 | C2W new office |
| China 2 West at the British Inventors Show 2009 |
| Accelerometer Development Board Testing |
| Nick Cunningham Kite Surfing Zhuhai 2009-06 |
| EL Rainbow T-Shirt Test |
The China office will be closed from 13th – 21st February over the Spring Festival period. We will open again on 22nd February.
We look forward to working with you in the Year of the Tiger and wish you all a very prosperous and successful year.
All the best,
The C2W Team
In an effort to learn more about China specifically from a manufacturing perspective, I last week attended and enrolled in a ‘Foreign Manufacturers Committee’ brought together by the British Chamber of Commerce.
Apart from perhaps some friendly networking, the objective of the group is to share experiences in manufacturing that would give other members the opportunity to question methods that have already been put into practice and discover more about how best to bring an operation (in the broadest sense of the word) into proper order. I always try to find a way of systemizing my work and my team but within the vastly unpredictable environment of Chinese manufacturing, this can be a mammoth task. With the support and advice from other experienced professionals working in this ‘niche’ field, the scale of the task can be broken down a lot easier.
In last weeks session we talked about a number of topics; some of these included the changing environment within the supply chain and where best to channel expert resource such as auditors and QA personnel. When a supply chain is as big and/or as complex as it can be, these decisions can mean the difference between success, an epic struggle or indeed complete failure. Of course nobody has a method for dealing all these problems, but some people have methods for some.
Over the coming year there will be more events for this newly formed Manufactuer’s Guild to discuss in the way of workshops, roundtable meetings, open discussions and seminars. We’ll see what comes of it.
Mike
I came across an interesting article on the Telegraph website the other day, below is a short extract.
Come back? Not for all the scooters in China
The Chinese way of working has almost defeated one British entrepreneur, writes Malcolm Moore in Wuxi
At 8 o’clock in the morning, the Bright Mountain Motorcycle factory in Wuxi, one hour’s drive from Shanghai, whirrs into life. But as the production lines start rolling and workers begin bolting together the day’s order of motorcycles and scooters, one person is not happy.
Chris, who asked that we did not use his real name, is a 28-year-old British entrepreneur determined to make his fortune by manufacturing high-end electric scooters in China and importing them to Britain.
He arrived in the southern city of Guangzhou two years ago to search for a factory that would help him design and build a scooter. Without any experience of business in China, or any language skills, it has been a gruelling process.
Now, with rows of his scooters standing on the floor of Bright Mountain’s plant, waiting to be loaded and shipped, he is clearly exhausted. For the past six months, he has lived at the factory.
“If I had known back then how China works, I would have used a factory in England,” he says wistfully. “Well, maybe not England because it is too expensive, but perhaps Taiwan or Japan. I’m looking at switching production to there for the next batch,” he adds.
From the very beginning, delays have eaten into the budget for his start-up. “I’m £50,000 to £60,000 over budget,” he says.
Unlike in the West, Chinese businesses aim to build relationships with their clients before they negotiate the details of any order.
I would recommend anybody to go to the following link to view this article, it’s an extremely interesting case study.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/6962490/Come-back-Not-for-all-the-scooters-in-China.html
At China 2 West we hear many horror stories not too dis-similar to Chris’ experience above. And without trying to sound too arrogant, this is the exact reason why it is worth investing in a service partner such as China 2 West to be your eyes and ears on the ground.
We and our competitors are on the ground here to do the due-diligence for you, development work with the factory for you and above all build the relationship; or ‘Guang Xi’ for you.
Have you had a horror story? Do you need somebody to try and rescue your China Manufacturing Nightmare?
If so we’d be interested to hear from you.
Mark C
Another interesting article about China Manufacturing recovery in the news today:
China’s exports rose 17.7% in December, state media has reported, suggesting the country has overtaken Germany as the world’s largest exporter.
The rise, compared to a year earlier, breaks a 13-month decline in trade as a result of the global downturn.
Xinhua said total exports for 2009 were $1.2tn (£749bn), but total foreign trade over the year was down 13.9%.
Correspondents say the figures will lead to new demands from China’s competitors that it revalue the yuan.
Last year saw a continuing decrease in China’s trade as the global economic downturn led to a fall in demand for its products.
But in the last few weeks of the year, there was a far greater rise than forecasters had expected, with foreign exports reaching $130.7bn, up 17.7% on the previous December.
China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) said exports overall in the year were $1.2tn, down 16% from in 2008, while imports were 11.2% down from a year earlier at $1.01tn.
The politically sensitive total trade surplus was down 34.2% to $196.1bn.
The figures suggests China will surpass Germany’s export total for the whole of 2009, although this will not be confirmed until Germany’s full-year data is published in February.
Yuan demand
A spokesman for GAC said the increase was “an important turning point” for the country.
“It is safe to say now that Chinese exporters have come right through the period of weakness,” Xinhua quoted statistician Huang Guohua as saying.
The BBC’s Chris Hogg in Shanghai says many of China’s producers are low-cost manufacturers who assemble equipment such as i-Pods using foreign components.
The latest figures are being seen as an indication that those manufacturers have proved resilient in the downturn and are benefitting as their customers restock, says our correspondent.
But the figures are likely to lead to renewed complaints from China’s trading competitors that its currency is undervalued, he added.
Led by the US, they say it is unfair that China has been able to make its good cheaper by keeping the yuan weak, but Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has said China “will not yield” to foreign demands that it revalue the currency.
Beijing has long said that it will not allow the yuan to trade freely until its domestic economy was strong enough to pick up any resulting decline in exports.
The slowing decline in Chinese trade has also been taken as a sign that the country’s stimulus package is working.
Beijing raised tax rebates on exports several times in 2009, increased tax refunds and improved export credit insurance.
Article taken from BBC – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8450434.stm
With the economy reviving rapidly and no desks left at China 2 West for new staff, we have spent the past few months looking for a suitable new office location. 2 weeks ago we found the perfect spot only 1/2 mile from our current office and signed the contract last week. A full renovation is currently underway including rewiring power/LAN with sockets for each individual desk. With 400 sqm (4000 sq feet) of space, there is enough room for up to 50 staff as well as a management and customer entertainment centre complete with comfy sofa, self service bar and satellite TV. Completion date for move will be 30 March 2010, which also happens to be our CEO’s birthday…. nice timing for a double party! Check out the videos for a run through of our new office space prior to renovations.