In late October 2025, the ZEISS China Quality Innovation Summit and the grand opening of the ZEISS IQS Flagship Showroom were held ceremoniously. This signified the official launch of ZEISS's global Quality Innovation journey, commencing its first stop in China following the 2024 Berlin Global Quality Innovation Summit. The tour will subsequently unfold in South Korea, India, Japan, Europe, Mexico, and other countries, relaying and promoting global dialogue on quality innovation.

On the day of the event, ZEISS comprehensively demonstrated its firm resolve to deepen its presence in China and connect globally through R&D and innovation via a "three-pronged approach" comprising the Quality Innovation Summit, the ZEISS IQS Flagship Showroom, and the launch of the new ARAMIS product series. Subsequently, Dr. Marc Wawerla, Member of the Executive Board of ZEISS Group and President and CEO of ZEISS Industrial Quality & Research, was invited for a dialogue with Forbes China, offering further interpretation of the global vision and future insights behind this series of strategic initiatives.

Dr. Marc Wawerla, Member of the Executive Board of ZEISS Group and President and CEO of ZEISS Industrial Quality & Research*

Dr. Marc Wawerla joined the ZEISS Group in 2010, subsequently holding key positions such as Head of ZEISS Vision Care in India, Chief Operating Officer, Digital Transformation Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. In 2020, he took over as Head of ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions(IQS) strategic business unit, and in 2025, he officially assumed the role of President and CEO of ZEISS Industrial Quality & Research. His extensive career at ZEISS, spanning multiple business segments and functions, has afforded him a profound understanding of the Group's global operations. Dr. Marc Wawerla is also the initiator of the Global Quality Innovation Summit.

Global Vision: The Strategic Ascension of a Century-Old Optics Giant

The summit held in Suzhou carried the global relay attribute of "building on past achievements and charting the course for the future."

The 2024 Berlin Global Quality Innovation Summit attracted over 1,500 manufacturing leaders and experts from more than 800 companies across 48 countries, setting a benchmark for technical dialogue and practical exchange in global quality innovation. This China Quality Innovation Summit further intensified the regional focus, underpinned by ZEISS's strategic affirmation of the Chinese market's position.

In his opening speech at the summit, Dr. Marc Wawerla stated, "China has been ZEISS's largest single global market for many consecutive years. China's complete supply chain ecosystem and burgeoning demand for new quality productive forces provide an excellent platform and opportunity for quality innovation." He later reemphasized to Forbes China, "Greater China continues to maintain a significant position in our global strategy."

In recent years, China has been making a full push to achieve leapfrog development in new quality productive forces. With scientific and technological innovation at its core, new quality productive forces rely on precision measurement and quality control as the "yardstick" for high-end manufacturing – in areas such as NEV battery safety testing and electronic AI server, technological breakthroughs are unattainable without precise measurement technology support.

ZEISS accurately grasps the key pain points of China's industrial upgrade, achieving resonance between its technological supply and policy direction. This positions ZEISS not only as a witness to new quality productive forces but also with the opportunity to become a deep participant and enabler.

The ZEISS China Quality Innovation Summit brought together nearly 200 industry leader representatives, including global industry leaders like Lingyi iTech (LIXIN) and Foxconn, as well as from key sectors such as automotive, electronics, medical, power&energy, general machinery, and metal products manufacturing. Guests engaged in in-depth discussions on core topics including quality control upgrades and AI-driven innovation, aiming to translate strategic blueprints into collaborative actions and jointly build a world-class exchange platform driving leaps in industrial quality and efficiency.

Amidst this collision of top-tier intellect, the attending business leaders reached a clear consensus: against the backdrop of deep restructuring in global industrial chains, quality innovation has ascended from a tool for optimizing single links to strategic infrastructure that reshapes core corporate competitiveness. By facilitating this consensus, ZEISS once again demonstrated its industry value and foresight.

Physical Anchor: A Key Node in the National Service Network

The ZEISS IQS Flagship Showroom (fully named the "ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions Flagship Showroom), unveiled concurrently with the summit, is located in Suzhou, China. This innovative landmark, covering 3,400 square meters in the core area of Suzhou Industrial Park, is built around the core philosophy of "customer orientation." It integrates the display of the full range of measurement technologies, application development and industry solution validation, and industry exchange and training, becoming the largest and most fully functional showcase center for ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions in China.

In recent years, ZEISS has continuously advanced its strategic shift from product-oriented to application-oriented. Deeply focusing on the actual pain points of various industries, it has jointly developed numerous customized applications and solutions with customers and partners, achieving a leap from single product lines to a diversified technology matrix. This transformation enables it to more precisely align with the quality innovation demands of key sectors such as automotive, electronics and medical. It is reported that the Flagship Showroom covers coordinate measuring machines, optical systems, X-ray and industrial CT systems, industrial microscopes, automation solutions, metrology software, and value-added services, forming a complete solution system capable of responding to complex industrial demands.

ZEISS's expert team will also leverage this center to provide customers with full-process customized services, covering product selection, solution customization, and industry application, offering support such as demonstration, training, measurement, fixture design, and programming.

As a key node in ZEISS's national network, the Flagship Showroom will efficiently synergize with the seven Quality Excellence Centers in Changchun, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Ningbo, Dongguan, and Chengdu, constructing a hub connecting regional industrial clusters with global technological resources, and undertaking the dual mission of technological validation and industrial enablement.

More importantly, as Chinese companies accelerate their pace of overseas expansion, this deeply localized service network can seamlessly connect with ZEISS's global network at any time. Dr. Marc Wawerla stated that ZEISS has deployed over 60 Quality Excellence Centers globally and employs more than 2,000 service technical experts, enabling the provision of globally unified product standards and services. ZEISS's global quality network covers almost all destinations targeted by Chinese companies going global, effectively helping them resolve quality-related concerns.

Thus, the Flagship Showroom is poised to become not merely a window for technology display, but highly likely an evolving innovation interface. Here, unique demands emerging from the Chinese market can be rapidly transformed into inspiration for global product innovation. Internationally cutting-edge technologies can also undergo precise validation and iteration within China's industrial chains.

Smart Manufacturing Future: Redefining the Boundaries of Optical Metrology

How far can the boundaries of optical metrology be extended? In the summit's finale, ZEISS responded with an epoch-making new product.

Dr. Marc Wawerla (Right) and Jie Ping (Left) jointly unveiling the new product

The new generation of ARAMIS series 3D optical measuring systems, launched jointly by Dr. Marc Wawerla and Jie Ping, Head of Sales & Service, lQS China, marks a significant breakthrough in non-contact metrology technology. The system, through the synergy of high-speed cameras and ZEISS CORRELATE intelligent algorithms, achieves sub-pixel accuracy tracking of material strain, displacement, and motion trajectories.

It successfully expands the application scenarios of optical metrology from conventional environments to previously unattainable extreme scenarios. Whether in automotive, medical or power&energy industry, the new ARAMIS series is bringing new possibilities to quality control.

Particularly striking was the innovative inclusion of a **humanoid robot** as the host for the new product launch, actively interacting with guests and the live audience. This futuristic arrangement not only impressed the audience but also echoed ZEISS's strategic direction of accelerating its layout for the "smart" manufacturing future, reflecting its forward-looking vision of deeply integrating emerging fields like artificial intelligence and robotics with industrial quality inspection.

Humanoid robot hosting the ARAMIS series new product launch

"ZEISS remains steadfast in its customer-first commitment. This drives us to develop innovative solutions that anticipate market trends and meet customer needs, while ensuring high-standard, stable product delivery," Dr. Marc Wawerla pointed out. "ZEISS's future role is to become the customer's 'Quality Enablement Partner' in the digital age."

With the bow fully drawn, the arrow never misses its target. The "R&D-Manufacturing-Service" ecosystem ZEISS is building in China is becoming an exemplary model for the resilience of its global supply chain. Through localized procurement and modular assembly, ZEISS is gradually making high-end technology more accessible and inclusive, integrating China's dynamic momentum as an innovation engine for its own development, and anchoring the future at full speed.

Below are the key points from the dialogue between Forbes China and Dr. Marc Wawerla (edited):

Q: From the 2024 Berlin Global Quality Innovation Summit to the 2025 China kick-off event, ZEISS has consistently led the forefront discussion on quality innovation. Currently, technologies like AI and Big Data are deeply integrating with manufacturing, reshaping the global industrial competitive landscape. What key trends is ZEISS observing in the field of quality innovation? What role do you see ZEISS playing in the future?

Dr. Marc Wawerla: Manufacturing currently faces multiple challenges, including cost pressure, digital transformation, carbon neutrality, supply chain changes, and the increasing societal focus on sustainability and efficiency. Carbon neutrality and digitalization have become key drivers for industry development.

The core logic of quality management has shifted forward from post-event inspection to source control and process optimization. Digitalization and AI play crucial roles here, meaning vast amounts of quality data become the core asset driving efficiency and innovation in the future.

In this context, "hardware-software integration" becomes a key trend in quality innovation. Through the deep integration of software systems and hardware equipment, companies can achieve seamless flow and closed loops of quality data. ZEISS's integrated software platforms enable end-to-end workflow management from acquisition to analysis, effectively ensuring traceability and reliability across global supply chains.

I believe ZEISS's future role is to be the customer's "Quality Enablement Partner" in the digital age. By integrating cutting-edge hardware, software platforms, and global expertise, we help customers build future-oriented quality competitiveness.

Q: Against the backdrop of geopolitical fluctuations and deep industrial chain restructuring, how is ZEISS adjusting its global layout to address these challenges and continue providing stable, reliable value to customers?

Dr. Marc Wawerla: ZEISS's global layout and strategy are very clear. We are firmly rooted in key markets, building resilience by deepening our local presence, while always keeping customer needs at the core. This ensures we can continuously provide stable, reliable value regardless of external changes.

Greater China is one of ZEISS's important overseas markets and continues to hold a significant position in our global strategy. The Flagship Showroom unveiled at the summit, the ZEISS Suzhou R&D and Manufacturing base, and the recent key progress on the ZEISS Greater China complex project in Shanghai, all demonstrate our firm confidence in the Chinese market. We anticipate that the business in Greater China will contribute comprehensively to the Group across dimensions like technology R&D, market expansion, and service innovation. This is also an important strategic pivot for us in facing global challenges.

No matter how the external environment changes, ZEISS's customer-first commitment remains unchanged, driving us to develop innovative solutions that anticipate market trends and meet customer needs, while ensuring high-standard, stable product delivery.

Q: As China's high-end manufacturing accelerates its global layout, international demand for supply chain quality control is increasing. How does ZEISS view the new opportunities in the globalization process of Chinese companies? And how will it leverage its extensive global network advantages to provide differentiated quality solutions for these expanding enterprises?

Dr. Marc Wawerla: ZEISS holds a very positive view of this trend. This is a significant opportunity for the development of Chinese enterprises, and also a historic stage for ZEISS to leverage its global resource advantages and engage in deep collaboration with Chinese companies.

Supply chain quality management is a major challenge for Chinese companies expanding overseas – differences in industry standards across countries and regions, ensuring consistency in quality data and systems between overseas production bases and domestic headquarters, etc. If not properly addressed, these issues can easily become obstacles in the globalization process.

And this is precisely where ZEISS can provide core support. ZEISS has deployed over 60 Quality Excellence Centers globally and employs more than 2,000 service technical experts, enabling the provision of globally unified product standards and services. This extensive global quality network covers almost all destinations for Chinese companies going global, effectively helping them address quality concerns.

Through our end-to-end quality data management software platform covering acquisition to analysis, ZEISS can help overseas-expanding Chinese companies achieve traceability and reliability assurance for quality data, enabling real-time connectivity of quality data between their overseas production bases and headquarters.

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is provided by the interviewees. It does not reflect the editorial opinions of Forbes China.