Apr 03 2012
For manufacturers in China, the most effective hedge against rising costs is attracting, developing and retaining talent. In this case, the most effective is also the most ethically correct. This from the Huffington Post: As I’ve been saying (over and over again), an incremental upsurge in labor rates is not cause for China manufacturers to flee the …
Mar 31 2012
Foxconn/Apple have responded to bad press by vowing to implement changes that benefit workers. That will necessarily mean it will reduce it’s operators’ overtime working hours and, presumable, it will have to boost regular-time salaries to offset the operators’ loss of revenue. The result, of course, higher unit labor costs for Foxconn, and maybe …
Mar 25 2012
A group of obviously committed students and alumni from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute run Rensselaer in China | Greater China Business Club. Their interview with me can be read here.
Jan 10 2012
Interesting article in Business Week from last November: Three Types of People to Fire Immediately. The simple summary is well stated in the very last sentence: You don’t want the victims, nonbelievers, or know-it-alls. It is up to you to make sure they take their anti-innovative outlooks elsewhere. While it is a bit cavalier in discussing terminating employees (but …
Jan 09 2012
Labor unrest in China– ? What to do? So you are responsible for the performance of a China-based factory, and the headlines are getting scary. Thousands strike at LG Factory in Nanjing. Strikes at Singapore-owned Hi-P. Etc. etc. Also, it seems that strikers are targeting foreign-owned companies, like yours. To be sure, the usual media echo chamber (along with the …
Jan 05 2012
As labor rates rise in China, more and more people are talking about automation as a means to offset these costs. It is true that automation can drastically improve productivity, thereby lowering labor costs, but over-automation (or “mis-automation”) can actually increase production costs, and can do so in ways which are occluded in most cost …
Jan 02 2012
If you are interviewing for a GM of your China facility, you’re probably interested in a guy with China experience, technical competence, communication skills, leadership ability, intelligence and integrity. On the negative side, we all know about fatal flaws which reveal themselves and tell us who not to hire. China manufacturing has, in addition to …
Dec 26 2011
Remapping Debate, has an article explaining how Germany, who’s auto workers are all unionized and make about twice that of US autoworkers, produce and sell twice the number of cars as does the US. Maybe something for China-based manufacturers to think about as labor costs rise.
Oct 03 2011
I’m now reading Moneyball. I’m not at all a baseball fan– but I thought the lessons learned by the characters in change leadership in baseball might be applicable to manufacturing discussions. Here’s an exerpt from the preface: Baseball– of all things– was an example of how an unscientific culture responds, or fails to respond, to …
Jan 30 2011
It has been announced that labor costs in Guangdong will be rise again, and we are hearing the inevitable hue and cry from manufacturers. Rather than moan about incremental increases in labor costs, manufacturing executives should be more creative in finding ways to add value to their production. Actually, a better-compensated and better educated labor …
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