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German designer helps China row to the world

By Huang Shan: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, November 28, 2015

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Klaus Filter checks the rowing boat designed for the Chinese national team rowers in the workshop of Sino Eagle on Nov. 18, 2015 in Fuyang, east China. [Photo by Huang Shan/China.org.cn]

During his numerous trips to China in the last 20 years, Filter found the biggest challenge he faced was not technology but how to change Chinese worker's old habits. He managed to change the littered workshop into a neat and clean place and encourage his co-workers to expand their vision to pursue higher goals.

He asked the workers to pay attention to the importance of product function instead of making "Chinese look-alike products." "[Some products] look like tools, but don't work," said Filter, explaining the term he coined. "There's a big difference. If something only 'looks alike', it is not a product. The function is the priority…Check the function before a product leaves."

Filter has trained a couple of Chinese technicians and established a research and development team consisting of talents from China and abroad. "My time is limited," he said. "I have handed over my design principles to younger people."

Proposed by Filter, the company set up a research and development center and about 8 to 10 percent of company revenues have been invested in R&D every year.

Filter's career in China is successful, but he still has one goal to achieve -- to help Chinese rowers win the Olympic gold medal using a Chinese-made boat.

In the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the traditional rowing powerhouses of Germany, the United States and Britain all chose to use WinTech boats made by Sino Eagle and achieved good results. However, the Chinese team used German-made boats.It may take time for Filter and Sino Eagle to convince the Chinese national team to use Chinese products in international competitions, but Filter made progress not long ago when one rower of the Chinese national team agreed to train on the Chinese-made boat and her choice was supported by her German coach who just joined the Chinese coaching team.

Sharing his ideas about Chinese rowing, he emphasized that education should be part of the training system. "They [the rowers] are not robots…the sport needs people to have brains, who are aware of what they are doing. I try to help reinforce this philosophy," said Filter. "I think the [Chinese rowing] federation has realized it is necessary [to include education besides compulsory training]."

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