The firm established the China Innovation Center in Shanghai, to expand its research, development and training capabilities to support high-growth markets in the Asia-Pacific region.
The facility will include a Technology Training Center to instruct up to 2,500 customers per year in the use of its chromatography and mass spectrometry systems, among other technologies.
China Innovation Center includes more than 30,000 square feet of biology laboratories, design-verification-test and application laboratories.
A critical market
Siqi Tan, senior marketing director, Thermo Fisher Scientific China, told FoodQualityNews.com that around 20% of training will be for customers that touch the food supply chain directly or indirectly.
“Food safety is one of the four critical vertical markets that we are focused on in China.
“Many of the same technologies can be used for a variety of applications across different vertical markets, especially if a government customer is testing a variety of different samples in the same lab using a machine based on the same core technology, but with a different testing protocol.
“One would test for an antibiotic as a contaminant in the food supply using similar technology as testing the same antibiotic for use in a pharmaceutical quality setting.”
An additional 10,000 square feet are reserved for training, allowing for multiple training courses to be taught simultaneously.
Accuracy and speed
Tan said that innovations to deliver more accurate test results that cover a vast number of samples quicker will continue to be an area of focus.
“We’ll also work with our customers to increase the efficiency of our product and enable more tests to be done in the field (rather than in the lab) so we can cover more critical links in the food safety supply chain.
“It will also enable us to bring the right technology to more rural areas of the country to meet the food safety challenges.”
The company founded its original China Technology Center in 2010 as a research and development site for instruments and other products for Asia-Pacific markets.
Local market suitability
“We are always expanding our capabilities to rapidly identify unknown contaminants in the food supply chain in the event of an adverse event.
“We are also challenged to make our solutions more suitable for the local market environment in terms of both user preferences and regulatory standards,” he added.
“The availability of trained talent to operate complex instruments is also a challenge in many areas of the country.”
Tan added that they needed to simplify the operation of the instruments while maintaining high levels of accuracy.
“As the conditions that customers operate under are diverse, we need to ensure that our products perform well in the toughest conditions (environmental or otherwise) with proper maintenance by a well-trained service team.”