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  Experiences from his first China visit - 5/8  A Kaytek Offsourcing Consulting Perspective |
Consulting
Offshoring
A Manufacturing Executive's China Experiences
Part - 5
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Experiences from his first China visit - 5/8 A Kaytek Offsourcing Consulting Perspective |
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An Indian Manufacturing Executive's First Visit To China - Part 5. The author is an Indian executive, specialising in the automobile manufacturing industry and currently based in Muscat, Oman. These are his first-hand experiences of China. Previous - Part 4  Part 5 - Day 5 - Ningbo The next day, I moved to Ningbo, which is very close to Shanghai, I took the early morning flight and reached Ningbo at about 0945 hrs. I met my suppliers there and then drove to their office. Ningbo is a truly international city has very huge shopping malls. It was surprising to me that the Chinese people have a fair amount of money and you can see them shopping in the morning at boutiques shopping for known brands like Cartier, Pierre Cardin etc. |
There we went to encash my Travelers cheques and had to pass through the shopping area to reach Bank of China, since surprisingly only Bank of China accepts or rather is authorized to accept Travelers cheques. I had a tough time explaining that although I was an Indian, was working in Oman from where the cheques were purchased. Linking these aspects was quite amusing to the bank clerk but finally I got the exchange. Ningbo city is a very internationally connected city due to its port and a huge industry of automobile spare parts. These companies are located in an approximate radius of about 250-300 kms and most of them have offices in Ningbo city or tie-ups with exporters who operate from Ningbo. Located in the eastern most side of China they observe a shift in time for their working hours, for the winters, and start and end an hour earlier. This is true for the Single shift working factories. Then in the afternoon visited a company identified as a potential source for Electrical items, with specialization in Ignition Coils. They had stopped production since they end work by 1600 hrs. Nevertheless, I met their Vice President and following are some of the details: Location - 10 Kms from the city, Product - Ignition Coils, Current Turnover - US $10 - 10.5 Million, First Tier Supplier of Volkswagen China & aftermarket. |
The Product is Guaranteed for 6 months or 10,000 kms. Scope of work is Assembly of bought-out parts to conform to design of customer. Has over a period of time also developed products for the aftermarket and claims to supply the same to customers in Europe and USA. Has some special purpose equipment for testing OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) supplies. Setup was big and comprises of five medium size buildings. Manpower is 60 persons, capable of output worth about US$ 350-400,000 per month. The Supplier reiterated that their focus has been Quality and hence will not compromise on price. We will be able to consider them only if we have customers in CIS who are willing to pay a slightly higher price than the normal. Next - Part 6 |
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