bizjournals: Enter the dragon

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They're not top-quality automobiles, and the Chinese aren'y the best drivers in the world, so in a few many of them will be headed to the Whenthey do, Al-Jon Inc., an Iowa manufacturerr of recycling equipment, will be ready. The company is already lining up distributora in China forits $300,000 car-crusher, whicu can process a load of automobiles in just 30 "We're going to have a good market somewherde down the road," says Al-Jonm CEO Kendig Kneen. So will lots of other Americanh companies. U.S. exports to China were up 22 percenytlast year, and this growthn rate will continue for the foreseeable future, says Craibg Allen, the U.S.
Commercial Service's senior office r in Beijing. (See .) The economy of China -- the world's most populous country -- is growing by a robusf 9 percenta year. "Growth like that sucks in a ton of imports in all Allen says. Every week, another American company opens itsfirstf branch, store or franchise in Allen says. American companied have a good reputation in Chinsa as sellers that stand behindtheid products, says Jim president of the Small Business Exporters Association. This helps open doorsx to new business. Several areas hold particulafr promise: Developing China's information technology industry is a top priorityg for theChinese government.
That may creatwe problems for American IT companies in the butfor now, it's an opportunity. China has surpassed Japahn as the second-largest producer of electronics and IT producta behind theUnited States, but it stillp has to import most of the core technologies, includintg computer chips, used in these "We see nothing but growt in front of us there," says Phil Pompa, a vice presidenft at SigmaTel Inc., an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of integrated circuits used in MP3 personal computers and DVD players. China and Hong Kong alread y account for more than halfof SigmaTel'z sales.
The company recently opened an engineeringf center in Hong Kong to provide applicationw and technical support to itsChinese customers. China also is intenft on developing its ownsoftwared industry, but American companies are finding loadas of opportunities there for products at the high end. Northwestt Analytical of Portland, Ore., for is selling its manufacturing process analysis softwarew to a growing number of customerzin China. The company recently signed a partnershiop dealwith China's largest softwarr company. Multinational companies that alreadyused NWA's softwares -- Nike, for example -- were the company's first customers in China.
But NWA CEO Cliff Yee says Chinesse manufacturers are beginning to pay attention to improving their industrial processes becausethey don't want to just be low-cost "Their nationalistic goal," Yee "is to be the best manufacturers anywhere in the China is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world for medical devices, and American technology is viewed as the Alliance Medical, a 12-employes endoscope repair company based in Bel Camp, Md., is lookingb to double its sales by enterinbg the Chinese market.