Honeywell gears up for new era of 'smart cities'

The Honeywell International Automation and Control Solutions manufacturing plant in Golden Valley, Minnesota is seen in a January 28, 2010 file photo. [Photo / China Daily;Agencies]

China's urbanization drive is attracting multinationals that focus on creating "human-oriented" cities with regard to comfort, safety and efficiency.

Among them is US multinational Honeywell International Inc, whose president of global high growth regions, Shane Tedjarati, said: "Cities need to be designed in a very different way from rural areas. Honeywell is an urbanization-enabling technology company."

Honeywell is introducing its "smart city" solutions to China. They are targeting millions of Chinese households with products including water and air purification systems, fuel-saving turbochargers and environmentally friendly refrigerants.

Tedjarati said a "smart city" is not just a concept. "We see it as the key driver for China's transformation, as well as for our future business growth in China," he said.

Sales of water and air-purification products have been growing vigorously in China. Honeywell said the sales of air purification products maintained a 50 percent annual growth rate over the last three years.

The number of permanent urban residents will reach about 60 percent of the population by 2020, according to the National New-type Urbanization Plan (2014-2020), the country's first official plan for urbanization, issued in mid-March by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council.

In anticipation of 100 million people moving to China's cities by 2020, the plan notes Chinese cities will need more roads, railways, hospitals, schools and housing.

A lot of people are moving into the cities and becoming richer. They are very concerned about the air and water quality and food safety. "We want to bring our industrial and commercial strength to address the issues," Tedjarati said.

"I believe the concept of smart cities and healthy homes is going to nurture a huge market. I am expecting continuously high growth for Honeywell in the in the next five years," he added.

The China market became Honeywell's second biggest outside the US in 2013. "We expect the development of 'smart cities' in China is going to embark on a new stage - from planning to implementation. And thanks to the scale and speed, China will become a pioneer and global leader on this front," Tedjarati said.