Business Lunch

On Tuesday, March 20, 2007 I attended to my very first business lunch. The topic of the day was “Time as an Indicator of Supplier Capability,” and the speaker was Paul D. Ericksen. The presentation was about the supply chain with emphasis on the suppliers. Paul D. Ericksen argued that time is the essence of the supply chain, and that minimizing the Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT) is the best way to reduce your costs. This means that the supplier has to use the “lean” approach in order to reduce the “waste” time. The longer an item is immobile, the more money is going to waste. The goal is to have constant movement on the products and minimize the storage. This is not as easy as you might imagine; collaboration between the supplier and the company is utterly important. In a perfect world, a company would receive an engine for example, right before the installation, and the supplier would ship it on arrival from the factory, while the factory assembles all the pieces in the engine with every part arriving right before the assembling. Although the world we live in is far from perfect, but we are working towards this goal.

As this was my first business lunch, or business anything for that matter, I was far more nervous than I should have been. I had a lot of time to think about the meeting and there is so much I would want to change. During the round were everybody presented themselves I actually managed to panic and do the worst possible presentation. I understand now that next time, I should do ANYTHING but what I did. What happened was probably worst case scenario for me, therefore next time I should try to relax more and be more confident.
Attending to this meeting has made me realize that I have so much more to learn, and now I have a clearer picture on what I need to work on. First of all I need to find out my strongest features and emphasis more on this during a business conversation. The part that needs the most work is that I need to learn how to let go of my mental blocks that stops me from talking. Bottom line is I have nothing to loose, so why approach this matter in a shy way? The only thing that could happen is that I go away, without anybody’s business card. Well, I have already done that so now it is time for a different approach. Next time there will be a different Daniel.

China

For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.

Population: 1,313,973,713 (July 2006 est.)
Natural Resources: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $10 trillion (2006 est.)
Agricultural Products: rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, apples, cotton, oilseed; pork; fish
Currency: yuan (CNY); note - also referred to as the Renminbi (RMB)
Airports: 486 (2006)
Railways: total: 74,408 km
Ports and Terminals: Dalian, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai

Common Assignment

Host Company – Gain Vigor Trading. LTD China
Mainly imports waste paper from Europe and USA.

Supply chain costs: N/A
Annual report: N/A


Host Country
China’s import and export commodities.

Import (777.9 billion f.o.b. 2006 est.)
Machinery and equipment
Oil and mineral fuels
Plastic
Optical and medical equipment
Organic chemicals
Iron and steel

Export (974 billion f.o.b. 2006 est.)
Machinery and equipment
Plastics
Optical and medical equipment
Iron and steel
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html

China’s trade partners - amount shown in US billions, and brackets indicate changes from the year 2004.

Export partners (2005):
United States = $162.9 (+30%)
Hong Kong = $124.5 (+23%)
Japan = $84 (+14%)
South Korea = $35.1 (+26%)
Germany = $32.5 (+37%)
Netherlands = $25.9 (+40%)
United Kingdom = $19 (+24%)
Singapore = $16.6 (+31%)
Taiwan = $16.6 (+22%)
Russia = $13.2 (+45%)

Import partners (2005):
Japan = $100.5 (+9%)
South Korea = $76.8 (+23%)
Taiwan = $74.7 (+15%)
United States = $48.7 (+9%)
Germany = $30.7 (+1%)
Malaysia = $20.1 (+11%)
Singapore = $16.5 (+18%)
Australia = $16.2 (+40%)
Russia = $15.9 (+31%)
Thailand = $14 (+21%)
http://internationaltrade.suite101.com/article.cfm/chinas_top_trading_partners

Free Trade Zones in China

Ningbo Free Trade Zone - Ningbo Free Trade Zone

Qingdao Free Trade Zone - Qingdao Free Trade Zone - Is specialized in the processing and trade of peanuts and peanut kernels.

Shanghai City Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone - Shanghai City Waigaoqiao Free Trede Zone - Was established conforming to the international custom.

Tianjin Port Trade Free Zone - Tianjin Port Trade Free Zone
http://www.escapeartist.com/ftz/ftz.htm

Objective

To provide China with waste paper in the direction of recycling for the booming industry, as well as increasing the profit for West Seattle Recycling and complying with the laws of both countries.

Intro

Due to the high export rate and lack of trees in China, the demand for paper is vastly high, and the market prognosis is that the demand will continue to increase in the future. I intend to fill this demand with the cooperation of West Seattle Recycling and Gain Vigor Trading in Jiangmen City, China. 60% of the containers from China return back empty, this could lower the price for shipment.

http://www.westseattlerecycling.com/index.htm
http://www.ecplaza.net/tradeleads/eunicelee.html