Tyrolit challenges the East

Ltd.”.

The creation of Tyrolit Sozhou expresses the Tyrolit Group's strong commitment towards investing in a country which has enormous potential for growth and represents the company's natural evolution in its “Local Worldwide” strategy whereby Tyrolit operates at a local level, through the knowledge of the specific characteristics of each country, to offer the rapid support and assistance of its best engineers.
After the opening of branches in Indonesia, Thailand and Dubai, the Tyrolit Group is now “landing” in China, a market with one of the fastest rates of growth in the world: the last decade's GDP increased by about 8% and some areas such as Shanghai, Canton and the entire eastern coast are literally booming.
The market has been 60% deregulated and has adopted free market competitive tactics.

In 2002, China officially becomes a member of the WTO, resulting in the need to open up to the world market. This will most certainly lead to a generalised improvement in the quality of life and most likely a request for products with increasingly specific features.

Tyrolit Sozhou is based in Sozhou, an ancient and flourishing city 80 kilometres from Shanghai. It is found in the Sozhou Industrial Park which is already the headquarters of other major multinationals.
The choice of site was not by chance: Shanghai is one of the most economically, financially and commercially developed cities in China, as well as being one of the most important districts in the country for stone and ceramics.

The branch in Sozhou will form part of the Tyrolit Group's Dimensional Stone & Glass Division headed by Alfonso Marra, Executive Vice President to the Group.
“China is a huge market – remarked Alfonso Marra – but very competitive in terms of prices. On the other hand, the offer of products is not consistent as far as quality and technology goes. We shall undertake to offer the right balance between price, quality and local service: these will be the distinguishing elements underpinning our Group's name in China.
Through our production units, we already have a presence in America, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE, and it is only natural that we want to employ our Group's accrued experience in China too.
Tyrolit Sozhou will be a sort of training ground for the Group in order to understand what are the true needs of local customers, which specific products and services to provide, and on which of these to concentrate and to put most emphasis”.

The Tyrolit Group – entirely controlled by the Swarovski Group – and world leading company in the production and marketing of abrasive and super-abrasive tools, diamond tools and modular machine systems for applications in the sectors of natural stone and ceramics, glass and optics, precision mechanics, metallurgy, construction and trade, closed 2001 totalling sales of €474 million.

Consolidated sales of the Tyrolit Group include sales by Tyrolit Vincent based in Thiene in Vincenza, world headquarters of the “Dimensional Stone & Glass Division”, which closed 2001 with sales of €75 million, a year on year growth of 8%.