China’s domination of the world air conditioning market is well known but figures recently published in JARN really put their dominance into perspective.
In its overview of the 2011 market, JARN estimated world production to be 96.7 million units, an increase of 7.5 per cent over 2010.
More than 60 per cent of the 96.7 million units were manufactured in China, where two major manufacturers dominate the market.
China’s largest manufacturer for export is Midea Air Conditioners, which sells 30 million units in over 150 countries around the world each year – over 30 per cent per cent of the world’s total air conditioning market.
Such is Midea’s standing in the industry in China that the government has been consulting with senior Midea technicians to establish the national standard for VRF accreditation.
The China National Institute of Standardisation (CNIS) has selected Midea as the exclusive supplier of VRFs for China's energy efficiency label test lab data consistency verification project.
The project is currently being implemented and the two parties will also carry out technical cooperation.
The China Quality Certification Centre (CQCC) also recently announced that Midea’s full DC inverter air conditioner was the first to pass the long-term energy saving performance assessment of residential air conditioners, again signifying the formal application of a new standard.
In response to this recognition, Midea general manager Tian Mingli pledged that the company would continue to give emphasis to developing products with cutting-edge technologies and superior quality, to improve people’s living environment as well as boosting the healthy development of the industry.
In Australia, Castel Electronics is the exclusive distributor of Midea air conditioners, which it has been importing for the past five years.
While massive in world market terms, the brand is still relatively unknown to the Australian public, a situation that Castel is fast rectifying with its current aggressive marketing push into Australia’s major markets.
Part of this aggressive push has been to snare one of the major players in Australia’s air conditioning scene, Bernie Bugdalski, who joined the organisation in May.
Bugdalski is recognised as an air conditioning industry authority throughout South East Asia, having held senior positions at Fujitsu between 1997 and 2011.
His roles included director of product and project development in 2007, and, prior to that, director of marketing and sales.
During his time at Fujitsu commercial/specialist air conditioning sales grew significantly as a percentage of Fujitsu’s total sales.
Bugdalski was elected president of the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers Association (AREMA) in 2008 and he has also served as a director on the board of Refrigerant Reclaim Australia.
In 2011 Bugdalski’s contribution to the Australian air conditioning industry was rewarded with entry to the ARBS Hall of Fame.
Castel’s managing director, Michael Kwong, said the strategic timing of Bugdalski’s appointment at Castel is perfect to help oversee Midea’s rapid emergence in the Australian air conditioning market.
Bugdalski and Kwong recently led a group of prominent Australian air conditioning personalities on a familiarisation tour of Midea’s headquarters in Guangdong.
Bugdalski said attendees were all “blown away” by the sheer magnitude of the Midea set-up.
He said he was looking forward to a big future at Castel.
