Barco and the China Film Group have formed CFG Barco Electronics. The new company is a joint venture among Barco subsidiaries – Barco Visual (Beijing) Electronics Company Limited and Barco China (Holdings) Limited Company – and China Film Equipment a subsidiary of China Film Group. The joint venture is being formed to develop China's digital cinema market by strengthening the localized development and production of digital cinema products and services in China. According to the companies the newly founded company will help China achieve its ambitious 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) which is based on the forecast that the culture industry will enter a period of rapid development in the next five years and contribute five percent to the country's GDP. Through its customer service facilities sales local R&D and production the new company will maintain the Barco brand and handle service issues. Leveraging the experience and influence of China Film Equipment the new company will also build more effective communication channels and a more intimate relationship with customers. By end of July more than 4600 Barco digital cinema projectors had been installed in greater China covering 65 percent of the Chinese market. To meet market demand Barco has multiple factories in various regions of the world. The Beijing factory is already achieving a monthly production capacity of 500 projectors. Last year Barco set up a digital projector research center in Beijing becoming the first foreign projector manufacturer to establish a research center in China. Xiaoli Han general manager of China Film Group and China Film Company says “We're following China's 12th Five-Year Plan – as a company in the culture industry we should contribute to China's digital cinema development. Through this new collaboration we hope that Barco will introduce more and more cutting-edge projection technology into China and further localize R&D and production in China. We will continue our efforts in promoting and applying digital technology in China's film industry.” “China's digital cinema market is developing rapidly ” says Wim Buyens senior vice president Barco N.V. and general manager entertainment division. “We are proud of and confident in our investment and collaboration with China Film Group and we are honored to work with China's best film equipment trading company. This is another major milestone following our establishment of the research center in Beijing. The new joint venture will combine Barco's technology and China Film Group's wide expertise in the China digital cinema market. This roll-out of digital projector technology to many more cinemas will enable China's film industry to reach and benefit a larger audience of moviegoers.”
