Last week, the World Bearing Association (WBA) met with the Tianjin Customs District in China to recognize their success and vigilance around stopping counterfeit bearings and begin a dialogue around working together. Representatives from SKF, Timken, NSK and Schaeffler joined more than 40 Tianjin Customs Officials at the session. American Bearing Manufacturers Association (ABMA) President Scott Lynch presided over the meeting, representing WBA President and Timken President & CEO Jim Griffith.
The WBA was honored to have Wang Jiapeng, Deputy Director General, Customs Commissioner Second Class, in attendance to receive the award and share his remarks. He shared his appreciation to the WBA for engaging with Customs and noted these types of partnerships are critical to their success.
John Dennis from the Schaeffler Group and representing the Federation of European Bearing Manufacturers’ Association (FEBMA) discussed the origin of the WBA anti-counterfeiting committee. He noted this was the third in a series of seminars with China Customs that have included meetings with Qingdao and Shanghai Customs. Mr. Dennis commented that counterfeiting is the number priority of the global bearing industry and engagement with Tianjin Customs is an important step in attacking this serious issue. Hanson Yuan from NSK China presented on ways to detect counterfeits and be vigilant at the ports.
The session concluded with a lively dialogue between the WBA and Tianjin Customs which included progress around data sharing, potential China Customs partnerships with other countries further understanding of the current priorities in China as it relates to intellectual property.
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