On November 23, 2018, five Chinese precast concrete producers formed a strategic alliance. It was christened “SySpro-CN" - based on the European SySpro Quality Group. All involved precast plants have automatic production facilities adapted to Chinese requirements and produce construction systems equivalent to the lattice girder slab and double wall systems established in Europe.

SySpro Europe

In 1991, eleven precast companies joined together to form the SySpro Quality Group for the development, production and marketing of high-quality building systems. SySpro currently has 15 members with several associated companies complementing this alliance. All companies manufacture in an environmentally friendly manner and operate factories that are fully high-tech with automated facilities, including precise robotics and high-speed output.

SySpro China

In China, automated precast concrete production has increasingly been on the rise in recent years. Considerable investments have been made and are still under way. Within in a short period, facilities with enormous production capacities were established. Similar to the experiences made in Europe, the Chinese founders of SySpro recognized that the initial problems related to automatization are best tackled within a community of likeminded companies. Next to CAD (computer-aided design), CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) and quality assurance, the focus rests on the adaptation and development of design and construction standards that are suitable for the European building systems.

The activities of the Chinese alliance have received substantial attention in industry. The initiative is considered very attractive. In the meantime, two additional precast concrete manufacturers have joined the initiative in China. Willy Zhang, Head of the Liebherr Beijing Office, is the interim Manager for the joint activities of the group. Mr Zhang has many years of experience in the construction industry in both Europe and Asia and navigates the transfer of know-how between SySpro-CN and their European colleagues. The first step was the implementation of quality monitoring according to the European “HiQ” seal of quality.

SySpro seal of quality “HiQ”

The SySpro HiQ seal of quality is only awarded after the strictest internal and external examination of the whole manufacturing process. It ensures that the utilized construction materials as well as the production processes are subjected to continual control. The external control of the SySpro product quality includes unannounced audits, in which random elements from the current production process are evaluated. The control includes specific HiQ criteria, which by far exceed the benchmarks commonly found in the applicable industry norms and standards. In addition, it goes without saying that SySpro production plants have to be certified to the EN ISO 9001 standard in order to be awarded the HiQ seal of quality.

Covid-19 face masks as a symbol for the new partnership

Just recently in November 2019, the Managing Director of the European alliance, Dr. Herbert Kahmer audited one of the new SySpro China members, the cooperative building society “My Home” in Wuhan. After the epidemic was brought under control in China and precast concrete production resumed, the Corona virus spread all over Europe. As a symbol of their good strategic partnership, SySpro-CN delivered 10,000 high-quality face masks to the European headquarters. For the European SySpro members, the masks arrived just at the right time, i.e. at the exact moment when the use of face masks became compulsory. The remaining masks were donated to hospitals.