Maria Korolov » Archive
Don't bet it all on China
Article first appeared in FDM. What’s next for China? Best case, worse case and status quo scenarios are almost equally plausible. Here are eight questions about China’s future. 1. Is China’s growth sustainable? When China embarked on its economic liberalization, it was, effectively, a Third World country and a recipient of aid from the World Food Program. Starting from such humble beginnings, it’s easy to make great strides in economic growth. But as the country becomes richer, those numbers are harder and harder to achieve. Is China’s growth likely to level off? Probably. Will it hurt business? Probably not. Will China crash hard, as Russia did in 1998, when … Read more »
Seagate Award
This article originally appeared in Managing Automation. U.S.-based hard disk drive maker Seagate Technology International today won the prestigious Singapore Manufacturing Excellence Award. The award, presented by Singapore’s Economic Development Board in cooperation with McKinsey & Co. and the Singapore-MIT Alliance, considered such factors as product innovation, systems innovation and operational excellence. Read full article (free registration required). … Read more »
Robots to China
This article originally appeared in Managing Automation. In yet another sign that China is now at the forefront of manufacturing, ABB Robotics has moved its world headquarters from Detroit to Shanghai, China. ABB Robotics is part of Switzerland-based ABB Group, and is a world leader in automation technology. Decades ago, the company was the first to market a microcomputer-controlled, all-electric industrial robot. Read full article (free registration required). … Read more »
Automation in China
This article originally appeared in Managing Automation. China may be the low-wage manufacturing capital of the world, but not every company comes here to save money on labor. Instead, as China develops its own economy, companies are opening plants here to be close to customers, to be close to raw materials, and for other strategic reasons. Clariant, for example, a leading specialty chemicals company, is close to finishing construction on a state-of-the-art pigments plant in Hangzhou, about three hours from Shanghai. Read full article (free registration required). … Read more »
China’s cabinet industry maturing in 2006
This article originally appeared in FDM. Larger firms offer higher quality as domestic demand grows and consolidation is likely. Cabinet products from Jianpan Cabinet Co. The larger Chinese cabinet manufacturers are using advanced equipment to improve quality. The Chinese cabinet industry is expected to begin a round of consolidations as government policies and more discerning consumers will make it harder for smaller and more marginal players to remain in business. Meanwhile, the larger companies are improving quality and are increasingly looking overseas for new markets. Bihui Zhao, manager of the planning department at the Chengdu BaiV Kitchen Co., says the larger cabinet manufacturers used to see a lot of competition … Read more »
Supply Chain Challenges
This article originally appeared in Managing Automation. SHANGHAI — About two dozen supply chain executives from around the world gathered here earlier this month to discuss the business-technology challenges of managing their dispersed and diverse supplier networks in China, a country rich in opportunity but short on support infrastructure. Sponsored by the Supply-Chain Council and GeorgiaTech’s Executive Masters in International Logistics program, the Supply-Chain Executive Forum attracted senior supply-chain managers from Lowe’s Companies, Sealed Air Corp., BMW Manufacturing Corp., The Walt Disney Co., Motorola Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. , Intel Corp. , and Dell Inc., among others. Read full article (free registration required). … Read more »
RFID in China
This article originally appeared in Managing Automation. Haier Group, China’s leading home-appliance manufacturer, is ready to do away with bar codes. Today, Haier uses bar codes to track items through the production process and enable quality control, according to David Lee, a senior project manager at the company. This requires an employee to manually scan every product. Because of fatigue and operator mistakes, the error rate is between 5% and 10%, he says. In discussing Haier’s shift to RFID (radio frequency identification), Lee cites numerous draws: RFID tags are more durable than bar codes and can nearly eliminate human error from the equation. They also provide a faster … Read more »
China’s Weak Logistics
Article originally appeared in Smart Device Central (a reprint of CIO Insight article). Electrolux China, a group that manufactures kitchen, cleaning and outdoor appliances for consumers and business users, set up its supply chain system in 2002, after it had been in China for a few years. Since then, the company has restructured its APS (Advanced Planning Schedule) system in the logistic network and installed an ERP system. “We increased the service level by 15 percent, we decreased the inventory by 65 percent, and we kept the same logistics costs as in 2002,” said Jean Luc Laboucheix, supply chain director at Electrolux China. … Read more »
Supply Chain Infrastructure
This article originally appeared in Smart Device Central (reprint of CIO Insight article). The Chinese economy has been growing rapidly despite an underdeveloped supply chain network. Most Chinese manufacturing companies do not yet rely on supply chain systems, but the environment is becoming increasingly competitive and many enterprises will find it difficult to survive if they do not make their sourcing, production and distribution more efficient. That makes the supply chain management market potential enormous.China’s underdeveloped transportation infrastructure, fragmented distribution systems, limited use of technology, shortage of logistics talent, regulatory restrictions and local protectionism still limit the efficient distribution of domestic and imported products. Yet, the … Read more »
China’s Supply Chain Tech
This article originally appeared in eWeek (reprint of CIO Insight article). The Chinese economy has been growing rapidly despite an underdeveloped supply chain network. Most Chinese manufacturing companies do not yet rely on supply chain systems, but the environment is becoming increasingly competitive and many enterprises will find it difficult to survive if they do not make their sourcing, production and distribution more efficient. That makes the supply chain management market potential enormous. Chinas underdeveloped transportation infrastructure, fragmented distribution systems, limited use of technology, shortage of logistics talent, regulatory restrictions and local protectionism still limit the efficient distribution of domestic and imported products. Yet, … Read more »