Top execs weigh in on post-pandemic business prospects

Scott Zhang, Honeywell China President

A1: In recent years, China has undergone an amazing digital revolution that is transforming the way we live and work with exciting new products that connect us and incorporate software and data in new ways. The COVID-19 crisis further confirmed to us how important digital technologies are, and it also enhanced our customers' understanding of their importance.

China's digital economy has undergone rapid changes from COVID-19, and we believe that Honeywell's software-industrial technologies will play a role in helping adapt to these changes. So, we look forward to policy guidelines in upgrading facilities of public health, education, transportation, as well as further guidelines on infrastructure that mix traditional and novel ones should also be mentioned, besides digital economy.

A2: Following the government's rules and regulations, and thanks to the government's strong support, Honeywell's 21 plants and majority of our critical suppliers across China have fully resumed manufacturing and are serving customers in China and abroad. Additionally, our customers are continuing to demand our technologies and our solutions to solve everyday problems. We are working with our suppliers to ensure we can meet our customers' needs in critical areas such as safety, security, health, energy efficiency and operational excellence.

Honeywell has registered a wholly owned subsidiary Huosheng Industrial Technology Co Ltd in Wuhan as the company's emerging market China headquarters and innovation center. We are honored to be the first Fortune Global 500 enterprise to establish a subsidiary in Wuhan in 2020 and received congratulation letter from Premier Li Keqiang. This marks a key milestone in our growth journey in China, demonstrating Honeywell's long-term commitment to China.

A3: We feel appreciated to see different levels of government to unveil measures to stabilize business, and foreign-funded companies are able to enjoy the same treatment as local businesses. We also enjoyed supports from those measures that helped to relieve burdens and mitigate impacts of the outbreak, such as benefits in social insurance, training incentives, etc.

Honeywell's growth has fully aligned with China's macro trends, like the digital economy. The booming digital economy is further evidenced during the epidemic. Honeywell is rapidly entering a new digital era of "combination of software and hardware". We are very excited to see that China has been making efforts on new infrastructure construction, and Honeywell can make contributions, especially in the field of data center and industrial internet.

A4: Chinese government's quick actions to contain COVID-19 and boost economy have brought various new opportunities for business. The upgrading for public facilities, especially public health facilities, will provide more scenarios for Honeywell products and technologies which can substantially help those facilities to improve their functions. More construction programs in the future, and new infrastructure programs especially those equip traditional infrastructures with safer and smarter technologies will also benefit our business in China.

On April 20, the National Development and Reform Commission defined the scope of new infrastructure for the first time. This brings great opportunities to Honeywell.

A5: We have been recruiting key talents for the company, including for the newly set up Huosheng company.

Meanwhile, employees' safety is our top priority. We have put a number of measures in place including but not limited to travel and visitor restrictions at affected regions, enhanced site cleaning and sanitation procedures, several types of work-from-home arrangements, which are geography-specific (China has fully resumed work and manufacturing), and regular communication around World Health Organization guidelines. We're committed to doing everything we can to protect the well-being and safety of our employees.