One year on, the CLPA's Gateway to Asia is still wide open

The G2A programme was formally launched at the fair last year, and aimed to capitalise on the strong market position of the CC-Link and CC-Link IE family of open automation networks in the Asian market. This position has been confirmed by a number of independent market research studies. It was further reinforced by additional research that found the Asia-Pacific market will be responsible for about 50 per cent of all automation sales in the coming years. The main aim of the programme is to help European companies increase their business in Asia by incorporating CC-Link technologies into their products and then providing a third-party endorsement through marketing opportunities across Asia.

The premise of the programme is simple and divides into three steps. Firstly, a company can take a free membership of the CLPA and conduct an initial investigation of CC-Link or CC-link IE technology before deciding whether or not to develop a compatible product. The second step is to develop some kind of product and pass a conformance test. This then leads to the final step, where the company becomes a full member and works with the CLPA to jointly market the product in selected Asian markets.

Currently the CLPA is working with over 20 different well-known European device makers to incorporate its technology into their products and promote them in Asia. The list includes such well-known vendors as Balluff and Molex, whose commitment to working with the CLPA in Asia has led both companies to join the board of the CLPA in order to further develop CLPA strategy and activities.

Concrete examples of the kind of marketing opportunities on offer are numerous. In the last year, CLPA offices throughout Asia have held seminars, participated in fairs and conducted advertising amongst other activities. Since the CLPA's success is founded on the success of its partner members, these activities always feature a wide variety of partners and their compatible products. Currently the CLPA is conducting these activities in key markets such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and India. In 2015, the CLPA expects to expand these activities to other fast growing Asian economies in the ASEAN region.

The CLPA expects to continue to run the G2A programme for at least one more year. It is actively working with many other European companies who are also considering participating in the programme in order to develop their Asian business.

John Browett, General Manager of CLPA-Europe, summarises: "We originally began these activities by assisting partners to develop their business in China. However, as time went on, it became clear that the European market was interested in developing business across the Asia-Pacific region in general. This led to the launch of the G2A programme one year ago. We were pleased to see how many European companies understood the benefits of this programme and we expect the participation to increase as we go into the second year."

To learn more about CLPA-Europe's Gateway to Asia (G2A) programme, please visit www.cc-link-g2a.com.