Zhang Yihao, president and CEO of GE HealthCare China, said that he believes the Chinese supply chain system is a powerful solution for the global market at the launch of the company's booth at the second China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing on Nov. 27.

Zhang Yihao (3rd L), president and CEO of GE HealthCare China, and Ren Hongbin (4th L), chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, alongside other GE HealthCare executives, attend the opening of the company's booth at the second China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, Nov. 27, 2024. [Photo/China.org.cn]

"We believe that this globally integrated Chinese supply chain is a solution that can help us provide safer, higher-quality, faster delivery, lower-cost and more innovative medical products to both the Chinese and global markets," Zhang said.

He noted that the CISCE is an important platform connecting China with the world, fostering industry integration, innovation promotion and market interconnectivity to build a supply chain in China. "GE HealthCare is always optimistic about China for its advantages in innovation, digitalization, industrial clustering, supply chain resilience and talent," he added.

At the booth, GE HealthCare highlighted its domestic supply chain's latest achievements, featuring high-end medical equipment used in areas such as CT, MRI, ultrasound, and nuclear medicine imaging. Together with core suppliers, it showcased key components such as CT tubes, CT bearings, detector crystals, MRI superconducting wires and ultrasound circuit boards. This underscores GE HealthCare's commitment to driving supplier innovation and integration, building resilient industrial clusters for high-end medical devices and future industries, boosting new quality productive forces in health care, and promoting mutual integration and shared prosperity of supply chains in China and globally, Zhang said.

He noted the company's desire to utilize lean production and digital empowerment to build the resilience of its high-end medical equipment supply chain in China. He also mentioned that they are exhibiting the complete industry chain of nuclear medicine-themed precision medicine for the first time, stating, "We firmly believe that the future of health care is precision medicine, and nuclear medicine is a critical part of precision medicine."

As one of the first international companies to enter China, with the longest development history and significant achievements, GE HealthCare operates seven factories from six major bases in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Tianjin, Chengdu and Shenzhen. The company collaborates with supply chain partners on critical components and manufacturing processes. 

This collaboration fosters industrial clusters and develops the industrial ecosystem. To date, it has nurtured many "little giant" firms — which represent the novel elites of small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in niche markets, boast cutting-edge technologies, and show great potential — to advance toward world-class high-precision processing quality and management levels. 

GE HealthCare's booth at the second China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, Nov. 27, 2024. [Photo courtesy of GE HealthCare China]

The executive attributes the investments and upgrades in the industry to the confidence inspired by the CISCE and the Chinese market. Collaborations with GE HealthCare have enabled domestic suppliers to improve their capabilities and become suppliers to other medical device firms. Additionally, foreign companies have joined GE HealthCare's supply chain, establishing factories in China and further strengthening the resilience of the supply chain.

"The most important thing this time is that we are able to come to the expo with all our core suppliers," he said. "Together with them, we can introduce suppliers and grow and strengthen together in the medical industry, involving both international and domestic suppliers. This truly enables everyone to participate in the joint development of the Chinese and global supply chains."