Company focus on: Beijing Watertek

Cai Houfu talks about the company's history in CAN and some of its future plans.

Beijing Watertek Information Technology Co., Ltd. was established in November 1997 as a high tech company dedicated to providing embedded system solutions. These encompass embedded system testing, embedded information security and Watertek also sells rugged PDAs for various applications. The company’s headquarters are in Beijing’s Zhong Guan Cun high technology park and it has sales offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xian, Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

According to Cai Houfu, responsible for Watertek’s CAN-related business, the company first got involved in CAN measurement in 2000. “We had clients that were working with the aerospace bus, MIL-STD-1553B, and related technologies. During talks with those customers we found that they used the CAN bus and also had a need for CANbus measurement and analysis,” he explains.

Watertek’s main customers are engaged in the aerospace, aeronautics and automotive electronics sectors. “These customers design their own CAN nodes and need high quality CAN bus analysis tools to investigate their CAN networks and record the data,” says Houfu, who adds that this is why Watertek has developed a relationship with Kvaser. “Kvaser is very famous in the CAN field. The company is also very professional and has strong technical support. Watertek is keen to work with manufacturers that offer solid support, which is why we chose Kvaser as partner.”

At present, CAN products represent 2-5% of Watertek’s total sales. However, Houfu sees plenty of additional growth in the aerospace sector in particular. “This application has a large need for ground testing, but has strict demands and needs Watertek to provide a tool to assist them in analysing data and solving their problems.”

Today, Watertek’s priority is to serve customers in aerospace, aeronautics and national defense. According to Houfu, Watertek offers ‘professional technical support and can solve user problems in a timely manner, as well as provide powerful technical security.’ This is in contrast to local competitors who don’t have the same level of technical support.

Whilst support is an important issue for Chinese customers, who tend to depend heavily on their suppliers for technical assistance, they are very sensitive to price. According to Houfu: “Chinese customers like to compare different suppliers and then to choose the cheapest.” Despite this, he adds: “Rather than find a solution by themselves, customers prefer to ask the QSR or manufacturer for a solution."

Asked how Watertek plans on developing its CAN business in China, Houfu has some strong ideas. “We wish we could provide a whole CAN bus network measurement system”, he says. “At the moment, CAN bus network measurement software is our weak point, so we would like to have more product on hand.”

In the meantime, Watertek is well placed to benefit from the general economic conditions in China. “China is experiencing fast paced development and the economy is quite good. Government investment in aerospace, aeronautics and automotive industries is increasing every year. That is a good opportunity for our company and we will try to grab these opportunities to further develop our business,” Houfu concludes.

 If you are a TA and have software that you think can meet Watertek customer’s needs, please email Mr.Cai Houfu at caihoufu@watetek.com.cn in the first instance.