX film in the roofing module for its Zafira compact van. The Zafira offers a roof with large transparent panels or so-called daylight openings that replace the traditional steel, painted roof.

“The bottom line is that plastic glazing is creating the opportunity for [designers] to do some fantastic work in form freedom where they can do [three-dimensional] curves. We have the ability to put other colors and finishes in the layers. You can mold in graphics,” said Borsboom.

GE Plastics said the Zafira roof module, manufactured by Wesbasto AG, is back-molded using a long-glass-fiber-reinforced polyurethane substrate and preformed Lexan SLX polycarbonate film. Opel created that roof module with the objective of reducing the amount of paint used on the vehicle to avoid harmful volatile organic compound, or VOC, emissions.

On December 6 at the Auto Parts Shanghai/Auto Manufacturing Shanghai 2005 exhibition, GE Plastics announced the creation of a dedicated China automotive team. Based in Shanghai, but with four sites serving the country, the new team is headed by Eric Herman, who has the title China general manager for GE Plastics Automotive.

The firm said the unit is structured to focus on growth areas critical to China’s fast-expanding auto industry which, by some estimates, could export as much as US$100 billion (807.9 billion yuan) worth of cars and components by 2010. The sector is expected to export US$15 billion to $20 billion of such products this year.

Borsboom said new, advanced materials allow automotive industry designers to enjoy “the freedom of the plastics” by offering new design options. The materials’ light weight and molding options can help lower costs and add value, which are always among the greatest concerns for automakers and their major component suppliers.

These same factors are becoming increasingly important to Chinese automobile manufacturers as they look to start exporting vehicles over the next five to 10 years.

Borsboom sees much opportunity in Asian markets, while noting that the design skill base in China is perhaps 10 years behind that of the West. At GE/Fitch, the regional design teams consisted of 30 percent Western and 70 percent local designers, said Borsboom. He stressed that in “creating great design teams, [companies] have to provide the space and opportunity. The results you can get out of a team are the same – in terms of quality.”

He cited the following firms as innovators in the China market: computer maker Lenovo Group Co. Ltd., with whom GE Plastics began working in 1998; and electronics manufacturers Hisense Group Co. Ltd. in Qingdao and SVA Group Co. Ltd. in Shanghai.

“We can get excited about the leaders, innovators in the market, but there is still a lot of work to be done,” said Borsboom.

He and others at the Beijing design conference stressed the need for business managers to recognize the importance of design and innovation to the whole organization.

“Design in Asia is still relatively young and needs to find its footing. I believe there are many companies here that can provide 100 percent locally designed stuff that is appropriate for this market.”