International CTI Symposium debuts successfully in China
From September 10 to 12, the International CTI Symposium was held in Shanghai for the first time. The world’s largest gathering in the transmission community debuted successfully in China – exceeding the estimated amount of participants and enjoying great attention of the Chinese auto industry.
“With some 400 participants and nearly 40 exhibitors, the CTI Symposium ‘Innovative Automotive Transmissions, Hybrid & Electric Drives’ has been able to successfully position itself in China with its very first market presence,” said Sylvia Zenzinger, project director of the transmission symposium at the CTI – Car Training Institute. The event aims to connect Chinese auto manufactures and their counterparts in leading positions in the global auto industry.
Based on its successful debut, the CTI plans to continue the event in the coming year to establish an annual top class car transmission workshop in China. The event focuses on the demands of its Chinese and international participants. With topics selected by an advisory board consisting of members from the auto, the CTI is an independent symposium which offers a high quality of key note speeches. The top level of the event also reflects in the speakers and participants.
“We are pleased that we have been able to secure several prestigious automobile experts for the Asian market: Yang Dong (Association of Automobile Manufacturers), Dr Weimin Gao (BAIC), Ray Bierzynski (GM China Group), Dr Jun Li (China FWA Group Corporation), Dr Thilo Leineweber, (United Automotive Electronic Systems) and Pierre Lebelle, (PSA Peugeot Citroën), reflects Sylvia Zenzinger.
The two-day CTI Symposium included about 50 presentations and was chaired by Prof. Dr Ferit Küçükay (TU Braunschweig), who also heads the CTI Symposium in Germany. “The discussions and presentations focused on the challenges to conventional and alternative transmission systems as well as new developments aimed at increasing customer value,” Küçükay said about the conference programme. “In addition, opportunities for efficient transmission and drive systems will be presented and the special demands of the Chinese market illuminated,” continued Küçükay. A number of questions arising for companies and development engineers have been discussed, such as what transmissions and drives are best in what markets, what drive train topology is ideal for what user profiles and what engines and components can be used to improve the drive train efficiency of the different drive concepts while taking factors like costs and space into account.
International Exhibitors such as Continental, Getrag, Schaeffler, AVL, Ricardo, Bühler Motor or Oerlikon Graziano expressed their strong confidence in the Chinese market and are looking forward to the further growth of the Chinese economy.
With the launch of the world‘s most visited annual conference on automotive transmissions and drives in China, CTI is recognizing the relevance of the Chinese market in this field. “The Asian market, with its specific development and production requirements placed on the automotive industry as well as on the vehicles themselves, is not only an exceptional growth market, but also has great need for the exchange of special information in the field of drive technology,” continued Zenzinger.
In Germany, the CTI Symposium has been successfully held for over ten years now. Every year in December, 1,000 transmission experts from around the world gather here to gain information on the latest trends in conventional and alternative drive systems and also learn about new technologies in the context of the transmission expo. Six years ago, CTI responded to the increasing globalisation of the transmission industry, and has since offered a further symposium in the USA.