Transforming a Regional Champion into a Global Business: How AHK Greater China Supports Weiss Chemie + Technik GmbH’s China Expansion
For decades, Weiss Chemie + Technik GmbH, a family-owned business and one of the leaders in adhesives and sandwich panel technology, had operated with a distinct focus in Germany and across Europe. Its operations, culture, and way of doing business outlook were deeply rooted in its homebase. While this approach served Weiss well for years, its industry was integrating at a global level.
To compete on a global scale and unlock future growth, the company needs to expand beyond Europe to manage global supply chains. No market will be more pivotal to this transformation than China. The newly appointed CEO Christan Dölle recognized this and saw great potential for growing its business in China, a now mature market that is well poised to become Weiss next foothold for access to wider Asia-Pacific markets.
Weiss needed a stronger foothold in the country, not just to serve the Chinese market more competitively but also to supply neighboring regions like Japan and South America efficiently. However, entering the Chinese market posed real challenges for Weiss Chemie + Technik: As many other traditional German SMEs the company lacked the necessary in-house resources, understanding of Chinese business culture and of course language.
Weiss was looking for an agile and trustworthy partner to support its ambitious expansion plans and to work closely with their senior leadership to not only deliver roadmaps and PowerPoint decks, but to make sure the rubber hits the road and the company's expansion would be executed fast. This is where the AHK Greater China (German Chamber of Commerce in China) came in.
AHK’s approach: well structured, culturally aligned and outcome focused
The German company turned to AHK Greater China due to their long-standing reputation and proven track record of supporting German SEMs across multiple countries. The business had previously collaborated with AHK offices in Spain, France, Slovenia, United Kingdom, Chicago, Morocco, Algeria, Brazil and the Middle East and trusted them to be the most effective partner in supporting their expansion into the Chinese market.
The AHK Greater China’s “business partner search” service was precisely what the group needed: a structured, bilingual, culturally attuned approach that leveraged the provided access to the strong local networks of the AHK Greater China.
To best support Weiss Chemie + Technik, AHK Greater China applied its meticulous and time-tested approach to business partner identification that extends far beyond just matchmaking:
- Understanding the Chinese market, politics and customer’s need
The first business trip of CEO Christian Doelle and his Vice Presidents Sven Ringsdorf (Legal Affairs), Florian Fiedler (Sales) and Dr. Oliver Flender (Research & Development) led to the AHK’s top management, Maximilian Butek, Executive Director & Board Member of the German Chamber of Commerce in China – East China, and Jonathan Schoo, Vice President of AHK Greater China, to be able to better understand the Chinese market and frame conditions. - Clarification and structuring of objectives
Multiple briefings sessions were conducted between AHK Greater China team and the company’s internal stakeholders, including Stefanie Raab-Faber (Director International Business Development of Weiss Chemie + Technik). These enabled the team to truly understand all technical, as well as cultural aspects of the project: from identifying manufacturing partners to potential M&A targets, and from sourcing to company formation. - Drafting and validating the project scope
Based on the briefing sessions the AHK Greater China produced detailed scoping documents. This ensured clarity and alignment on both sides. - Search execution and validation
As a first step the AHK Greater China conducted technical research aimed at identifying: local competitors, distributors, and potential acquisition targets. Crucially, instead of delivering just one final report, the team provided regular updates and was able to provide findings in batches. This allowed for an agile and collaborative way of working and helped speed up the entire project, as Weiss could begin pre-evaluation and outreach to potential partners early on. - Flexibility in adjusting to dynamic timelines
Recognizing the urgency of the Weiss’ expansion goals, AHK Greater China tailored their process to accommodate time-sensitive deliverables: adapting and fine-tuning their approach based on feedback.
A multilayered strategy: from distribution and acquisition to local manufacturing
One of Weiss Chemie + Technik’s main goals is to move beyond distribution and to begin manufacturing in China. The mantra of Christian Dölle is: No business can compete in China, or in a globally integrated market predominantly supplied by China, without a Chinese manufacturing base. Cost differences but also the rapid emergence of China as an innovation powerhouse make this non-negotiable.
In order to quickly establish a beachhead in the Middle Kingdom, the Weiss management team decided to set up local manufacturing plants mirroring their existing European operations. However, instead of opting for risky “all-in” approach, this strategy will unfold gradually along these goalposts:
- Setting up legal entity in China
With the support of AHK Greater China’s legal team, Weiss set up a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) in China. This enables the group to fully operate, trade and employ local staff in China. - Identifying M&A targets
To fuel its ambitious China plans Weiss considers to acquire a local Chinese company. This approach was supported via the AHK Greater China's “Business Partner Search” program. While a challenging task due to the technical and commercially complex requirements of this endeavor, the Weiss leadership team was very pleased with AHK Greater China’s ability to support them and to provide them with a strong shortlist of potential partners. - Setting up warehousing and installation of manufacturing lines
As a next step Weiss is looking to identify potential warehousing partners, to source machinery and to source raw materials and machinery needed to install a manufacturing line in China. Naturally, the AHK Greater China team is supporting these efforts in close collaboration with the Weiss team. - Onboarding a local team and building up R&D capabilities
While Weiss has access to unparalleled R&D resources in Germany, its ability to conduct time-sensitive analysis, such as raw material testing, or supporting product iterations, in China is limited. Shipping samples back and forth between Germany and China however is inefficient and localization therefore essential. Building a qualified in-country team is thus on the roadmap.
How the AHK Greater China team overcame challenges identifying M&A targets and potential partners
While the partner search for manufacturing and M&A progressed smoothly, sourcing local suppliers and identifying competitors proved more iterative.
The client acknowledged that on this front, there were more cases where the fit wasn’t entirely right, due to evolving requirements and the inherent difficulty of mapping very specific technical capabilities. Nevertheless, thanks to the AHK Greater China team’s agile and flexible approach, the process yielded quality leads and ultimately enabled Weiss to achieve its goals.
One key insight shared by Weiss is that they could never have accomplished this alone: doing such research independently is nearly impossible. Many Chinese company websites are outdated, or not even accessible from Germany. Language barriers and search limitations further compound the challenge. Having AHK Greater China’s bilingual, locally embedded team made a critical difference.
Why AHK Greater China was the right partner for Weiss Chemie + Technik
When weighing their options for selecting a partner to venture into the Chinese market, the AHK Greater China stood out as a holistic, business-focused and highly practical partner – a German-rooted organization with deep local expertise in China to bridge cultural, language and operational gaps.
Also, as an SME looking to mitigate risk and with limited internal expertise, AHK was a great fit. The highly accessible AHK Greater China senior leadership team that provided hands-on operational support at every step of the way instilled confidence in Weiss Chemie + Technik’s decision to partner with AHK Greater China.
In addition to that the broad range of services offered by the AHK Greater China specifically designed to support German business in China that spans everything from Business Partner Search, Company Establishment to HR support perfectly aligned with Weiss plans for its expansion into China.
