Yingkou city: a past and future of foreign economic cooperation

The bottled drinks at Coca-Cola Bottlers Manufacturing (Yingkou) Company Limited in Yingkou city, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, on Oct 18, 2016. [Photo by Yao Yao/chinadaily.com.cn]

As the first foreign trade center in Northeast China, established in 1861, Yingkou city has a long history of foreign cooperation. Now, the city in Liaoning province, takes such cooperation to a new level through upgrading in this new era.

“This is the first time that our company can independently use the Ford engine technology in manufacturing engines after the company acquired the established auto maker’s three engine manufacturers respectively in South Africa, the UK and Brazil,” said Ding Wanzhang, vice general manager of Yingkou FT Techonology Co., Ltd.

The independent application of core engine technology makes a big difference, since it’s widely known that foreign partners in domestic-foreign joint efforts mostly tend to control or keep core technology and quality, said Ding.

Of the three engine manufacturers Yingkou acquired, only the engines made by the Brazilian company are diesel engines.

This diesel engine technology is not just some of the most advanced technology in the world, it is also environmentally friendly, since the manufacturer uses sugarcane to produce the biological diesel oil. About 60 percent of the vehicles in Europe use diesel engines, said Ding.

As for the cooperation, Ding believes it signaled that Yingkou now has the independent ability to manufacture car engines.

In another example, Coca-Cola Bottlers Manufacturing (Yingkou) Company Limited aims to be the largest bottling plant in China, thanks to strong support from Coca-Cola’s headquarters and the local government.

“The Yingkou plant will deepen Coca-Cola’s competitive strength in the Chinese market,” said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, at the opening ceremony of the plant in 2012.

Today, the Yingkou Coca-Cola plant has built the world’s fastest bottled water production line, which can produce 82,000 bottles of ice dew bottled water per hour, said Zhang Jiaxiang, who is in charge of quality control at Coca-Cola Bottlers Manufacturing (Yingkou) Company Limited.

So far, Budweiser beer, Tesco and other Global 500 companies have come to invest and build plants in Yingkou city, said Gao Wei, the deputy mayor of Yingkou city.

A diesel engine displayed at Yingkou FT Techonology Co., Ltd. in Yingkou city, Northeast China’s Liaoning province, on Oct 18, 2016. [Photo by Yao Yao/ chinadaily.com.cn]