Japanese housing and building material product company Lixil launched its International Competence Center in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on July 2.

Located in Guangzhou's Panyu district, the center supports new product development and reduces lead times, especially for components and sub-assemblies coming from key Chinese suppliers, with a cross-functional team.

It is also designed to support research and development in Germany and Americas, especially through local supplier resources and technologies.

China is a very important market for Lixil as its consumers love to try new products, and it has become a place for development of new products, said Lixil CEO Kinya Seto.

The Chinese market is moving more to being a renovation and remodeling one, said Bijoy Mohan, leader of Lixil International.

The company is exporting not only products but also product and manufacturing technologies from China, he said.

With brands such as Grohe, American Standard, and Inax under it, the company runs seven plants in China and its Asia R&D hub is in Shanghai.

Cover photo: Xinhua