Ni hao! It has been almost two years since my last trip to China in August 2004. This time, we had different goals and were much more prepared for our trip. First off, I didn’t go alone. Jim Baker, Tooling Engineer, and Charles Librizzi, Technical Sales Representative, got to see China first hand and meet the people. Our consultants were given a different charter than the last trip where we saw some nice molders that also built molds. On this trip we visited 11 companies in five days- a grueling agenda. All shops we visited were primarily mold builders that exported more than 80% of their tooling to the US or Europe. We did not want to qualify shops that wanted to keep the tools and mold in-house. Most of our projects are complicated insert molding or difficult molded components requiring automation. In general, our customers want parts molded in the US with competitive tooling prices, lifetime warranties, Class A tooling and good deliveries.  The trip was a success! Of the 11 shops we visited, five are the quality we demand. One shop was just finishing two of our molds and we authorized shipment to Ironwood.

So, are we now having all molds built in Asia? Absolutely not. Many of our projects are just too complicated or are military. But, there are probably 50-70% of the projects that could be built in China. Deliveries are normally the same as we see in the US (even with air shipments to the US) and overall savings are in the 30-40% range. Our company-wide goal is to grow our own company, penetrate new markets and keep our U.S. tooling sources busy as well. With a good balance, this will happen.

Final impressions. Dealing with Asia takes commitment and patience. Tons of it. We tried to fit in as much as possible. We ate everything they put in front of us and we always used our chopsticks- even if we had some embarrassing stains on our white shirts as things occasionally went flying. I tried to learn at least one Mandarin word every day and use it as much as possible. More than once, it brought a smile to the faces of our guests as I struggled through the pronunciations. As I travel across the world (two European trips and one Asian trip already in 2006), it never ceases to amaze me that people are basically the same wherever you go. Just treat them with respect, don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself, try not to be “too” American and you’d be surprised at what can be accomplished.

Zai jian!