2010 Sep-Oct Issue

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

THE MAGAZINE FOR GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERS 一本为全球供应链管理人士倾力打造的专业杂志

世 界第二

COLD AWAKENING

冷链不冷 梦醒高温 ACCELERATING THE GLACIAL PROGRESS OF COLD CHAIN

冷链物流颓靡 刺激加速发展 www.supplychains.com

CARGO CRISIS

HOME SWEET HOME

WHO OR WHAT IS BEHIND THE RECENT CARGO SHORTAGES?

CONTAINERS ARE MORE THAN JUST A SHIPPING TOOL

货运危机

集装箱紧缺的背后......

宜家宜乐

集装箱不再只是货运工具

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

1

APL Logistics.

For award-winning service and innovation.

• 2009 Gold Medal Award for Global Logistics Services in Consolidation – NIKE, Inc. • Five Time Top Gun Winner – The Kellogg Company • Best Logistics Par tner – NETGEAR, Inc. It’s great to be recognized by our customers and industry peers for just doing our job.

In fact, solving complex supply chain solutions is all in a day’s work for us. Whether you require a comprehensive integrated solution or individual logistics components, we have the resources and exper tise to deliver.

While awards are nice, it’s our customers we have to thank for inspiring us to constantly innovate and create more flexible, scalable and ground-breaking supply chain solutions.

Visit www.apllogistics.com for a full listing of our awards, and discover why our customers consider us to be their award-winning partner.

Origin and Destination Logistics Services in 260 Locations Worldwide Innovative IT Solutions for Maximum Supply Chain Visibility and Control Scalable and Flexible Solutions to Meet Your Needs

Publisher: China Supply Chain Council Ltd. (Hong Kong) CHaINA Magazine is a FREE bi-monthly publication for the members of the Council. There is no charge for members and qualified readers to receive subscriptions in China. For your free subscription, extra copies or address changes, please email subs@ supplychain.cn 出版商：China Supply Chain Council Ltd. (香港) CHaINA杂志是为 Council会员准备的免费杂志。我们协会

THE MAGAZINE FOR GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERS

会员和高质量的读者都可以免费订阅。为了及时收到 我 们 的 杂 志 ， 额 外 订 阅 或 地 址 变 更 请 发 邮 件 至 subs@

supplychain.cn

Office and Team: Publisher Max Henry Chief Editor Monica Liau Art Director How Xu Graphic Designer Acco Fang Junior Editor Sharon Lu

Photographers Jimmy Kim Contributing Writers David Henshall, Jane K. Winn, Scott Steger, Kenneth Glenn, Mark Milar, Tom Craig, Peter Tirschwell, Josh Green Translation Pepper Shen, Sharon Lu

CHaINA Magazine is the only bilingual supply chain and logistics magazine in Asia with a strong focus on Greater China. In every issue, we write about the news, trends and best practices that will help manufacturers, retailers and distributors make better business decisions with their sourcing, production, logistics from, to or within Asia.

CHaINA是亚洲地区唯一一本专注于中国的供应链和物流行 业的双语杂志。在每一期，我们通过刊登新闻，行业动 向和实践经验来帮助制造企业、零售商和发行商进行亚 洲内外的采购、生产和物流形式的选择。

Distribution: 10,000 copies 6 times a year CHaINA Magazine is offered FREE of charge by direct post mail to qualified readers in Greater China who are involved in all aspects of supply chain management. It is also distributed through selected locations in major Chinese cities, including hotels, restaurants, service offices/apartments, business centers, airport lounges and other key locations. 发行量：一年六期，一万本 CHaINA杂志通过直接向中国各供应链管理的专业读者发送 邮件来提供免费的阅读机会。同样也分发到中国的主要 城市并在酒店、服务楼，商务中心，机场大厅或其他中 心地带免费赠阅。

Target Readers Our target readers are R&D, sourcing, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, transportation, retail, distribution and operations managers, directors, vice presidents and decision makers. A majority of our readers are end-users shippers, mainly foreign-invested and local manufacturers and retailers. 目标读者 我们的目标读者有来自采购、制造、物流、仓储、运 输、零售和分销的运营经理、总监、副总裁、或总裁。 大部分读者是物流的需求者，外资或国内的制造企业和 零售商。

Subscription for Overseas Readers If you are located outside China, you can subscribe to this independent and insightful magazine today with full online access for only US$ 50 for 6 issues per year. For subscription inquiries, please contact: subs@supplychain.cn Stories Ideas, Comments & Feedback If you have an idea for a story, interview or case study, please contact the editor. We welcome feedback and comments about our content or any issues relating to supply chain management in Asia. Please email editor@ supplychain.cn 反馈和意见 如果您有任何新闻故事、采访或实践 案例，请与我们主编联系。如果您就 杂志内容或亚洲供应链管理有任何的意见、建议或新鲜 资讯，请发邮件至editor@supplychain.cn与我们取得联系。 www.supplychains.com

Monica Liau Chief Editor CHaINA Magazine

Analysts throw a lot of statistics into our everyday information stream, but what does it really matter that China has been finally crowned the world’s second largest economy? This statistic has been a long time on the horizon. Tokyo’s announcement merely validates an assumption rather than speaks of a new era. In fact, the news passed in the Chinese media with hardly so much as a blip. It was more foreign sources that gasped, as they were forced to review where China was 15 years ago and the great changes it has made going forward.

More interesting is that China has also been named number one energy user in the world. While some say this has also been long in coming, Beijing’s reaction will have more consequences for supply chain professionals. While huge amounts of investment have gone into renewable energies, August has also seen more and more provincial governments, by order of Beijing, cracking down on factories over their energy quotas, sometimes with little or no warning. Unexpected stoppages or slowdowns, as well as demands to update old facilities, will force more factories to either clean up their act or shut down – putting more pressure on the supply cahin in the face of upcoming holidays. Looks like it may be time to dust off the “green supply chain” manual and look for efficiency solutions that will help manufacturers lean down and cut back. 分析家抛出种种数据填塞了我们每天接触的信息，不过就算中国成为真正意 义上的世界第二大经济体又有何妨？这些数据早不新鲜，东京公告无非只是证实 了假设，并未开启什么新纪元。这条新闻在中国媒体报导中不过转瞬即逝，并未 掀起波澜。倒是国外媒体在鳃鳃过虑，因为他们又得为穷尽中国的落后和十五年 来产生的巨大变化而废寝忘食了。 更为有趣的是中国还被封为全球第一大能源消耗国。虽然有人说这事实由来 已久，可北京方面的回应对供应链专家来说可谓一阵惊雷。尽管对可再生能源投 资巨大，但在八月，各省级政府纷纷在中央指示下遏令相关工厂尽快关闭以防能 源配额超标，但政府有时给出的期限太短，甚至不打招呼就令其走人。厂商对停 工怠工本已始料未及，还要兼顾更新设备——越来越多的工厂进退维谷——既不 能自我改进，也没法关门走人；而时值节假日高峰前夕，供应链专家更是负重千 钧。或许该把压箱底的“绿色供应链”手册翻出看看节能方案了，是时候给制造 业瘦瘦身了。

DISCLAIMER Editorial and advertising are independent and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Council, the board, its members or the staff. While every efforts has been made to ensure accuracy, the publisher is not responsible for any errors. Views expressed by writers or contributors in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. @ Copyright China Supply Chain Council Ltd. (Hong Kong). All rights reserved The contents of the magazine may not be reprinted in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher.

No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the copyright holder. CHaINA is a registered trademark of the Global Supply Chain Council.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

3

2 .

O

N FEATURE

世

40

22

界

44

No.2 世界第二

CHaINA pauses to consider matters of macro CHaINA斟思酌议 纵览宏观

Home Sweet Home 宜家宜乐

Containers are more than just a shipping tool 集装箱不再只是货运工具

4

第

二

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

36

Cold Awakening 冷链不冷 梦醒高温

Accelerating the glacial progress of cold chain 冷链物流颓靡 刺激加速发展

Platform Envy 平台觊觎

Taobao triumphs while eBay tries again eBay重装卷土 淘宝再当霸主

28

Cargo Crisis 货运危机

Who or what is behind the recent cargo shortages? 集装箱紧缺的背后.....

www.supplychains.com

THE MAGAZINE FOR GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN LEADERS

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2010

CONTENTS FIRST:

FOCUS

NEWS ROUNDUP

52 Spread the Word There’s no “next China” for manufacturers

06 Building Bulk China’s shipyards are the busiest in the world

50 Risk Roundup Risk alerts around Asia

08 Key stories impacting logistics and supply chain management in the Asia region

54 Wage Increases Who’s affected and how

11 Want it? Got it An update on interesting M&A

55 M&A Now is the time

12 What the English Media Missed A look at what the Chinese media is saying about logistics and supply chain management

56 Quality Gap Getting it right the first time

COLUMNS

14 VATs of Gold E-invoicing in China 16 Chinanomics Corporate Practices

LINKEDIN

17 Professional Discussions Is supply chain industry’s backbone?

PROFILES

18 Deciding on Dell Interview with Bella Zhou, Dell

SPONSORED Feature

EXECUTIVE Appointments

59 With talent at a premium, CHaINA keeps an eye on which executives are moving where.

EVENT

60 Forklift Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines 62 CLASSIFIED 65 COMPANY 65 EVENTS

LISTINGS

INDEX

CALENDAR

FINAL Word

66 Pardon My Parking Shanghai’s on the short list for most expensive parking

26 Listen to the Voices Vocollect in China

www.supplychains.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

5

FIRST Word

BUILDING BULK Experts are debating whether or not 2010 will show a turnaround in the shipping industry. While global indicators are still a bit shaky, China continues to power forward at full steam. Thanks to the robust stimulus package and an increase in new orders, China’s shipbuilding industry is now ranked number one worldwide as of the first half of this year.

The incredible glut of new orders that China’s shipyards have been able to score in the past seven months have rocketed it past the yards of South Korea. Looking at how many companies are still dealing with the dead time of 2009, the fact that China’s 800 shipyards are seeing a business boom is nothing short of amazing.

420%

Increase in new orders for China’s shipbuilders year-on-year in the first seven months of 2010 according to a report issued by the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry. This brings the orders to a total of 33.3 million deadweight tons.

55% 8.01 million

is the percentage that shipping orders slumped at around the same time last year.

Amount of compensated gross tons (cgT) of new vessels China delivered in the first half of 2010, beating out South Korea’s 7.48 million cgT.

20 vessels

are scheduled to be delivered by Jiangsu Changbo shipyard between the second half of this year and the middle of 2012. This order is worth US$338 million.

Imaginechina

6

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

www.supplychains.com

Chinese workers paint a bulk cargo ship at the Jinling Shipyard of China Changjiang National Shipping (Group) Corporation in Nanjing.

www.supplychains.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

7

NEWS Roundup

News

Roundup Cisco’s supply chain rattled Cisco Systems, which designs and supplies electronic components, is facing supply chain problems due to extended or unpredictable lead times for sourcing components; a result of a reduced workforce seen in Chinese suppliers. Cisco is merely one of a growing number of multinationals facing problems in their global supply chain. As the last few quarters show recovery, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) predicts that increasing demand is expected to continue to create problems through mismanagement of inventory levels. The problem is worsened by customer demand skewing inventory levels with the placement of “same order” multiple times within various sales channels and then canceling the duplicative orders upon receipt of the product. They are also placing orders with other vendors with shorter manufacturing lead times.

vices name. The new structure will bring ST-Anda into the broader global arena, combining both international and domestic services. Toll is also beginning to launch its own fully owned and branded truck/line haul fleet focused on eight regional distribution centers around China.

Toll has had operations in China through its 49% joint-venture with ST-Anda since 1996. The group completed its acquisition of the joint venture earlier this year, and now fully operates a network of 23 logistics facilities with over 20 distribution centres, delivering to more than 1,600 cities across the country.

Merck Sharp & Dohme plans facility in Hangzhou Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), a leading global phar-

Toll re-brands in China Toll group announced their ST-Anda acquisition be re-branded under the group integrated logistics

8

that will Toll ser-

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

maceutical manufacturer, began work on a new manufacturing factory in Hangzhou as part of its expansion plan in China. The first phase of the project covers 75,000 sqm and involves RMB 700 million of investment. Total investment will surpass RMB 1 billion (about US$147.6 million), making it one of its largest pharmaceutical packaging projects in recent years. The factory is expected to start production by the first quarter of 2012 and will have an annual packaging capacity of over 300 million packs.

General Motors to increase Asian supplier volume General Motors (GM) plans to increase the amount of components and services it buys from Asian suppliers by up to US$ 1.6 billion per year in the next three years, citing the need for GM to build components where they are sold. Most of GM’s Asian investment will be in Thailand, where it spends US$ 200 million a year on outsourcing, and is planning to build a US$ 500 million diesel engine plant. The company has been focused on Thailand, as it hopes to increase its exposure to the ASEAN region in which sales have increased by 41%

Cargo ships crash off coast of Mumbai Yet another oil disaster has made the news. This time, it’s India. Two cargo ships inexplicably collided in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai. The Panamanian-registered container ship MSC Chitra, which carried several thousand tons of oil products like diesel and lubricants, suffered the most damage and has spilled over 50tons of oil into the water. The accident, which caused the boat to run aground and list 80 degrees, shut down the Mumbai port and the neighboring Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which together account for over 60% of India’s container traffic. In addition to dramatic environmental consequences, over 32 other cargo ships were stranded.

www.supplychains.com

NEWS Roundup

tomers from a wide spectrum of industries including consumer, healthcare, retail, footwear, apparel and garment.

Agility opens in Phnom Penh Li & Fung to take IDS private Consumer goods sourcing company Li & Fung recently offered to take Integrated Distribution Services Group (IDS) private for HK$ 7 billion (US$ 901 million). Li & Fung already had a 45% stake in the company.

Li & Fung, the biggest supplier of apparel and toys to Wal-Mart Stores, currently generates most of its revenue from the US and Europe. It is working to gain entry into Asia, especially China, where IDS has a majority of its clients. IDS has over 400 cus-

www.supplychains.com

Agility has decided to open a logistics office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The logistics company cites an increased domestic

demand for logistic services and an increase in international and cross border trade as incentives to enter the country.

The services Agility will offer in Cambodia include air freight, sea freight, customs clearance, warehousing and local distribution solutions. A trucking service will connect Phnom Penh to both Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok and eventually South China and Vietnam.

Chrysler choose Shanghai for APAC Logistics hub Chrysler (China) Sales Co. announced that it has signed an agreement with Shanghai Tongsheng Logistics Park Investment & Development Co. to jointly establish a logistics center in Yangshan Port, Shanghai.

The new logistics facility to be

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

9

NEWS Roundup built in Yangshan Port would serve as Chrysler’s Asia-Pacific logistics center. Chrysler previously built its auto parts transshipment center in Singapore and now is set to transfer this facility to Shanghai.

Samsung chooses Thailand As a result of Samsung increasing its air conditioner sales in Thailand by 130%, the com-

pany has decided to build its new production line in Thailand instead of Vietnam. With increased investment in Thailand, Samsung hopes to increase its market share from 14% to 20% this year. In addition, Samsung has significantly expanded its distribution network, air-conditioner specialist shops and logistics services to cater to the Thailand market.

Temesek to inject US$ 1 billion into China real estate Mapletree Investments, a unit of Singapore based Temasek Holdings, has announced that with the completion of its Mapletree India China Fund, a US$ 1 billion package will be established to develop commercial complexes in first tier Chinese cities. The fund, which focuses

on both commercial and residential projects, is expected to be launched within six to 12 months. In addition to its Vivo City in Xi’an, which will start operation in December, other fund projects include ones in Beijing and FoShan.

Ningbo to partner with IBM Ningbo is planning to construct an information platform with IBM China that will link

5,000 logistics companies over the next three years. IBM will also set up a new lab that will focus on software development, testing, consulting and training to provide services to improve logistics. The logistics costs in China are relatively high, accounting for 30% of total production costs. With throughput in Ningbo’s port increasing by 6% last year, the city expects to benefit significantly from the new platform.

Phoenix Waigaoqiao Bonded Logistics Park Dual-storey Ramped Up International-grade Warehouse With Approximately 85% Occupied NOW 长

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Key Advantages • First bonded logistics park in China since 2004 with proven Customs supervision practices • Port location with access to the A20 Outer Ring Expressway within 2 minutes • Qualification for VAT rebates upon entry to the zone • No VAT for trading between internal companies

• No import customs duty • Prompt customs clearance • Commodity consolidation and ideal for International Procurement Center • Regional and international trans-shipment • International landlord • International Grade A building specifications • Low-cost alternative compared to other Asian ports

Pudong International Airport 浦东国际机场

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www.supplychains.com

NEWS Roundup

Want it? Got it.

US$38.7 million

Austin Ventures acquires YRC Logistics Austin Ventures, a private equity and venture capital firm, acquired YRC Logistics for around US$38.7 million. YRC Logistics was wholly owned by U.S. based YRC Worldwide, a provider of a range of asset and non-assetbased transportation services. Following the acquisition, YRC Logistics will operate as a private company owned by Austin Ventures. YRC Worldwide will retain all of its China-based operations.

US$550 million

China Merchants takes Loscam

July saw China Merchants acquire Australian pallet supplier Loscam for around US$ 550 million. It now has control over Australia’s second largest pallet producer.

This makes China Merchants the number one provider of reusable wooden pallets and plastic produce bins in seven Asian nations.

Alibaba buys Auctiva Following their U.S. acquisition of Vendio services in June, Alibaba has announce another deal to buy U.S. based Auctiva, which is a leading third-party developer of tools for eBay. eBay currently holds 40% of the U.S. e-commerce market. Alibaba said the acquisition is part of the US$100 million investment plan for their AliExpress services.

www.supplychains.com

Apple eyes Sichuanese gaming company

Lost it

US$30 million

Charles River to pay break-up fee In late April, Charles River Laboratories (CRL) announced a US$1.6 billion merger with WuXi PharmaTech. In late July CRL changed their tune, apparently due to investor concerns about uncertainties surrounding the deal, and officially withdrew its US$21.25 cash and stock offer for all of WuXi’s shares. The large American firm must now pay its China counterpart a US$30 million breakup fee. Ouch!

75%

Chu Kong Ship to buy stake in Civet Logistics

Chinese state media reports that Apple is in talks with Handseeing, a little-known software and gaming company from Sichuan. While Apple has refused to comment, Handseeing’s deputy general manager, Tian Bo, has confirmed that the two companies are negotiating an acquisition price - potentially around US$150 million. This will be Apples first acquisition foray into China should talks go through.

Chu Kong Shipping Development said it plans to buy a 75% stake in Civet Logistics for an initial consideration of RMB 77.69 million (US$89.299 million). Civet Logistics is principally engaged in the operation and management of Civet Port in southwest Zhuhai City. The proposed acquisition is to strengthen Chu Kong’s market position in the port operation industry and plan for further expansion into the Pearl River transportation system.

ZAP spends

US$29 million

for China’s Jonway Electric-car maker and distributor ZAP has announced an agreement to acquire 51% of Zhejiang Jonway Automobile Co. Ltd., a Chinese maker of electric vehicles, to reach a growing market. The agreement with Jonway will immediately boost ZAP’s production capability and give access to Jonway’s dealership network in China and distribution partners in Europe and Egypt. ZAP will also acquire exclusive international distribution rights to Jonway’s automobile products for about 31.5 million shares of ZAP common shares, and has to right to acquire the remaining 49% of Jonway Auto by March 30, 2011.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

11

NEWS Roundup

What

the English media missed

In the face of our nationwide “hot logistics” environment, the rate of building logistics parks around China can be described as unprecedented. It seems that Chinese governments at all levels are involved in the enthusiastic construction of logistics parks. Of all the logistics parks that were approved and promoted by the government, 32% were approved by the provincial government, the municipal government approved 59% and the district level government approved 9%.

It seems like the government feels that if one place does not work to set up a logistics parks, it means the place will lose its competitive edge in the market.

On the other hand, according to statistics, it seems that even when logistics parks are built, the business does not necessarily come. There is currently about a 60% vacancy rate in Chinese logistics parks. Much of this problem comes from the old Chinese issue, the “enclosure movement” [roughly translated: this phenomenon speaks to the Chinese business practice of merely focusing on the land that they will buy, and the profit they make off if it, not how to plan the inside and its affects on traffic and public services] There is also the problem of one region or a small area creating several different parks in close proximity. Often, the governments of different places will give out preferential policies used to attract capital investment aggressively. This leads to more vicious competition over a small population of companies.

Surveys also show that many parts of these logistics parks lack clear strategic positioning in construction planning. As a result, it is difficult for many of these logistics parks to garner investment, which affects the overall effective profit of these parks. Some

logistics parks use the real estate business idea of industrial park to run their logistics facilities. This means that project planning becomes a mere formality. They merely focus on the primary objective of getting land resources, everything else seems a mere afterthought.

All of these factors have contributed to a clear trend of logistics parks detaching themselves from what supply chain logistics services actually demand. Many mishaps have happened as a result including; the radius of distribution in urban settings actually being too large, traffic congestion around and into logistic parks have been

Logistic Parks are hot, but riddled with problems

12

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

grossly unanticipated and therefore reduces transportation efficiency, poor lanes for truck transport leads to inaccessibility, malpractice lawsuits, etc. Many logistics park overseers still use the “investment” and “sales” business ideas to operate, but lack the understanding of how best to set up a park garnered towards logistics supply chain solutions.

Based on the above, relevant organizations have proposed that transportation departments and governments must have a better understanding of how much demand there is before deciding how large of a logistics park to establish. This decision should be based on a survey of existing storage class.

The organizations should also establish accounting standards for consumption, understand what supporting and transit logistics capacity needs to be established, plus a mandatory report focusing on the complete convergence of a variety of transport modes. There should also be specific requirements to make sure energy efficiency and other standards and conditions become the basis of planning or layout or even the approved of all the logistics parks.

www.supplychains.com

NEWS Roundup

Suning discusses future

Big growth for Daxing

On July 28, the “Development of China’s PC Industry” forum was held by Suning in Nanjing for the second time ever. Topics that were discussed included demand segmentation, application driven technology, cross-border products, channel integration and a series of industry trends. As the largest computer distribution channel of China, Suning Appliance announced four strategic initiatives during this forum to put RMB350 billion worth of merchandise into the production chain over the next three years.

Daxing Beijing South Logistics Center (DBSLC) made a total 1.29 million tons throughput between January amd May this year, an increase of 23.5% to previous years. As it is one of Beijing’s five major logistics bases involved in the restructuring of the Beijing logistics industry program, it is expected to increase another 40% this year. DBSLC is the only integrated logistics base that can convert between railway and road in Bejing and is expected to increase rail capacity to 10 million tons per year.

Bijie to be logistics hub Bijie, a city in Guizhou province, is set to become a logistics and transport hub in the Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou region within the next five years.

The Chengdu-Guiyang high speed railway, Hangzhou-Ruili expressway, Xiamen-Chengdu expressway as well as the airport are all currently under construction and will cross eachother in Bijie. The Zunyi-Bijie section of Hangzhou-Ruili expressway has already seen an investment of RMB 22.14 million. This section will be constructed faster than expected due to the efficiency of land acquisition.

Jiaxing builds five supply chains Port logistics has been the core in the development of the service industry in the Jiaxing port district of Zhejiang Province since the beginning of this year. Five supply chains are being focused on, including shipping container, distribution of liquid chemicals, coal, capital goods as well as bonds in order to upgrade the port, promote river-sea combined transportation and create the new prospects of “water-water combined transportation” and “water-land combined transportation.”jian province.

Yichun invests in grain

Information inaccessibility Xinjin Shifeng Medical Apparatus and Instrument Co are working on an e-commerce logistics supply chain for new medical equipment. In July, the company met with students, professors, IT professionals and executives at the China University of Electronic Science and Technology to discuss ideas to overcome “information islands” (aka inaccessible data) pertaining to production, trade and logistics. By creating a more visible supply chain, Xinjin hopes to reduce costs, improve efficiency and quality and implement new service models.

www.supplychains.com

Yichun has invested over RMB150 million into their modern Grain Logistics Project. The development and Reform Commission has pledged RMB153.96 million to the Food Council of Yichun City for the Project in the mid of July 2010, to accelerate the building pace.

The logistics project includes grain storage warehouse, silo, and construction of supporting facilities. RMB 7million was invested by the central government, RMB63.96 million by private businesses and RMB83 million came from other investors.

Geely rebuilds Volvo supply chain Wuhan container station opens The Wuhan Container Center Station, located on the East Lake and the CiHui Field, was put into operation in August.

It is one of 18 container city centers officially approved by the Ministry of Railways in China. It covers an area of 333 acres and includes container, express and special delivery and logistics operation areas.

The total investment was RMB 600 million and it is expected to reach a peak traffic volume of 2 million containers.

In order to prepare for bringing Volvo into the family, Geely is working on restructuring the organization of their suppliers system. While Johnson Controls and French company Faurecia have already signed cooperation agreements with Volvo and are both Geely’s long-term suppliers, insiders say that the Chinamade Volvo branch will build a completely new distribution channel separate from Geely.

This means Volvo will remain independent in its management structure, production, manufacturing, and all other aspects of operation.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

13

COLUMNS

VATs of Gold

F Jane K. Winn is Charles Stone Professor at University of Washington School of Law in Seattle, and a Fulbright Scholar. She has been visiting China since 1984, and is coauthor of Law of Electronic Commerce, published by Aspen Law & Business.

Before Chinese enterprises can benefit from e-invoicing, major reforms are required for the country's VAT systems

E-invoicing Possibilities

rom Golden Tax Project to EInvoicing in China?

Outside China, many enterprises see e-invoicing as one of the next frontiers in increasing the efficiency of their supply chains. The best e-invoicing systems are designed not merely to “dematerialize” the paper invoice and replace it with an electronic equivalent such as a PDF file, but also to help rationalize transaction processing flows within organizations and among trading partners. When e-invoicing solutions are integrated into e-banking services, they can also help pave the way towards improved supply chain finance. In China, however, taxpayers have not yet been granted permission to use e-invoicing, let alone encouraged to do it. Up to now, the Chinese government has focused its attention using information technology to improve tax compliance instead. But is e-invoicing on the horizon in China in the future?

Lessons for China from Europe’s Emerging EInvoicing Framework?

In a few countries such as Finland and Belgium, tax authorities have partnered with banks, technology service providers and businesses to achieve widespread use of e-invoicing. While e-invoicing adoption rates in Europe generally are only around 3%, in some enterprises and industry segments in Finland, they are over 50%1. Finnish banks have seamlessly integrated e-invoicing services into the e-banking services they already provided to customers. Electronic invoices formatted in XML are both human and machine readable, so sophisticated corporate customers can process them automatically, while small and medium sized enterprises can process them manually. Banks can offer lines of credit secured by receivables processed through the e-invoicing system. In a move designed to push more SMEs to adopt e-invoicing, the Finnish Government recently stopped accepting paper invoices.

Finnish economists have estimated that the cost to process each invoice drops by 60-80% with the switch from paper to electronic invoices2. In Belgium, the ISABEL e-commerce platform adopted

by Belgian banks in the 1990s has allowed large corporate billers to exchange e-invoices for the last 5 years, driving adoption rates to 20%3.

Before Chinese enterprises can reap the benefits of e-invoicing, major reforms would be required in China’s VAT system and progress would be needed in developing China’s e-commerce infrastructure.

Many sophisticated Chinese enterprises already exchange invoice data between ERP systems, but under China’s current VAT laws, suppliers and their customers are still required to exchange and retain copies of paper invoices. Collaboration among Chinese banks on a common e-invoicing platform has not yet been identified as a strategic goal because China’s banks are still struggling to modernize their information technology just to survive foreign competition.

While large-scale exporters have adopted sophisticated information technology to interface with customers abroad, adoption rates for e-commerce technologies among Chinese enterprises in the domestic economy remain low. Progress would have to be made on multiple fronts before ordinary Chinese enterprises would find e-invoicing a compelling business opportunity.

The Goal of China’s Golden Tax Project: Compliance, not E-Invoicing Starting in the mid-1990s, China has been gradually implementing a VAT system. In any VAT system, regulations governing the use of invoices play a critical role because forged VAT invoices are a major source of tax fraud. From the outset, Chinese tax authorities knew that enforcement of a VAT in China would not be easy. Developed countries with VAT systems depend on taxpayers to self-assess and voluntarily remit the tax owed,

1 The Adoption of Electronic Invoicing in Finnish Private and Public Organizations 2 Electronic Invoicing Initiatives in Finland and the European Union 3 E-Invoice Gateway: Belgium

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COLUMNS

If China throws its weight behind emerging international e-invoicing standards, it could be a first step toward increasing the efficiency of Chinese enterprises

subject to a possible audit in the future.

Developing countries face significant challenges in collecting VAT because they lack local business cultures that make large-scale voluntary compliance schemes feasible. To increase VAT compliance rates, China launched the Golden Tax Project (GTP) in the 1990s shortly after the decision was made to adopt a VAT system.

The GTP system today links all of China’s large enterprises into a national computer network designed to securely transfer information from taxpayers to the tax authorities, not to permit taxpayers to exchange e-invoices with each other. The GTP system provides Chinese tax authorities with a national VAT invoice-matching system, and allows them to analyze data about enterprise revenues in order to improve the administration of the VAT system. In order to participate in the GTP, ordinary taxpayers are required to add software and hardware issued by the tax authorities to their existing accounting and business information systems. These add-on systems are used to generate copies of all the invoices they have issued and upload them once a month to local tax authorities’ computer systems. The tax authorities use this resulting database of vendor invoices to check the validity of VAT tax returns submitted by purchasers. Deductions based on invoices that cannot be validated will be disallowed.

ing standards within the ISO 20022 UNIFI message scheme. The ISO 20022 framework provides an environment within which different industry groups operating within global financial markets can develop and distribute interoperability standards based on the requirements of their own industry.

The Expert Group believed that the UN/CEFACT CII v.2 standard combined with supporting ISO 20022 standards would provide a solid foundation for the development of interoperable e-invoicing applications. If China throws its weight behind these emerging internationals e-invoicing standards now, it could be a first step toward increasing the efficiency of Chinese enterprises and removing barriers to their participation in global markets in the future.

First Steps toward E-Invoicing in China?

If China were to turn its attention to e-invoicing after the GTP is successfully implemented nation-wide, what challenges would need to be addressed? Encouraging local technology vendors and enterprises to adopt global e-invoicing standards might be a first step that could be undertaken immediately in order to lay a foundation for more ambitious strategies in the future. The 2009 report by an Expert Group on e-Invoicing established by the EU makes several recommendations regarding the development of global standards for e-invoicing that might be of interest to Chinese regulators, enterprises and technology vendors.4 The Expert Group recommended use of the UN/CEFACT “Cross-Industry Invoice” (CII) standard for EU e-invoicing systems.

Because the CII standard alone will not be enough to solve the technical interoperability problems associated with einvoicing, the Expert Group also recommended develop4 Final Report of the Expert Group on e-Invoicing, November 2009

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COLUMNS

Chinanomics

U David Henshall is founder of Purchasing Practice (www.purchasingpractice.com), a niche consultancy specializing in procurement. Contact him at dhenshall@purchasingpractice.com )

There is clear a clear opportunity for procurement to add value at a strategic level by contributing to procurements "golden triangle."

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Corporate Practices

nder international pressure to revalue its currency, China has been accused of exporting unemployment to the world.

However, China showed spectacular timing by announcing a week before the G20 meeting in Toronto that it will abandon the two-year-old peg that has kept the RMB tied to the dollar and allow the exchange rate to float within a very narrow band . With clear pressure for a trend upwards, a stronger RMB will make Chinese goods more expensive to western buyers, bringing pressure for Chinese suppliers to reduce prices. Also, it will make western imports cheaper, providing Chinese companies an opportunity to upgrade and reposition their manufacturing capabilities via capital investments.

With the rise in domestic wages, more Chinese consumers will be able to afford desirable western consumer products such as the iPhone. However, before hoards of consumers rush off to Apples newly opened Shanghai store and businesses invest heavily for the future, there remains an important caveat: if wage increases are passed onto the consumer this could negate the benefit of the decision to float the RMB, placing pressure on Chinese businesses to find efficiency and productivity increases to contain inflationary pressure.

So where will these efficiencies come from?

One source is from increased capital investment, but this will take time to feed into market prices. The other source is from the supply chain and more effective sourcing strategies: Companies such as General Motors, Honda, Motorola, and Intel, have all shifted some manufacturing or research to inland locations in recent years, both to tap lower costs and to open up new markets. Others have gone off shore, to lower-cost countries such as Vietnam

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

or Indonesia. Businesses will need to weigh the risk and benefits of moving offshore to such countries, which have more political uncertainty and poor infrastructure. Developing new and existing domestic suppliers therefore, will become increasingly important in the drive to become more efficient and reduce cost.

There is a clear opportunity for procurement to add value at a strategic level, by contributing to procurement’s “golden triangle” of growth, margin improvement and sustainability. Procurements contribution to these goals is supported via cost management, collaboration and innovation: Advanced cost management skills can drive cost both ‘down’ and ‘out’ of the supply chain while delivering ‘value’ by routinely evaluating business process sourcing to optimize cost. Collaborative skills are critical to reducing risk and capturing supplier innovation. By creating value that competitors cannot easily replicate, a gap is opened between the organisation and its direct competitors to create sustainable competitive advantage for itself, rather than for the benefit of the industry as a whole. Procuring innovation requires new skills when dealing in intellectual property: engage supply markets without revealing critical details about their intentions and have the tools to evaluate how much they are willing to pay to explore and develop new ideas.

The central bank decision has created a high degree of certainty for Chinese buyers; the currency will trend upwards and wages will be allowed to rise. Procurement will increasingly be under the spotlight and must grasp the opportunity. The critical challenge will be to develop the necessary talent to rise to the occasion. The alternative will be to accept lower margins.

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ONLINE

Seen on What the leaders think: Thomas Zimmermann, Experienced Supply Chain Manager Supply Chain management is more than commonly viewed, purchasing and logistics..It’s a management philosophy, which aims in every aspect of the enterprise to provide continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. It’s the management “high tech” of the future.

Tonia Deal, President at Tonia Deal Consultants Supply Chain is absolutely the backbone of most organizations. Supply Chain effects the bottom line. That’s why we are creating profit driven supply chain departments. Ten years ago this wasn’t the case. Today SC interfaces with every aspect of the company and the customer. If you don’t have SC in front of your customer on occasion then you should. What better way to help your suppliers be the best they can. We are on a continuous improvement momentum.

Michael Hewitt, Regional Director Safety, Security & Trade Compliance at Agility Most definitely just take a look at what happened when most of the Western world was covered with volcanic ash it brought the airways to an stand still.

Just in time fresh produce started to disappear in the shops. Look how much money was lost by suppliers who could not get their product to market.

The Volcano incident, and we are not over it yet, just goes to demonstrate how vulnerable the supply chain is.

Kumar Rahul Logistic Analyst at AFL Definitely. And just like the fact that we take proper care of other parts of our bodies (by proper diets or exercises) but most of us forget to care for our backbone, many companies spend their energy working out for other functions like roduction or sales, but forget the importance of SCM. With an effective SCM practices, we can take SCM to a strategic role in the success of any organization.

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Is supply chain the backbone of all industry?

Srinivas K, Supply Chain professional Every product on the retail shelf, when traced back to its origins (down to raw materials), has a very interesting story of its own to tell... Its journey through all the countries and temporary locations before getting there. Most of the consumers don’t think about this... as to how that product which started in a remote place in China a few months ago got there. And then there is added complexity within each product category. Supply Chain is definitely one of the important areas for an organization and works hand in hand with other functions. Especially with globalization; rapidly evolving customer profiles, so much at stake, pressure to keep costs down and now the growing importance of reverse logistics and following environmentally sustainable practices...supply chain has become more important than ever!

Praveen Kurup, Trade Correspondent at Moneywise Media It’s definitely critical, but the acceptance of its criticality varies depending on the industry being considered, and of course the geography. In India, logistics itself is one of the least developed functions, although fancy SCM titles have been creeping into the corporate world here for some time. It is not uncommon to find whole industries structured around the logistics involved. For example, apparently the cement industry in India is fragmented and has many regional players because of the (roughly) 300 km radius that can be economically serviced by trucks carrying cement bags from any manufacturing site. But this does not mean that most players in the Indian cement industry take SCM seriously. Rather they look at the mode of transportation as the constraint, and prefer to structure production around this. Maybe they are right in doing that.

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PROFILES

n Bella Zhou

Global Commodity Manager, Dell Computer

Deciding on D ELL

Bella Zhou discusses how she got the job of her dreams, and why supply chain is the place to be.

You just took on this position with Dell, what does your current role entail?

My current role is actually several different roles rolled into one – as I’ve just started, this is my test period and an opportunity for me to start to understand several different department functions. This is kind of a different case from some other companies because usually what HR does is hire one specialized person for a very specific function. For my case, I’m given more time and more experience across functions before I’m placed into a specific one, so I can learn a cross section of the company functions. This onboard period means that while I participate in a lot of different procurement projects, as my background is engineering, I’m also involved into supply chain management, sourcing, process development, and supplier management.

So after the company test me out and I build up my network, the company will see where I perform best and they make a position for me.

That’s quite a lot of work, what is the benefit of this to you?

I actually find this the most interesting part of being with Dell. I really have a wide visibility of the company because my job is cross functional – for me, this is unusual. In my experience, if you were in the sourcing department, you just worked with suppliers; if you worked with supply chain management, you only dealt with those

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functions. For me, I get to have different interactions with different people. In my previous position, which I worked after my BA at Fudan University and before my graduate studies, I had a really narrow and deep job (product engineering/product line manager) which I worked for about five years. It was great experience at the time and really developed my technical abilities – but in terms of growth prospects, it was too constricting. I was attracted to Dell precisely because I had an opportunity to see the whole business. This was really important for my future vision.

So how did you make the jump from narrow function to broader positions?

For this I can at least partially credit the CLGO program. When a lot of people, especially Chinese students, go for higher education they’re like, oh, I’ll just take it part time. But my double degree really took a lot of commitment. The first year I studied every night until 1am. There is a big difference between the program I did and other MBA’s; it was so focused – it’s really all about embedding supply chain knowledge and methods. At the beginning we were all like, okay, it’s just a dual degree where you come out with an engineering certificate and an MBA. But at the end we were equipped with two different thinking models plus a multilateral understanding of the management and the technical sides of the issues you face.

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PROFILES You did your internship with Dell, which means you did your final project based on your work with them. What was the project about?

My internship was focused on the differences in shipping supply chain models…but that’s all I can tell you. It’s actually under a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) because the information is confidential and part of the company plan.

Whoa, so your internship was actually also helpful to Dell itself.

Our class actually had a lot of projects covered by NDA’s. That’s the thing, because all of the students have around five to seven years of working experience, our internships are actually a big deal – we’re not just learning, we’re contributing. We were like a consulting team headed up by the two faculties, who provided some guidance for the projects. It’s an interesting business model actually – everyone is part of the team.Our school program is paid directly for the work, and we get a living allowance from them. I think this is really special; it’s like being part of a company and a school at the same time.

Just out of curiosity, do you think you could have gotten where you are without a higher education degree under your belt?

Obviously, I don’t know. But based on the current situation I don’t think so. A lot of companies are looking for people who can directly fill a certain position that requires a lot of experience, but a lot of companies also don’t have the time to invest in people to give them

that experience. So our chances of getting these better jobs are not only based on our education, but also out working background. The reason I got this job because I had the chance to interact with the leadership team.

Was there anything that you felt you still weren’t prepared for when you started working?

I mean, it’s always tough going from an education environment to a working environment. CLGO was great; we had internships, summertime experiences, leadership teams etc. But even more practice activities within companies would have better prepared us for the decisions we needed to make in the future. There are so many business models and ways of doing things; it really varies from company to company. If we had even more varied case studies to different business models, it would have even better.

What attracted you to the supply chain in the first place?

I’m the kind of person who’s interested in the big picture, and I see a future here. We’ve got a huge supply base in Asia, and a lot of businesses are moving over. Previously when we [the Chinese] worked for foreign companies, we were left out of the core business functions.

But there are now more and more business bringing Chinese employees into core functions – this is really important to us because it feels like we are contributing to the business.

GSE is a design and build turnkey contractor conducting industrial, R&D, and logistic projects all over China. We build an average of 2 million sq.m of logistics facilities every year, with notable clients include AMB, Gazeley, Wal-Mart, DHL, IKEA, L’Oreal, TNT and Prologis etc. across China and Europe. Our service covers: Due-Diligence Study Site Assessment / Selection Master Planning / Construction cost estimate Design Optimization/ Green Building consultancy Hi Speed Project delivery / Sustainable Construction Aftercare Service

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PROFILES

选择戴尔 得到了梦寐以求的工作，周蓓磊将谈及 自己的奋斗历程，也会浅析供应链领域 为何成其不二选择 n 周蓓磊 |

这样看来你的工作量很大，这对你有什 么好处？

你刚刚接受了戴尔的这个新职 位，现在的工作内容包括哪些？

我现在的工作范围其实囊括了好 几个不同的职能——因为我还刚刚起 步，仍处于试用阶段，这对我而言也 是一个了解各部门运作的好机会。这 次情况可能和其他公司不太一样，因 为通常人力资源部都会为某个特定的 职位雇用专门的人。而这一次，他们 给了我更多时间以汲取在各部门工作 的经验，最后再给我安排一个合适的 职位，这样可以让我了解各个不同部 门的运作情况。也就是说在这段适应 期，我会参与很多不同的采购项目， 因为我有工程背景，还能参与供应链 管理、采购、流程开发和供应商管 理。所以等公司结束对我的测试，我 也建立了自己的关系网，之后公司就 会看我在哪个部门表现最好，然后给 我安排一个合适的职位。

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事实上，这正是我觉得在戴尔工 作最有趣的一点。我能够对公司很多 部门都有所了解，因为我的工作是跨 部门的——对我来说，这是难得的机 会。以我的经验来看，如果你在采购 部工作，你就只能和供应商打交道； 如果你做供应链管理，你就只能和相 关部门打交道。而我却可以有机会和 不同的人交流。我在复旦本科毕业以 后、读研究生之前做的那份工作，是 涉及面很窄但很深入的（产品工程/ 产品线经理），那份工作我做了差不 多5年。这对当时的我来说是一种很 好的经历，而且的确培养了我的技术 能力，但就发展前景而言，那份工作 有很多局限。戴尔吸引我的地方正是 我有机会接触整个公司的情况。这对 我将来的发展是非常重要的。 那你是如何从职能狭窄的部门跳到涉及 面广阔的职位的呢？

Global Commodity Manager, 戴尔电脑

就可以拿到工程硕士和MBA的证书。 但到最后，我们都具备了两种不同的 思考模式，而且对碰到的问题有了从 管理和技术两方面的多层次理解。 你是在戴尔实习的，也就是说你在CLGO 最后的项目是根据你在戴尔的工作完成 的。你的那个项目是有关于哪方面的？

我的实习项目研究的是航运供应 链模型之间的区别……我只能告诉你 这些。因为这是受保密协定保护的， 相关内容是商业机密。 所以你的实习项目其实对戴尔本身也是 有利的。

我们班上很多项目其实都是受保 密协定保护的。事情是这样的，因为 我们班上所有的学生都有5到7年的工 作经历，我们的实习项目其实是很有 价值的东西——我们不仅学习，也做 出了贡献。 就像一 个

这至少要部分归功与CLGO项目。 很多人，尤其是中国学生，在考虑继 续深造的时候都会想：我就去读一个 在职的课程吧。但CLGO是需要花费 很多精力的，第一年我每天都学习到 半夜一点钟。CLGO和其他MBA课程有 一个很大的不同点，就是CLGO的目标 非常明确——它就教你如何运用供应 链知识和方法。开始我们的想法都一 样：就是来拿一个双学位，出来以后

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PROFILES

资讯团队有两个老师带队，老师 可为我们的项目提供指导。这其 实是一个很有趣的商业模式—— 每个人都是团队的一份子。公司 直接把咨询费付给CLGO，CLGO再 发给我们生活津贴。这真的很特 别，好像同时是一家公司和一个 学校的一份子。 只是出于好奇，你觉得如果没有 CLGO这个深造经历你能达到现在的 位置么？

这我显然不知道。但就目前 的情况看来，我认为可能达不 到。很多公司都在寻找能直接胜 任某个岗位的员工，而这需要大 量的经验。但很多公司都没有时间去 培养员工使他们具备所需要的经验。 所以，如果我们想要获得这部分优 秀的职位，学历就不是唯一重要的因 素，工作背景也一样重要。比如说 我能够得到现在这份工作，就是因为 CLGO项目让我有了在ODM执行部门实

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现在越来越多 的公司都开始 让中国员工进 入核心部门 习的机会。这样我才得以有机会和戴 尔的领导层交流，而这是非常重要 的。 当刚开始工作的时候，有没有感到有哪 些方面是你还没有准备好的？

目，我们有实习计划、暑期经历和 领导团队等等。但如果我们有更多 机会去公司实习的话，在将来需 要做决定的时候就会准备得更加充 分。这个领域有那么多的商业模型 和行事方法，每个公司都不相同。 如果我们有机会研究更多不同的案 例和商业模型的话，对将来也会更 有帮助。 那你最初是怎么会对供应链感兴趣的 呢？

我是那种对大局感兴趣的人， 而且这个行业很有前途。亚洲是一 个很大的供应基地，很多公司也在 把业务往这里搬。以前我们（中国 人）在外企工作，总是无法进入核心 业务部门。但现在越来越多的公司都 开始让中国员工进入核心部门了—— 这非常重要，因为这样能让我们感觉 到自己在为整个企业做贡献。

从一个学习环境进入工作环境永 远是很艰难的。CLGO是很优秀的项

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FEATURE Economy

A NUMBER OF DOUBTS

W

hat does it mean to be crowned second? Recently, Tokyo announced Japan’s economy valued at US$1.28 trillion during the second quarter of this year. China’s topped out at US$1.33 trillion. At long last, the dragon has surpassed the rising sun and holds second place in the global economy. While perhaps another milestone China can celebrate in its march towards world domination, there are a few reasons this single statistic may not be as telling as it seems.

More than a number First off, China is a country of 1.3 billion people. That’s four times the size of the United States and ten times the size of Japan. Sheer numbers plus 10% year on year growth means that second place has been long in coming. However, the gap between the individually wealthy and impoverished still holds China back.

While China can push its collective weight around, its individual per capita GDP still doesn’t add up. According to the International Monetary Fund, China’s GDP per capita in 2009 was only US$3,566.

This makes the average Chinese poorer than that average resident of Tunisia (US$8,254), Azerbaijan (US$4,899) and Namibia (US$4,339).

In fact, in light of the “number two” announcement, Beijing released a statement cautiously reminding the world that China indeed still classifies itself as a third world country. While China shows fantas-

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tic potential growth and domestic buying power, Beijing is far from ready to take on first world responsibilities – and so their standards should not yet be held to mature market levels.

At least, that’s what China seems to hope. The problem is that, with its size, power and voracious appetite for natural resources, China also has the unique ability to singlehandedly drive global commodity prices as well as the policies of other governments. Last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Africa US$10 billion in concessional loans over three years. Countries like Sudan, Myanmar, and Pakistan are also on the beneficiary list. It is also relying more and more on gas imports, and has also gotten cozy with Brazilian and Iranian governments. In fact, China is working particularly hard on spreading its power and goodwill deep into other countries and continents, hungry for resources that feed its factories and people.

The Other Crowns Ironically enough, the “number two economy” announcement coincides with two other big crowns which give deeper insight into where China is headed. The first came in form of the US Department of Defense annual report to the US Congress. Entitled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China, 2010,” it noted that China is also number two in government military expenditure, right behind the United States. China’s overall military spending for 2009 was estimated at US$150 billion, an in-

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FEATURE Economy

crease of 7.5% to RMB 532.11 billion (US$78.4 billion). While this loans frozen and power cut off.” This hits factories in Anhui, Hunan, was only about one-fifth of what the Pentagon spent last year on Zhejiang and others. Some factories were given as little as two days the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it still demonstrates willingness for notice.

China to invest in shows – not only of military strength but also of While it seems to be more a government knee jerk reaction in the diplomacy. face of its deadline – and necessity, as energy demand has sky rocketEven more relevant to supply chain professionals is the great, ed in this unusually hot summer – these power cuts are a big concern ongoing “one or two in energy usage?” debate. In July, the Interfor factory owners as the pressure is spreading to other provinces. national Energy Agency in Paris finally released numbers that put Sudden power cuts for companies already working to catch up durChina beating out the United States as the world’s largest consumer ing an export recovery is a recipe for delayed shipments, backed up of energy. This is after the Netherlands Environmental Assessment production lines and supply chain bottlenecks. A report by China InAgency announced China as the world’s largest sight (produced by China Economic Review), emitter of greenhouse gases in 2006. In both China’s GDP per capita states that these government induced power cases, this dubious #1 honor has been hotly cuts have also been felt in Jiangsu province, in 2009 was only contested by China. Despite their eagerness to where there are clusters of multinational and have a larger role in the global sphere, they dechemical firms. “For the companies who are murely decline when asked to take a larger role already rushing production to meet recovering in climate change initiative. Beijing says that demand, [these power cuts] are a major issue,” This makes the average it continues. “Especially those also dependent as they are not yet a first world country, they Chinese poorer than should not be expected to contribute strongly on smaller suppliers elsewhere in the province to reduction of global emissions. State media that average resident of that may suddenly be cut off.” As China works goes even farther. In a recent commentary from to try and save face before the big day, facAzerbaijan (US$4,899) Xinhua, opinions were voiced that the Western tory owners are scrambling to make sure their countries felt threatened by China’s growing power. They think that number isn’t the one that the government notices. pressure from the recent Copenhagen climate talks were designed to In all of these interactions, China wants to have its cake and eat keep China’s growth down. it too. While every statistic is pushing it higher and higher up into Despite protests, China has made major efforts towards reducing the global realm, related to authority, influence, and ability to shape its fossil fuel usage. The Global Wind Energy Council recently anglobal events, China only seems to want this responsibility when connounced that China was the world’s number one wind energy market venient. It has the second largest military spending budget but wants in 2009, more than doubling its capacity from 12.2 GW in 2008 to an to be known as a peacemaker. It is the world’s largest (or second impressive 25.8 GW. Beijing also pledged to cut down China’s energy largest) polluter, but does not want to be held to normal developed consumption per unit GDP by a whopping 20% between 2006 and country standards. It is the world’s second largest economy, but cau2010. Data already suggests that China is likely to miss this year-end tions that it continues to be a developing country. These seeming target, but Beijing is far from giving up. According to an article in inconsistencies are an indicator that China is still understandably torn the AFP, August saw Beijing ordering “2,087 firms producing steel, as to its role within the wider scope of globalization. This is perhaps coal, cement, aluminum, glass and other materials to close their old the biggest indicator that it will still take a while for China to make and obsolete plants by the end of September or risk having bank it to number one.

US$3,566

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

23

FEATURE Economy

“世界第

“世

”： 姑妄信之 CHaINA斟思酌议 纵览宏观

界第二”意义何 在？最近，东京公 布日本今年第二季 度GDP经济总量——1.28万亿美元，而 中国龙终以1.33万亿美元的GDP经济总 量俯视东升朝日，成为全球第二大经济 体。或许在中国在成为全球经济霸主的 过程中这颇具纪念意义，但一个数字或 许徒有虚名。 数字背后 第一，中国人口13亿，是美国人口 总数的4倍，日本人口总数的10倍。中国 经济与去年同期相比增长率达到10%， “世界第二”确实不假，但贫富差距的 加大仍在拖中国的后腿。 尽管中国可以显摆自己的“集体力 量”，但人均GDP并未增到理想值。根据 国际货币基金组织的数据显示，2009年中 国的人均GDP仅达3566美元，逊于突尼斯 （人均8254美元）和阿塞拜疆（人均4339 美元）。事实上，“世界第二”的中国也 慎重申明自己仍属第三世界国家。虽然中 国的增长潜力惊人，购买力强大，但北京 远不能担负起“第一世界”城市应承担的 责任，其市场也不成熟。 不过至少中国也没要求更多。问题 是凭借其广大的市场、强大的购买力以 及资源采掘力等得天独厚的条件，中国 仍能单枪匹马影响全球商品价格以及其 它国家的政策。去年，中国总理温家宝 为非洲提供了100亿美元贷款；同时力 撑马来西亚、越南等国的基础设施建 设；另外由于对巴西、伊朗进口天然气 的越发依赖，中国政府与两国关系也日 趋暧昧。中国在努力扩大影响并与他国 交好，以此获得更多能源来满足工厂及 人民庞大的胃口。 更多“荣誉” 颇为讽刺的是，在被封为“世界第 二大经济体”的同时，中国还荣获另外

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

两个“世界第二”，从中也可窥见其发 展动向。其中一个是美国国防部在对美 国国会的年度报告中将中国奉为“2010 年军事防御发展世界第二强国”，称其 在政府军事开支方面排名全球第二，仅 屈尊美国之后。2009年中国的各项军事 花销总计约1500亿美元，相比前年同期 的5321.1亿人民币（784亿美元）增长 了7.5%，虽然这只是美国在伊拉克和阿 富汗军事花销的五分之一，但仍可说明 中国的投资意向不仅意在军事也愿为外 交。 供应链专家更为关注的是正在举行 的“全球最大的能源消耗国”的辩论 会。七月，据国际能源机构在巴黎发布 的数字显示，中国已超过美国，成为全

球最大的能源消耗国；而2006年荷兰环 境评估署就宣布中国的温室气体排放量 是全球第一。 中国拿下双料冠军，虽 然她希望在全球范围内扩大影响，但在 对气候变化做贡献之时却没那么积极。 北京方面称中国还没有成为第一世界国 家，没有能力大幅降低碳排放量；其媒 体把焦点扯得更远，新华社评论称这是 西方国家的“中国威胁论”，哥本哈 根气候大会根本是在力压中国的成长大 势。 虽然抛出种种自我申辩，北京承诺 从2006年到2010年将每单位GDP的能耗 大幅降低20%。虽然官方数据显示中国 很可能在年终最后期限之内完成目标， 但是北京仍在负隅顽抗。根据法新社的

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FEATURE Economy

报道，北京本月勒令“2087家生产钢 铁、煤炭、水泥、铝、玻璃和其他材料 的公司在9月底之前关 闭老旧过时的工厂，不 然则将面临银行贷款被 冻结和电源被切断的风 险。 ”安徽、湖南、 浙江等省市的工厂受到 严重影响，政府给一些 工厂的时限仅有两天。 虽然酷夏高温让能源消 耗飙升之后，政府也有 必要加大执行力度，但 在政府不断施加的压力 之下，厂商已如热锅之 蚁。承诺期限渐渐逼 近，中国政府正力图挽回颜面，而厂商 也殚精竭虑保证工厂没有超标，以免上 了政府的黑名单。 鱼与熊掌，中国想尽入囊中。虽然

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每个数据都已把中国推升至世界大国 的尊位——因其政府、影响力、能力都 足以影响全球，但中 国自己却只把负责看 成是顺便为之的事。 她的军事实力世界第 二，但只希望扮演和 平使者；她是全球最 大的污染国却不想用 发达国家的水准自我 要求；这个世界第二 大的经济体，却强调 自己是发展中国家， 并希望受到发展中国 家的“待遇”。可以 理解，这些南辕北辙 的现象都表明中国在国际化的进程中仍 对其身份认知有所挣扎——这也说明， 要成为世界第一，中国还需要些时日。

7.5%

中国军事开支增长

2009年

US$3566 2009年

中国人均GDP

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

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SPONSORED Feature

Listen to the Voices

M

anagers of warehouses and distribution centers around the world are always looking for better ways to dole out instructions in a manner that reduces opportunity for human error. Many managers also find that as their business expands, they not only have a need to hire and train new human resources, but each employee also has to take on multiple roles and responsibilities on the distribution floor. This retraining not only takes time and strains resources, but also takes its toll on accuracy levels.

But what if a manager could give out unique verbal instructions to each employee…all at the same time? And what if there was a voice solution clever enough to recognize individual voice (regardless of dialect group), so that only a 30-45 minute training was needed for each user to set up a personal template?

Tell me how The mere simplicity of this idea is intriguing, but how do you apply something so straightforward into the mass web of functions happening in your DC/warehouse? With an equally simple technology implementation; the power of voice.

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

In a typical DC/warehouse, employee assignments are sent via a Wi-Fi network from any type of warehouse management system (WMS) – homegrown WMS solution, SAP or other. Therefore, voice solution has to overcome these inter-operability issues before benefits can be reaped. This is where suppl y chain consultant, Schmidt, comes in.

A familiar name to Chinese companies relying on the latest technologies to boost their supply chain productivity levels, Schmidt uses a voice solution backed by two decades worth of technology finetuning and advancements, namely Vocollect.

The Vocollect solution is a cost-effective and easily implemented set of technologies, which broadly contains a voice recognition application, a suite of hardware able to withstand extreme weather conditions and ambient temperatures (including -30 ˚C in cold storage), and a middleware technology that communicates voice to the company’s inherent backend and system.

In a nutshell, an application turns paper instructions into voice instructions for workers, which are sent to a lightweight, cordless body-worn computer device. Each worker hears their respective assignments through a series of verbal commands via headset (using any of the three Chinese language templates – Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and Taiwanese Chinese).

Employees then go to their instructed aisle/section and slot location, confirm their whereabouts, and after completing their task, they confirm again by speaking into the headsets. The recognized words are sent back to the WMS, and the next assignment is issued.

Who uses it?

Because voice solution takes away complex technology, the actual implementation of Vocollect can be easily and rapidly executed. It is so versatile that it’s been deployed to companies from a vast crosssection of verticals, industries and geographical locations.

On the one end of the spectrum for example, is Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (API), which delivers pharmaceuticals to over 90% of Australian retail pharmacies. API implemented Vocollect solution as part of its 18-year old warehouse’s upgrade; and got everything up and running in just eight weeks.

On the other, there is Food king Giant Eagle, one of the top 20 supermarket businesses in the United States. The company has voice-enabled its meat distribution center – a 85,000 sq ft facility called Butler Refrigerated Meats (BRM), that ships fresh meat daily to over 200 Giant Eagle stores and sees 800 million pounds of meat go in and out its doors yearly. The installation was phases-in in just over three weeks.

“It’s seamless to integrate, cost-effective, accurate, and ruggedized for use in any DC/warehousing environments,” says Warwich So, General Manager of Schmidt. “Many of our customers in China are looking for this kind of solution to modernize their warehouse facilities.”

By replacing labor-intensive, error-prone systems such as paper, screens, scanners and keyboards for data entry, voice-enabled technologies help simplify the workplace while creating a more accurate and productive DC.

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SPONSORED Feature

Vocollect: 闻物听声

仓

储配送中心的管理者总是搜肠刮肚想尽量减 少人为失误，全球如此。很多管理者也明 白，随着业务扩张，不仅他们自己需要招兵 买马、培训新来员工，就连配送部门的每个 受雇者都会扮演多重角色并肩负多重责任。 这种再训练不仅浪费时间，损耗能源，还会影响精细度。 但如果管理者能对每个员工做出口头指示—一个不落不分先 后——情况又将如何？若是有一种语音解决方案能够对个人身份 进行智能辨认呢（暂不计说方言的人）？那么每个使用者建立自 己的语音模板只需半个钟或者三刻钟？

如何应用 这个想法一点不复杂却相当有意思，但在配送中心或是仓库 那种大规模且功能复杂的网络中，如此简单直接的方案又如何应 用呢？答案同样简单：声音的力量。 在传统的配送中心或仓库中，受雇者的任务经由任一类型 的仓储管理系统（WMS） 通过无线网络来传送，这 种仓储管理系统可以是国 产的WMS方案、业务接入点 order accuracy （SAP），也可以是其它类 指示精确度 型的WMS。所以，在享受 成果之前，语音解决方案 必须克服不同方案兼容性 increase in productivity 的问题。这正是供应链顾 生产效率增加 问施密特所要解决的。 这个名字对于中国公 司来说耳熟能详。施密特 less training time for 依靠最新技术来提高供应 new employees 链生产水平，它用到了20年 新员工培训时间节省 前就开始研发的一种语音 解决方案Vocollect，期间 不断对其进行技术微调和 less time spent on 升级。 returns management Vocollect是 一 套 价 格 退货管理时间节省 低廉、安装便捷的技术， 包含一套语音识别应用设

99.995% 10-25% 50%

20-50%

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备、一套抗极端天气及抗变温硬件（能够承受零下30度的低温） 以及一套中间设备以桥接语音至公司固有后端及网络。 简而言之，这项方案将白纸黑字变为语音指示传送到便携式 无线电脑存储器。每位员工会通过耳麦听到一系列语音命令（普 通话、粤语、台湾中文三种中文模板可供选择），这便是他们的 工作任务。 员工根据命令前往指定走廊、部门或运作点、确认行踪并 在完成任务之后通过耳麦进行确认。语音经过识别后会传送到 WMS，之后WMS会布置下一项任务。

谁来操作？ 因为语音解决方案降低了技术复杂性，让Vocollect的实际应 用简便快捷；它的功能齐全，可为各种类型各种行业处于不同地 区的公司所用。 比方Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (API)，产品覆 盖澳大利亚90%的医药零售店，它配置Vocollect后更新了其工龄 18年的仓库，从安装到运行仅用了8周时间。 另外一个是来自食品销巨头、美国排名前20的超市零售商 Giant Eagle,在其85,000平方英尺的肉类配送中心——Butler肉类冷 藏中心（BRM）配置了语音方案——每天向其所属的200多家零 售店配送新鲜肉类——每年肉类进出量多达8亿磅；而全面引用 Vocollect并设置齐全仅用三周。 “配置如此低廉、精确且耐用的设备在配送中心仓库这些 地方会有助工作准确无误，”施密特的总经理Warwich So这么说 道，“我们在中国有很多顾客都在寻求这种解决方案来实现仓库 设备的现代化。” Vocollect取代了耗人力、易失误的数据输入方式如纸张、屏 幕、扫描仪和键盘等，有助于将工作流程简单化，同时让配送中 心更为精确且更为高效。

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

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FEATURE Shipping

Cargo Crisis “I t has been suggested in recent weeks that carriers have “made up” the story of the container shortage in order to help create an environment favorable to rate increases. I attended an internal carrier meeting in April where this issue was raised as a coming reality, and if you look at the container manufacturers and what they are saying about skyrocketing demand and pricing, then clearly there is an underlying container shortage at play in the today’s market.”

Two things appear clear at the moment in the container shipping markets. Freight volumes are too strong given a weakening economic climate and are likely to catch up with reality later this year. A news item from midJuly that the U.S. toymaker Hasbro encour-

The shipping industry is, by nature, a cyclical and rather uncertain beast. But when peak season not only surged but surged early this summer, everyone from the shippers to the shipping companies were thrown off balance. Containers rapidly became scarce, rates rocketed and everyone from automotive to apparel was clamoring for space – some at any price. While not everyone has felt the burn, there are certainly feathers ruffled on every side. Reactions ranged from “shipping cartel” accusations to just a plain breakdown in communication. Here’s what the experts say on what (or who) is behind this year’s spectacular cargo crunch.

these concerns about the economy. Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach predicted in late July that global growth may achieve only levels 3.25-3.5% in the next 3-5 years vs. a more robust 4.7% pace in the five years up to recession.

Among other things, if freight does indeed slow as the year goes on, this will undoubtedly put to the test container lines’ newfound confidence in their own ability to keep capacity expansion in check and to maintain rate levels at higher levels. The Drewry eastbound trans-Pacific index was continuing to climb as of late July, indicating that the forces of supply and demand are still playing to the carriers’ favor. But what if volumes slow or the holiday season fails to achieve a real peak? A lot of capacity has been put back on stream. Will carriers roll back slow steaming?

Will they do an about face and lay up tonnage anew? Will they engage in a skirmish for market share and drive rates back into unprofitable levels? My own view is that from a shipper’s point of view, this would represent wishful thinking. Rates may soften as the year goes on but it’s hard to see a collapse coming. The container shortage, a real thing if one was to look at container prices and the upbeat statements from container manufacturers CIMC and Singamas, will put a break on weakness.

Nomura Securities sees a “current container box shortage, which has led to a rebound in container box prices from an average of US$1,600-1,700/TEU in 2009 to more than US$2,100/TEU,” a figure that some believe is quite conservative. Finally it’s not out of the question that container carriers’ DNA was altered, at least a bit, by staring bank-

It’s not a joke, there are serious issues aged retailers to get their toys moving across the Pacific earlier this year illustrates the type of tactical decision making behind the volume surge that may not be wholly in line with underlying economics. The freight recovery is seen as being driven by re-stocking rather than a surging economy, and thus will peter out at some point soon. U.S. transport stock prices pulled back some 15% in June and July, the reason being lack of confidence in the sustainability of the freight recovery.

As one well known U.S. transport stock analyst put it recently, the pullback is “related to macro concerns about a potentially slowing economy…while freight feels great right now, if (the) world is slowing so will freight,” or so-goes the thinking. Economists echo

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

ruptcy in the face last year such that they may now realize at a newly profound level the recklessness of rate cutting to protect market share.

Peter Tirschwell Senior Vice President, Strategy The Journal of Commerce UBM Global Trade

The shipping capacity crunch does have some impact on our business.

Since the beginning of this year I have noticed more and more that the shipping schedules are less likely to be kept.

ETD & ETA’s can change with up to a week and cancellation/replacements of vessels are more frequent. This lack of reliability forces me to plan for a higher safety stock.

Per Lindstrand Supply Chain Manager Volvo Car China

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FEATURE Shipping

Mark Millar Logistics Industry Veteran

“O

nce again we have increasing tensions between the Shipper and the Carriers – with the Forwarders getting squeezed in the middle. This latest container shortage is another episode in the long running saga of roller coaster supply and demand in the container shipping sector.

It seems astonishing that in this day and age that we are seeing classic bullwhip problems that we learn about in basic “Supply Chain Management 101.” Both the inventory replenishment cycles and the supply and provision of container equipment are suffering from classic bull whip !

In their drive to reduce operating costs,

the shipping lines have adopted slow steaming practices to reduce fuel consumption, thereby slowing down global supply chains – to the detriment of shippers – and also resulting in containers being deployed at sea for longer durations, hence reducing the pool of available container equipment.

Similar to taking vessel capacity out of the market to tighten supply relative to demand, having limited supply of containers provides another platform for shipping lines to increase revenue - through increased rates or creatively named

Forgetting lessons from “Supply Chain Management 101”

AMC hasn’t encountered the space limit often; we are using airfreight for most of the export shipments and currently space from Shanghai/Wuhan/Dalian to Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Korea, US is sufficient. A little problem on Beijing to US, but the whole situation is still Ok.

Jenny Pang Applied Global Service China

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surcharges. Think “emergency revenue” surcharges, “no-show” surcharges, “revenue recovery” surcharges and now the “equipment repositioning” surcharge!

The current peak season, which has

come along with some record peak season surcharges, provides the opportunity for shipping lines to maximize revenue streams whilst volumes are riding high and shippers have urgent needs. This is just prior to when volumes will begin slowing down later in the year, just in time for new vessel deliveries to come into play, which could well result in the pendulum of power swinging back in favor of the shipper.

We are once again seeing the effects of a classic marketplace – whereby the balance of power shifts periodically from buyer to seller in line with fluctuations in supply and demand - creating Friction In All Lanes.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

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FEATURE Shipping

T

he market demand had dipped so deep and fast during the crisis that the sudden rebound in 2010 has been beyond the industry’s expectation. Over the past few months, carriers have been gradually putting more vessels back to the market and bringing in new capacities. However, we have to understand that the bottleneck today lies with container supply and not operational vessel fleet capacity. Since late 2009, carriers have been

close to zero production last year. But ramping up the supply is going take some time as they have lost bulk of their workers. Carriers are also cautious about building up too high an inventory as they cannot be certain that the demand will still be there after the peak period. Plus box costs are now at sky high levels.

At the same time, carriers are not about to abandon slow steaming given the significant benefits. For example, for 6,500 TEU ships,

Unavoidable complications putting an increasing number of vessels on slow steaming as they began to see the compelling benefits in fuel efficiency improvement and carbon emissions reduction. The return of idle vessels into operation and sailing them at slower speeds require more containers to be deployed. Box builders, mostly China-based, are helping with the situation by reopening their manufacturing lines after

slowing down vessel speed from 24 knots to 18 knots allows a reduction of heavy fuel oil consumption while CO2 emissions can be reduced by 351 tons per day as a result. Carriers are able to achieve cost savings through slow steaming and contribute to environmental protection.

While the shortage of accessible containers and the peak season rush are everyone’s

dilemma, not all carriers respond the same way. Shippers can evaluate and find carrierspecific solutions with their partners. APL has various solutions in place. Firstly, we have embarked on an initiative to bring ad hoc “extra loaders” into service to help our valued customers clear their backlog. So far, we have already sailed two extra loaders from China to US West Coast and have six more scheduled. We also prioritize critical and time-sensitive shipments for our major contract customers. In addition, our USbound customers can opt to use Ocean53 service to optimize container load and bypass trans-loading process altogether during the last mile delivery. This saves our customers costs and time. Apart from this, we also offer guaranteed, time-definite services like OceanGuaranteed and APLGuaranteed for shippers who need to deliver within a specified time window.

Mr. Kenneth Glenn, President North Asia, APL:

To be honest, we are feeling minimal impact from the “shipping capacity crunch”. All imported food and equipment are imported by our global supply partners with high volumes to support all Asia-Pacific markets. Working with multi-national companies like HAVI Logistics and Fonterra, we are confident that our supply chain will not have any significant issues.

Kurt Lipson General Manager SUBWAY

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

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FEATURE Shipping

O

cean carriers have had an incredible rebound. Container rates are at their highest in five years.

How is this price bonanza possible against the background of the continuing global recession?

Looking back, the magnitude of the 2008 meltdown saw carriers struggling and suffering. When volumes began to grow again in 2010, carriers took advantage of the capacity to force through surcharges around Chinese New Year. Those price increases held. Carriers then pushed through large increases to base rates in the major trade lanes. Still controlling capacity, these increase held. Carriers were emboldened.

Carriers then looked at yields to decide what containers got space and shipped. Customers paid extra to get on ships as demand exceeded supply. Contracts and contract rates had limited meaning. In the transpacific eastbound, carriers moved up the effective date of the peak season surcharges. By controlling capacity, this price action held.

Carriers then pushed through a second peak season surcharge.

The big question is how did all these carriers happen, in lockstep, to charge the same rates, the same surcharges, the same timing and make it all stick during a recession? Did carriers contrive to control space and create the shipping shortage in order to drive up prices? How did carriers notorious for the market share, cut-rates-to fill ships, raise rates and hold the increases...when they could not do it in the boom years?

One can argue that these actions, both as

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to restraining capacity and the upward pressuring of rates, were not the result of a free market and the interaction of demand and supply to determine price. Many say it was done by a cartel, by collusion among the carriers to stand together and to stand firm by first controlling shipping capacity and, in turn, forcing up prices.

Cartels are groups of companies that organize to set prices and control supply. The well-known example is OPEC. What the carriers have done has a strong resemblance to OPEC. Quite possibly, bankers for the steamship lines, in order to protect their investments in ships, helped to develop and hold carriers to maintain the capacity crunch-rate increase strategy.

Carriers will say that a collusion conspiracy theory is not possible given the deregulation in the U.S. and regulatory scrutiny by the EU. But neither example is true deregulation, not when carriers can still meet to discuss price and other issues. Even with the end of conferences, carriers have antitrust immunity. The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement and the Box Club are examples of where carriers meet.

Despite all the laments about what has happened and despite all the reasons and excuses for it, that is not the real issue of these events. The real question is--what does all this portend down the road?

Is there a genuine, sustainable growth in demand? If yes, what will carriers do next

about capacity? If no, what will carriers do for financial viability? If carriers had not been able to raise prices, whether by collusion or not, would there have been bankruptcies? Would importers and exporters be in a worse situation under the bankruptcy scenario, and the impact of that on capac-

A Fabricated Space Crunch? ity, than they are now? Is all this a second and tertiary fallout of deregulation and of the large size and required capital investment required to be a carrier? Will container shipping become subject to the swings that bulk and tank shipping experience? Will rates, in next few years, go to five-figure levels?

What will be the impact of this round of pricing and future ones to the facilitation of global trade, which is the real issue in all this?

Will importers begin to move from offshore sourcing and manufacturing to nearshore and onshore to reduce supply chain risk and landed price volatility? Have carriers laid the ground work for this to happen??

Is this the end of a bad time? Or is it the beginning of something chaotic?

Tom Craig President LTD Management

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Original graph courtesy of Transport Trackers

W

hen large retailers encountered severe space shortage earlier this year, with many of them seeing hundreds of containers waiting at Chinese ports for vessel space, the wake-up call was severe. Questions fused regarding who was to blame and who was benefitting from this volatility. Ironically a few months before it was the shipping industry who was experiencing its worst losses ever and was at risk to collapse. While this 2009-2010 episode has been admittedly extreme, looking back to the last 15 years, the market has always been cyclical, which partially results from the industry’s natural inertia: having 2-3 years lead-time between buying a vessel

to address it?

If there is a genuine consensus among the industry, it is that dialogue between shippers and shipping lines is pretty thin. Very few shippers share their long term plan (or not even short nor medium) and very few shipping lines ask for them. Of course economic downturn could not have been expected by neither parties, but the big picture is that there is very little long term approach and partnership in the industry, with space and equipment being most of the time a mere commodity. Reciprocally when there is long term agreement in place (rarely over a year), the visibility from shippers to shipping lines on space requirements is generally short sighted, and basic operational performance measurements one could expect from shipping lines (or shippers) are mostly inexistent or not available and in any case not shared. Obviously the lack of KPIs limit the opportunity to reduce operational costs for both party.

Investigating what most shippers and shipping lines want, the needs are strangely alike. Shippers need sustainable shipping at competitive price and optimized operating costs. Shipping lines need to fill up vessels with profitable cargo, reduce volatility between by aligning capacity and demand, and

Better communication needed and getting it delivered means quick reaction to market changes is a challenge. .

Ultimately shippers and shipping lines do not benefit from this extreme volatility.

Its results have been dramatic with delays, products availability issues and massive overspending for the shippers, plus empty vessel and massive losses for the shipping lines.

However whilst all suffer from it, one can wonder why there has been very little done

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optimized operating costs. Surely a closer collaboration in terms of forecasting and long term planning, together with more transparency on operating costs and performance could help both ends meet.

Sustainability for both shippers and shipping lines will not be achieved unless old behaviors change. As a start, shippers ought to start sharing their long term plan and strategy to secure alignment with selected shipping lines; joint performance measurements must be in place, with industry standard KPIs relevant to shippers and shipping lines alike. Finally shippers must address their own shortcoming in terms of tactical and medium term forecast. Reciprocally shipping lines must become more demanding of their customers in terms of information and collaboration, and be capable to be more transparent on their and their customers’ performance to become a value added partner in the supply chain.

While the scores are even and a relative stability seems to have been reached after months of storms, the industry has a huge and unique opportunity to redefine and reinvent its way of working and drive relationship based on sustainability and mutual benefits. It does not take a prophet of doom to foresee what the alternative looks like.

An anonymous supply chain leader from a large shipping company

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FEATURE Shipping

集装箱 今夏航运货箱紧缺，税率飞升，从承运人到货运公司无一不在“涨”声中失衡。 价格大放血、“航运卡特尔”、交流中断......专家就今年的货箱紧缺问题做出如下 解析。

近

几周，有传闻说集装箱短缺是航运商为拉 高运费而“编造”出来的。四月，我参加 了一个航运商的内部会议，他们说集装箱 短缺绝非故弄玄虚。关注一下集装箱制造 商那些关于需求暴涨和定价问题的声明， 就能清楚看到如今市场上集装箱短缺确实是潜在的。 集装箱货运市场的现状是：货运量相对于如今脆弱的经 济大环境而言确实过于强劲，今年后半年货运量也许会下降 到正常水平。七月中旬有新闻称美国玩具商Hasbro鼓励零售 商提早将玩具运过太平洋，这揭示了货运量暴涨并不完全与 潜在的经济环境相符，而受战术控制。有人认为货运量反弹 是因重新进货，而非经济反弹，所以这种上升趋势会很快消 失。美国运输行业股价在六、七月大约下跌了15%，因为投资 者对持续货运反弹欠缺信心。美国某著名运输业股票分析师 就说，下跌“是因投资者担心宏观经济可能减速，尽管货运 现状不错，但若全球经济颓靡，货运也不会好。”经济学家 也表赞同。七月底，摩根士丹利亚洲区主席Stephen Roach预 测：世界经济在接下来3到5年中的增长率将仅为3.25-3.5%， 而衰退前五年的增速则为4.7%。 此外，如果后半年货运量下降，无疑会考验集装箱航运 商从“抑制运能扩张以维持高价”策略中重拾的信心。截止 七月底，德鲁里太平洋东行航线指数继续攀升，证明供求拉

别忘记 “供应链管理第一课” n Mark Millar Logistics Industry Veteran “托运人和航运商之间的紧张关系再次升温——代运人 夹于其中。最近的集装箱短缺成为货运领域变幻莫测的供求 传奇中又一个新篇章。 令人震惊的是，在当今如今这个时代，补给存货循环和 集装箱设备供应都仍深受典型的长鞭效应的煎熬！ 航运公司为降低成本而采取减速航行来降低燃油消耗， 可这却拖慢了全球供应链的速度——不仅对托运人不利，也 拉长了货运时间而减少了可用货箱。 有限的货箱供应让航运商有了另一个提高收益的机会，

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他们没有编故事 n Peter Tirschwell Senior Vice President, Strategy The Journal of Commerce/UBM Global Trade 锯依然对航运商有利。但如果货运量放缓或者假期货运量未 达高峰，航运商是否会改变计划再次搁浅？还是会把运费 拉回无利可图的低点以争夺市场份额？在我看来，这只是 托运人自己在打如意算盘。后半年运价可能会走低，但不太 可能全面崩盘。集装箱短缺（集装箱价格及制造商CIMC和 Singamas的乐观表态表明这个问题是真实存在的）会拉高运 价。野村证券认为“因为紧缺，集装箱均价从2009年的16001700美元/TEU攀升到2100美元/TEU以上”，有人认为以上数 据还算保守。航运商在经历了去年的破产危机后可能终于认 识到了用降价来保住市场是多么的鲁莽。 老实说，所谓的“航运运能不足”对我们几乎没 有影响。我们所有的进口食品和设备都是由我们的全 球供应伙伴负责进口的，他们能提供足够的货量满足 整个亚太市场的需求。我们和诸如HAVI Logistics以 及Fonterra之类的跨国公司合作，相信我们的供应链 不会出什么大问题。 Kurt Lipson General Manager SUBWAY

他们可提高收费，或新增附加费来获利。在“紧急收入”附 加费、“弃订”附加费和“收入反弹”附加费之后现在又多 了“重新调配设备”附加费！ 这一次的旺季附加费创下了历史新高。货运量居高不 下，托运人又有迫切需求，这对航运商是绝好商机。但货运 量在后半年会逐渐下降，而新船舶却正好交货下水，优势就 又会转向托运人。 我们再次见证了典型市场的效应——权力随供求波动在 买卖双方间周期性地转移——从而引起整个行业的摩擦。”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

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FEATURE Shipping

困难不可避免， 但我们已尽最大努力

金

n Mr. Kenneth Glenn President North Asia, APL

融危机期间市场需求骤降，所以2010年市 场的突然反弹超出了整个行业的预期。过 去的几个月，航运商已投入更多船只并创 造更强运力。但必须看到，如今的瓶颈 是缘于集装箱供应问题而非运营航船欠 缺。2009年后半年以来，越来越多的船只仅采取减速航行， 因为这能够提高燃料使用效率、降低碳排放量，由此带来可 观的利益。要使用闲置航船以及减速航行都要使用更多集装 箱。中国的集装箱制造商正蓄势重开生产线，而这些生产线 去年就已几乎全部关闭。但供应的增长需要时间，因为集装 箱生产工人大量流失。航运商也对存货数量小心翼翼，因为

航运运力不足的问题对我们的业务的确有影响。 从今年年初开始，我就渐渐注意到航期比以前难于保 证了。预定出发时间和预计到达时间偏差可能达到一 周，船舶班次取消和改换也越来越频繁。这种不可靠 性让我们不得不增大安全库存量。 Per Lindstrand Supply Chain Manager Volvo Car China

海

运商迎来了一次惊人的鲤鱼大翻身。货箱 费用达到了五年来的最高点。全球经济持 续衰退，怎会出现这种价格疯涨？ 2008年的经济崩盘曾让航运商饱受磨 难。2010年，货运量反弹，航运商以运能 为筹码在春节期间乘机加价。接着他们又大幅提高主要贸易 航线的基础费率并凭掌控运能再次守住成果。 接着航运商根据收益来决定哪些集装箱可以上船，客户 需支付额外费用才能让上载货物。合同和合同费率已不作 数。航运商提前收取跨太平洋东行航线的旺季附加费并又通 过控制运能而守住加价。 问题关键在于：这些航运商怎会步调如此一次收取相同 的运费和附加费，并在经济衰退期坚持下去？他们是否合谋 控制运力，让运能短缺来抬高运价？航运繁荣期他们都没能 像这样提高运价而守住涨价成果啊。 有人说抑制运能来提高运价并非市场和供需定价的结

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他们无法确定旺季过后需求是 否能够维持。集装箱价格如今 也很高。 同时，由于减速航行能带 来极高的利润，航运商也不可 能放弃减速航行。比如一艘6500TEU的船，将航速从24节下降 到18节能够减少重质燃料的消耗量，而二氧化碳排放量每天 能减少351吨。减速航行能为航运商能够节约成本，并有利环 保。 虽然航运商都会遇到货箱短缺和旺季的矛盾，但每个航 运商处理方式各不相同，托运人可与合作伙伴共同评估找到 合适方案。APL的方案就有几种。首先，我们有专门的“临 时货运船”，为最有价值的客户运送积压货物。现在我们已 有两艘临时货运船从中国启航到美国西海岸，另外六艘也确 定航期。我们还优先处理主要合同客户的重要紧急货物。此 外，美国的客户可选择Ocean53服务来最优化集装箱容量， 并能完全避免最终的交接转运问题，省时省钱。以外，对那 些需特定时间到货的客户，我们提供如OceanGraranteed及 APLGuaranteed等的送货时间确定服务。

人为造成的运力短缺？ n Tom Craig President, LTD Management

这从去年开始对我们就是个严重的问题了，至今 仍然困扰着我们。这对我们的运营影响很大。由于航 运商的运能不足，我们不得不调整生产计划。 Logistics Manager at a Large Automotive Firm

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FEATURE Shipping

果，而是航运卡特尔，是航运商互相勾结，先控制运力然后 抬高价格所造成的。所谓卡特尔，就是一个能够控制定价和 供应量的企业组织。最有名的例子就是OPEC（石油输出国组 织）。而航运商们现今所为和OPEC不相上下。航运公司背后 的银行家们很可能为保自己的利益而促使航运商采取并坚 持“运能短缺——运价上涨”的策略。 航运商会说，在美国撤销管制和欧洲监管审查下这种合 谋理论不可能成立。但上述例子都并非真正的撤销管制，因 为航运商可继续讨论定价及其他问题。即便讨论结束，他们 仍有反垄断豁免权。泛太平洋运价稳定协议组织和国际集装 箱船经营人协会就是航运商碰头的例子。 暂不论各方一切的懊悔和托辞，真正的问题是：这一系 列事件预示着怎样的后果？ 需求增长是否真实且可持续？如果是，航运商今后是否 会提高运能？如果不是，航运商又将如何维持生存？如果当 时未能提高运价（无论有没有合谋），是否会有航运商因此 倒闭？如果有，进出口商的情况（以及倒闭对整体运能的影 响）是否会更糟？这是不是撤销监管所产生的第二或第三轮

AMC不常遇到运能不足的问题。我们的出口大部 分使用空运，现在从上海、武汉、大连到德国、台 湾、日本、新加坡、韩国和美国的运能都足够。北京 到美国有点小问题，但总体情况尚属正常。 Jenny Pang Applied Global Service China

余波？或者是如今成为航运商所必须的大量资本和航运商规 模太大的副作用？集装箱货运是否会和散装货运以及油轮运 输一样遭受运价波动的影响？运费在今后五年内会否达到五 位数？ 最关键的是这一轮定价及将来的定价又将如何影响全球 贸易？进口商是否会从离岸外包和离岸制造转为近岸和国内 采购以此来减小供应链风险和卸岸价格波动？航运商是否会 成为这一切的导火索？ 这是一个糟糕时代的终结？还是一个混乱时代的开始？

今

年初，许多大零售商遇到严重的运力不足 问题，成百的集装箱堆在中国的港口等待 上船，警钟由此敲响。问题满天飞，谁来 承担责任，谁又从价格波动中受益？讽刺 的是，几个月前，遭受史上最严重损失以 至面临破产危险的却是航运行业。诚然，2009-2010年所发 生的一切非常极端。但过去的15年中，市场一直是风水轮流 转，部分原因是航运业固有的惯性——从预定船只到最终交 货需要2-3年的时间——因此快速反应市场变化是一项大挑 战。 最终托运人和航运公司都未能从大幅价格波动中获益。 误期、断货、托运人严重超支，而空船也给航运公司带来 巨大的损失。既然各方都损失惨重，为何问题仍未得到解决 呢？ 若这个行业还存在真正的共识，那就是托运人和航运公 司之间的交流太少。托运人很少会同航运商分享自己的计 划，航运商也很少向托运人提出此类要求。双方都不可能准 确预测经济下滑，但现在大局是：这个行业里很少有长期的 计划和合作伙伴。运输空间和设备在大多数时候只是一种商 品。相反，如果双方订立一个长期计划（通常一年以下）， 航运商只能知晓托运人短期内的运能需求，而托运人一般应 提供的基本运营业绩指标在大多情况下也无法共享，关键绩 效指标的缺失限制了双方降低运营成本的机会。 但是托运人和航运公司最迫切的期望竟出奇的一致。托 运人希望获得可持续的货运服务、有竞争力的价格和最优化 的运营成本。航运公司希望船只装满能赚钱的货物、减少运 能和需求间的波动及最优化运营成本。双方若能在预测和长 期计划方面紧密合作并透明化运营成本和绩效，利人利己。

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我们需要更好的沟通 n 匿名 当然托运人和航运商若改变固有的行为模式，就无所谓 可持续。首先，托运人应共享自己的长期计划和策略以巩固 和航运公司的联盟；其次必须有共同的绩效指标，包括与双 方都密切相关的行业标准关键绩效指标。最后，托运人必须 解决自身在短期和中期预测方面的缺陷，而航运商须在信息 和合作方面以更高标准要求客户，并能在分享双方绩效方面 有更大透明度。 纷争现已平息，时局相对稳定。现在对整个行业来说是 重新定义和彻底改造运行方式、建立可持续互利合作关系的 绝佳时机。如果不把握时机，再乐观的人也能看出前景的暗 淡。

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FEATURE B2C With its huge, computer-literate populations and growing disposable income, companies have been plotting the best way to sink their claws into the Chinese online retail market. 2003 marked the first attempt when international superstar eBay purchased EachNet, which controlled 84% of the market. It seemed a fail-proof step for the successful and globally experienced company. However, over the next few years, eBay failed multiple times to hold its own and eventually left the domestic market. Now, as market leader TaoBao plots how to set up it’s own logistics platform and take it’s first international steps, eBay is once again trying to reclaim parts of the market and figure out where it went wrong.

through the process. TaoBao established WangWang, which allows consumers to discuss the prices and qualities of different goods.

EBay has yet to implement a similar site and initially failed to provide a customer support service in China.

Logistics Future Today, TaoBao has about 80% of the Chinese market share and is beginning examine their logistics network. In June, TaoBao announced a plan to improve their logistics platform by partnering with3PL service providers and offering warehouses in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. Partnering with logistics centers throughout China will provide a single holding place for a seller’s goods to be stored and distributed. The benefits of the single storage center include the prevention of fraud, greater expediency of distribution and elimination of the need of sellers to find their own warehouse. By using this warehouse, sellers are expected to save 20-30% of costs.

A logistics move of this magnitude is unprecedented in the world of Chinese B2C, as there is no other auction site in China of TaoBao’s size. There are other auction sites such as Vancl.com which focuses on clothing sales or 360Buy.com which sells electronic goods, but neither site comes close to the volume and variety of products sold on TaoBao. For instance, Vancl has a partnership with a logistics center that stores the site’s clothing products. This center increased Vancl’s costs by 20%, but the amount of returning customers increased by 50% and the center was deemed a success. However, the success of Vancl’s logistics center does not necessarily mean that TaoBao’s logistics plan will be successful. TaoBao is involved in much more than the niche market of clothing sales, offering just about any product imaginable. Also, instead of having a few key logistics centers to manage, TaoBao has many centers throughout China that it must operate efficiently. As a result, the costs and complexity of storing such a variety of goods may outweigh the potential increase in customer satisfaction.

A week later, in addition to the third-party logistics platform, Tao-

Platform Envy n Scott Steger

Capatalizing on Mistakes EBay’s failure in China can be attributed to two main factors; an inability to adjust its strategy upon entering China, and the ability of domestic TaoBao to capitalize on their mistakes. After buying out EachNet, eBay implemented a globalized strategy, similar to the one in the United States, while TaoBao focused specifically on how best to serve the Chinese market.

EBay modified EachNet’s technology platform from being focused on China to allowing e-commerce traffic to flow between China and the United States. The amount of users between the two countries overwhelmed the auction site’s capacity and significantly decreased its loading speed. The Chinese government’s “Great Firewall” only added to the website’s delay.

In addition, the fact that TaoBao is a Chinese based company that understands the Chinese consumer seems to have contributed to the site’s success. The Chinese consumer is relatively new to making purchases online and may need more “hand holding” and guidance

Eachnet, The first online auction site in China, is founded.

Joyo.com is founded offering mainly books, videos and DVD’s.

eBay Purchases the auction site Eachnet, which owns 85% of the Chinese online auction market

May

1999

2001

2002

focusing on the sale of computers and electronics

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

2003

2004

December

NewEgg.com is founded,

36

Online auction website 360buy.com is launched, offering mainly electronic goods

May

2000

The e-commerce site Dangdang. com is launched

Alibaba Group launches the consumer electronic site TaoBao.com to rival eBay/ Eachnet. Unlike eBay, the Taobao site charges no transaction fees.

eBay enters the Chinese online auction market

German company Bertelsmann enters the Chinese market, focusing on book retail

Amazon acquires Joyo.com

www.supplychains.com

Bao announced that it would build its own distribution centers in twenty provinces throughout China. The main areas include places near Shanghai , Beijing , Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, east China and Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province and south China. These centers will only require that seller’s storing their goods pay shipping for the logistics service, increasing TaoBao’s costs. TaoBao’s takes an even bigger risk with this logistic move, as this is the first time a company has built and operated its own logistics center.

International Eyes Taobao is also working to expand into the international marketplace, which begins to tread on eBay’s toes. This May, in an attempt to get beyond China’s borders, TaoBao announced its partnership with Yahoo! Japan. This alliance will allow people from both China and Japan to sell and purchase goods from both sites. Yahoo! Japan will offer an additional 50 million products through its “China Mall” and TaoBao will offer an additional 8 million products through “TaoJapan”. With China being the largest and Japan being the third largest e-commerce market in the world, the merger threatens to potentially eliminate eBay from not only the Asian market, but eventually in others.

Two potential problems this partnership could face are language barriers and providing an efficient logistics system. The companies expect to solve the language issue by using a machine to translate Chinese product listings posted on Yahoo! Japan and vice versa. However, unless carefully monitored, confusion is inevitable. In addition, logistically, products will have to be delivered much further and will presumably be more costly. With the potential language barrier and the increased costs and times of delivering products, buyers and sellers may not have sufficient incentives to participate in international transactions.

A couple of weeks later, eBay announced a new logistics strategy in China. EBay has partnered with China Post and the US Postal Service hoping to attract export-oriented merchants selling goods to the American consumer. The new “express” delivery service that eBay has implemented includes shorter delivery time and an online track-

eBay and Eachnet decide to change their technology platform from focusing on Chinese consumers to allowing Internet traffic to run between both China and the United States. This move significantly slows down the site.

Early

Alibaba Gorup, the parent company of Taobao, begins accepting payments from Ebay’s Paypal

Taobao launches new logistics platform offering “one-stop e-commerce logistics outsourcing services.

April

June

Vancl.com is founded, focusing on clothing sales

2005

2006 eBay shuts down its China site and partially purchases auction site Tom Online

Perfect Products Group (PPG) is founded, focusing on clothing sales

www.supplychains.com

Future for Cooperation EBay has always wanted what TaoBao has - dominance of the Chinese market. However, Dr. Bala Ramasamy of the China European International Business School doesn’t think eBay will ever catch up.

TaoBao currently has such a strong grasp on the Chinese market that it is looking internationally. However, it is probable that TaoBao will experience similar difficulties entering international e-commerce markets as eBay has had in China. If TaoBao does struggle abroad then it may sacrifice market share in its home turf.

Both may be willing to compromise, as eBay’s Paypal has recently partnered with TaoBao, and according to Ramasamy “such an agreement may signal a future alliance between the two websites”. In addition to this agreement, eBay CEO John Donahue was announced as a keynote speaker at AliBaba’s annual Netrepreneur Summit in Hangzhou on September 10. If these rival companies believe a stalemate is evident, and decide to form a partnership then Ramasamy says they “would be able to provide an international interface.”

An ultimate solution to the various issues of international expansion experienced by these two sites may be for either company to form domestic and international partnerships with logistics warehouses. With warehouses in various regions of each international market, the issues such as distance, cost and language could be significantly limited. Making such a big investment in international warehouse does carry a great deal of risk, but offering products in this manner may be the only choice for these sites if they hope to sustain long-term international expansion.

Taobao passes eBay/Eachnet as the auction site with the biggest market share

October

October

ing system. EBay has also formed a support team that instructs merchants on how to improve global listings, implement free shipping and prevent the sale of any fraudulent goods. This new eBay strategy seems to address similar logistical and cultural issues to those that TaoBao is facing in its attempt to expand into Japan and beyond.

2007

July Bertelsmann exits China market

2008

May Taobao.com and Yahoo!

Japan merge. Both companies are now able to sell products in the other’s market.

2010

May

eBay partners with US Postal Service and China Post in an attempt to reestablish itself in Chinese export market

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

37

FEATURE B2C

平台觊觎

2

003年，eBay收购易趣进军 中国网上零售市场，雄踞 84%的网上市场份额。此次 收购看似胜券在握，但之后 eBay在中国却步履维艰，最 终不得不惨淡退出。如今的市场霸主淘 宝，正自筹物流并走向国际。eBay也反 躬自省，想卷土重来。 借其失利 谋己之益 Ebay饮恨中国原因有二，一是其在 华战略照搬其美国市场战略；二是本土 新秀淘宝借其失利，谋己之益，为中国 市场量身定制最佳方案。 eBay将易趣的技术平台与美国对 接，但两国的海量用户超出了网站的承 载力，严重影响浏览速度；同时中国政 府的“防火长城”无疑是雪上加霜。 另外，淘宝源自本土，深谙中国消

中国第一家在线拍 卖网站易趣网诞生 卓越网诞生 主营书籍及音像制品

n Scott Steger

费者的口味。中国消费者对网购尚不熟 悉，需要更多指导。淘宝旺旺就可供消 费者讨论商品的价格质量。eBay却没有 类似页面。 未来的物流 淘宝已占中国市场份额的80%。六 月，它公布了物流提升方案，将与第三 方物流合作并在京、沪、深、蓉设立配 送中心，为卖家提供专属的仓储配送空 间，利于防劣、便于配送、节省成本。 如此规模的物流调整在中国式B2C 领域中可谓独一无二，淘宝之规模在中 国也无可匹敌。论及商品种类数量，折 扣服装专卖网凡客诚品或电子产品专卖 网360Buy.com都与之相差甚远。凡客诚 品与物流企业合作，为产品提供仓储中 心，虽然多花两成成本，但回头客也增 加了一半。可是淘宝情况不同，服装市

eBay买下在中国网 上拍卖市场占85% 份额的易趣

五月

1999

38

国际视野 今年五月淘宝与日本雅虎合作以开 辟国际市场，这对eBay来说无异于挑 衅。日本雅虎将在“中国商城”中提供 中国的5000万商品；淘宝也会在“淘日 本”中出售日本的800万件商品。中日 电子商务市场分居全球第一和第三，两 方合作让eBay在亚洲同其它地区的地位 都受到威胁。 这次合作的语言问题将通过翻译工

阿里巴巴创建消费电 子产品网站淘宝，和 eBay易趣同台竞争， 但是淘宝的不同之处 在于免收交易费

在线拍卖网站360buy. com成立，专营电子 产品

五月

2000

电子商务网当当 网成立

场不过是冰山一角；另外它要管理全国 各地的物流基地。仓储货物多、成本 高、复杂度高，风险不小。 淘宝一周后宣布将在全国二十个省 份中建立物流配送中心。卖家只需支付 送货费，可免费存货，这增加了淘宝成 本。因为淘宝首次建立并运营自己的物 流中心，所以有更多成本。

2001

专营电脑、电子产品的 网上超市新蛋网成立

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

2002

2003

2004

十二月 eBay进军中国网上 拍卖市场

德国贝塔斯曼入驻 中国，专售书籍 亚马逊收购卓越

www.supplychains.com

淘宝在进军全球时所面临的问题。

具来克服，虽然仍有可能造成理解障 碍；而物流方面，产品运送范围更广， 成本更高。这样买卖双方对跨国交易难 以长期保持高度热情。 淘宝和日本雅虎“联姻”两周 后，eBay便宣布调整在华物流战 略。EBay和中国邮政、美国邮政合作以 吸引出口为主的商户。全新的速递服务 不仅缩短了运送时间，还支持在线跟 踪。EBay组建了支援小组指导商户、完 善免邮、防止欺诈。新战略看似解决了

未来合作 EBay对淘宝有所觊觎。但中欧国际 工商学院的芮博澜博士并不认为eBay能 扭转乾坤。淘宝当下的地位难以撼动， 但在入驻国际之时可能也会陷入类似 eBay在中国的困境；如果淘宝负隅顽 抗，十有八九会损失部分国内市场。 双方对彼此都有所垂涎，也有意互 作让步。eBay旗下的贝宝与淘宝合作便 是征兆。另外，eBay 的CEO约翰•多纳霍将

T淘宝力超eBay 易趣，成为市场 霸主

eBay和易趣调整技术 平台，将中美网络对 接，结果拖慢了页面 浏览速度

早期

十月

于9月出席阿里巴巴在杭州的年度“网 商大会”并发表主题演讲。芮博澜指 出，如果竞争双方决议联姻，那他们或 许“能建立全球对接”并打造出规模超 出以往的交易市场。 要使双方从各种窘境中解围，那 他们须进一步完善淘宝当下的物流战 略——组建国内仓储中心，同时与全球 物流企业合作，减少因远程配送、成 本、语言等引起的不便。虽然国际仓储 中心耗资巨大，风险增加，但这种供应 途径对维持国际扩张之势来说将是不二 选择。

淘宝所属阿里巴 巴集团与eBay化 敌为友，接受贝 宝付款

淘宝自建物流平 台，提供“一站式 电子商务物流外包 服务”

四月

六月

凡客诚品上线，专 卖服饰

2005

2006

eBay退出中国，同时收购 Tom在线

十月 完美产品集团（PPG）成 立，专卖服饰

www.supplychains.com

2007

七月 贝塔斯曼退出中 国市场

2008

五月 淘宝与日本雅虎联 姻，二者可在线提供 对方国家的商品

2010

五月 eBay与美国邮政、中 国邮政合作，意在重建 中国出口市场

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

39

FEATURE Lifestyle

集装箱生活 低预算 它们用于出 口货物，但如果已 被废弃呢？货运集 装箱远不仅是可被运 往全球各地的货物装载 箱——它们还能成为您的 居家之所。 在当今中国，穷人们找寻一种便宜的生存方式 是很普遍的——而这些钢铁箱子正投其所好，成为 其安身之处。不过在世界上其它地区，货运集装箱 已成为一种流行建筑——个性张扬且成本低廉，中 国何不效仿其果？这些循环利用的集装箱本就是来 自中国的港口；再者，集装箱坚实、便携、可堆 叠、防水、可塑，在人口密集地区尤其适用。材料 的再利用也是创建家园的绿色方式——翻新集装箱 屋舍也很简单，只需应用绿色屋檐、太阳能电池 板、被动式太阳能热水器等技术即可。这对于中国 的城市来说不愧为节能妙方，也可加速摩天大楼的 崛起。根据某建筑站点的调查，全球有超过三亿的 货运集装箱处于空置状态，虽然近年来船货运输不 景气，这个数字也许会降低，但现在虽有人意于蜗 居，集装箱供仍大于求。

40

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

“蜗居族” 在中国很多城市中都有“蜗居一族”——他们居住于货 物集装箱内，深圳便是其中之一。蜗居族主要包括外来人 士，他们在新城市中找工作却承受不起惊人的房价。在深圳 一个“蜗居”小区里，一个集装箱的租金是每天六元。有些 居民说集装箱冬冷夏热，但也有也有居民说房屋构造坚实， 屋顶从不渗漏。 临时工 建筑工人、卡车司机以及其它临时工常常选择集装箱， 因为便于组建和拆迁，这正适合工作不稳定的使用者。 房屋救济 货运集装箱在天灾人祸之时也有巨大效用。它们便于 运送，适合在艰苦的气候条件下搭建，同时防腐、防火。 Intermodal Steel Building Unit (ISBU) Association International 称集装箱一旦固定，甚至能够承受飓风和 地震。四川地震后，救援小组搭建集装箱成立医疗中心并 方便搭建其它救灾建筑。在面对海地地震时，Shipping Container Housing 组织就设计了一款低廉房屋——500加仑 的屋顶水箱便于收集雨水来灌溉；蝶形屋顶适宜气候变化并 安置太阳能电池板。

www.supplychains.com

FEATURE Lifestyle

城市 高端集装箱结构在中国城市也适用—— 便于压缩生活购物空间，并能够为预算较紧 人群提供便宜但适宜居住、持久耐用的房 屋。 宾馆 这个城市旅社位于伦敦乌克斯布里治。 共有8层，88个货物集装箱，每晚16欧元。它 的脚手架和集装箱都来自于深圳，建筑用时 30周。

宾馆

微型 房屋

房屋压缩 中国城市日益拥挤，集装箱房屋派上用 场。这个货运集装箱建筑的绝佳创意由建筑 师彼特•皮林斯（Pieter Peelings）和西尔 维亚•墨顿斯（Silvia Mertens）发起，他们 将四个集装箱叠放起来。整体空间宽2.4米， 长5.5米，高12米，底层用于工作，二楼用 餐，三楼休闲，四楼观景。 寝室 为什么不把这些惹是生非的大学生都堆 进持久耐用的屋子里呢？

宿舍

商业用

途

商业用途 Urban Space Management同其美国合作 伙伴Global Modular Buildings共同设计了 15个商住两用空间，位于纽约市中心。 弗莱塔格精品手袋以其耐用可循环材质 而知名。当时它打算在苏黎世开设一家零售 店，并决定在市内单调乏味的工业区堆叠这 些摇摇欲坠的时髦集装箱——这也是弗莱塔 格兄弟1993年环保袋的灵感之源。

豪宅 对于那些中意私密清静的人来说，以下方式可让您和您的货运集装箱独享“二人世界”。

豪 宅

www.supplychains.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

41

FEATURE Lifestyle

CONTAINER LIVING

T

hey get your goods out of the country, but what about when no one wants them anymore? Shipping containers can be more that just a vessel in which your goods get across the world – they can be the vessel where you rest your weary head.

Currently in China, it is generally the people who are poor and looking for a cheap way to live that have employed these steel structures as shelter. However, across the world the hip and trendy have caught on that shipping containers are a cool way to indulge in stylish yet cost effective architecture. Why can’t China be next? Not only are China ports the origin of many of these recycled containers, the structures are strong, portable, stackable, waterproof, moldable and viable for high density living. Reusing these materials also counts as a greener way of building an abode – plus it’s easy to retrofit container houses with technology like green roofs, solar panels and passive solar water heating. Might be a good way for Chinese cities to conserve resources and build skyscrapers even more quickly. According to one architecture site, there are more than 300 million shipping containers sitting empty at ports around the world. With the recent cargo crunch (see page 30), these numbers may be dwindling; but supply is still available, as are the people willing to live in them.

LOW BUDGET

RM B per 6/d con ay tain er

il ities Snam un m o C

“Snail Communities” Shenzhen is one of the many cities in China with a growing population of people living in so called “snail living groups” – communities of people living in cargo containers. Many of these communities are made up chiefly of migrants looking for work who cannot afford an apartment with the current sky-high real estates prices. In one “snail living” community in Shenzhen, rent is RMB 6 / day per container. While residents say it is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, they also say the roof never leaks and it’s a sturdy living environment Transients Construction workers, truckers and other workers of a transient nature also often use containers to live in, as they are easy to assemble and take away, to meet the ebb and tide of users

Transients

f Relie

42

ng

housi

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Relief housing Shipping containers can be of great use in times of disaster. They are light to transport, built to stand up to rough climatic conditions, corrosion-proof, fire-proof and the Intermodal Steel Building Unit (ISBU) Association International says that, when anchored in place structures are able to withstand both hurricanes and earthquakes. After the Sichuan earthquake, containers were donated so groups could set up medical bases and relief structures. In the face of the Haiti earthquake, the Shipping Container Housing organization designed a cheap house which featured a 500-gallon rooftop cistern for rainwater harvesting and a butterfly roof to deflect the weather and hold solar panels

www.supplychains.com

FEATURE Lifestyle CITY Higher end container structures could also be useful in Chinese cities – they’re good for condensed living and shopping, and can provide cheap, yet livable and durable housing, for people with tighter budgets.

Hotels

Dorms

Freitag Condensed housing Hotels This Travelodge urban hotel in Uxbridge, London is built entirely of 88 shipping containers, has 8 floors and costs Euro 16/night.

The scaffolding comes from Shenzhen, as do the containers. The hotel took 30 weeks to construct.

Condensed housing As Chinese cities become more and more condensed, houses like this might come in handy. This great example of shipping container architecture was created by architects Pieter Peelings and Silvia Mertens of

Commercial Sculp(IT). It consists of containers stacked four high. The entire space is 2.4w x 5.5L x 12h meters. The bottom floor is used for work, dining room is located on the second floor, relaxation room on the third, and a rooftop view from the fourth.

Commercial Urban Space Management alongside its American counterpart, Global Modular Buildings, designed 15 retail and residential spaces to be situated in the heart of New York City. Project: ongoing

Dorms Why not crowd all of your rowdy college students into some of the most durable rooms in the city? Universities around Europe are starting to put their students into low cost, high density housing to see them through the school year

When Freitag bags, a boutique designer known for using durable, recycled materials, wanted to build a retail store in Zurich, they decided on this rather precarious hipping containers are stacked in an otherwise drab, industrial part of the city .

LUXURY

Luxury

www.supplychains.com

For those looking for something a little more private and secluded, a shipping container out in the countryside, fashionably stacked and retrofitted, can be the perfect home....or home away from home.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

43

FEATURE Cold Chain

Cold Awakening

F

rom spotted fruit to rotten fish, a weak cold chain is the core of many farmer and consumer woes. According to a recent report by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China, 20% of fresh fruit and vegetables, 12% of fresh meat and 15% of the country’s seafood have already gone bad upon delivery. These huge spoilage rates cost Chinese producers an estimated RMB100 billion (US$147 million) a year, a number that many of them cannot afford.

Despite harrowing numbers and urgent needs, China’s cold chain network has been moving at a rather glacial pace. It is, in general, riddled by bad practices (see ice cream supply chain, pg 46), poor infrastructure, untrained personnel and ancient equipment. For instance, the NDRC report also noted that today, China’s refrigerated vehicle fleet accounts for only 0.3% of all logistics vehicles in China with most of the cold storage facilities having been in operation for more than 30 years.

The Chinese government has been handing down proclamations demanding that the standards become more stringent, with the Number 1 Central Government document recently promising RMB800 billion of the central budget to support agricultural development, which included transportation. But what is the network facing, and what changes can really happen to meet growing domestic and international demand?

Picky Consumers At a recent Cold Chain Summit held by the Global Supply Chain Council (GSCC) Francis Bassolino, Managing Partner of Alaris, said that the growth of Chinese GDP plus the expansion of the Chinese urban population will be the biggest thing to drive cold chain demand. He cites the growth in popularity of products

44

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

that require refrigeration; namely milk, ice cream, flavored dairy drinks and frozen desserts.

This grassroots demand base is also rooted not only in taste and wealth, but also a demand for better, more visible quality checks. Fannie Liu, the vice president of the Ingersoll Rand Cold Chain College, agrees that Chinese consumers are not only demanding more products that require cold chain, but they are also keeping a closer eye on quality. The recent onslaught of quality issues have placed the supply chain, especially cold chain products as they are dairy related, under scrutiny. A more visible and safe cold chain is part of the puzzle that will gain consumer confidence.

This question of quality has also come up in international rhetoric.

While tainted milk and unclean vegetables are more a product of unscrupulous producers rather than transportation, lack of visibility within a supply chain is a major factor. This concern was demonstrated in China’s recently publicized collaboration with the United States, which currently has the worlds most sophisticated cold supply chain.

Practical Solutions One of the problems of finding a happy medium is the sheer cost that companies need to invest in order to retrofit their supply chain.

Refrigerated trucks are expense to buy, run and maintain. While big international conglomerates like Havi logistics can afford to invest, many others have to contend with drivers who turn their AC off in the middle of a trip to save on fuel.

The network also needs to expand. If the market continues to grow at a similar pace, the stock of refrigerated warehouses needs to triple by 2013 and the stock of refrigerated trucks need to double to meet the demand. Bassolino

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FEATURE Cold Chain

cited numbers that spoke to a 24% year on year growth rate of the cold chain warehouse market and an 18% year on year growth rate of refrigerated trucks. However, in spite of this growth, there seems to be neither planning nor rigorous adherence to detail. “They seem to have an ‘if I build it, they will come’ mindset,” said Bassolino. “But the oversupply is actually just driving low pricing pressure.” This over supply is also driven by the fact that many large conglomerates, like Yum! food brand, develop it’s own cold chain infrastructure instead of risking reliance on another company.

In terms of insulation and reducing supply chain breaks (see Fannie Liu’s look at breaks in the ice cream chain, page 46) a method of insulation may be a better solution rather that investing in new air conditioned trucks, or trying update old ones. Chris Catto Smith of Freshport Asia thinks highly modern insulation covers could do the trick. He notes that the biggest problem in the cold supply chain are breaks due to multiple handovers, blind eyes towards food safety, trucks unable to cope with mixed loads problems with ill-equipped contract vehicles and lack of logistics standards in terms of docks, doors, pallets, etc. An insulating cover that can go over pallets could reduce temperature fluctuations, even when the pallets are sitting in the hot sun of a tarmac. Smith says that his insulating cover, which can maintain temperawas injected into ture of most products (especially fresh slaughter monitoring fruit/vegetables and dairy products) is a systems, quality solution that could help Chinese farmers reduce numbers of quality claims, and information and cold chain infrastructure have a 50% cost reduction in transport as compared to retrofitting for air conditionby the central ing. government

RMB 300 million

Looking Forwards In response to these inefficiencies and call for better systems, the NDRC recently came out with a five-year plan with the lengthy title of “The Development Plan for Cold Chain Logistics for Agricultural Products” in China. This long proclamation was created with the goal to quicken the pace of development of China’s currently underdeveloped cold chain logistics infrastructure.

The grand plan is to set up a single cold chain logistics system by

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2015 which will handle 20% of all fresh fruit and vegetables, 30% of the meat and 36% of seafood. China hopes that with the implementation of this new policy it will regain the comparative advantage in the world wide agricultural market. Brady Sidwell, head of Rabobank’s Food and Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) team in North Asia, says that the lowest hanging fruit to increasing productivity and availability in China is waste reduction.

Looking at the mountains of vegetables that waste away in the summer heat and get thrown out of wet markets, it indeed seems like China needs to do something. Despite what is indeed an encouraging development plan for cold chain infrastructure in China, there is a long road between planning and realizing implementation, especially in a market where logistics remain fragmented and largely local/provincial rather than national or in some cases, even regional While change is obviously coming, it is still unlikely that the pace will quicken in the short term. “There are more than enough regulations,” noted Bassolino of Alaris. “There’s just not enough enforcement, it’s like killing roaches one by one.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

45

FEATURE Cold Chain

Ice Cream — A Story

Ever opened a much anticipated ice cream bar, only to discover ice crystals and a funny texture in place of what should be a smooth and tasty treat? Fannie Liu, Vice President of the Ingersoll-Rand Cold Chain College, recently set out to discover exactly why so much ice cream ends up this way once it gets to a store. What she discovered was that the average ice cream logistics chain is riddled by extreme temperature fluctuations, and most of it has thawed at least once. Some advice to avid ice cream eaters, if you open up your package of chocolate covered vanilla ice cream, and you see white dots at the bottom – chances are there was one, if not several, breaks in the cold chain.

-28℃

The average storage temperature needed to keep ice cream stable is ≤-18℃. When Liu first met the ice cream in storage it met these standards.

In 15 minutes, crates were delivered from storage to the loading platform, where they were stacked.

12℃

7:

00

am

7:15

am

Non-standardized operation: The connection between the trucks and platform were not seamless.

Non-standardized operation: Door to the outside was always open.

Non-standardized operation: Manual loading outside.

7:15-8:

30am

15℃~ -3℃ am

8:30-9:40

-8℃

m

10a

0: 0-1

9:4

m

0a

:4 -10

:10

10

-16.8℃

:4

11 :

10

am

0 1:1 1 0

am

Ice cream arrived, connects to loading dock.

10

Ice cream transported to the end-user location.

Non-standardized operation: Van not refrigerated, merely insulated.

Ice cream sat on platform.

20℃

20℃

46

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Ice cream unloaded, made ready for storage.

Ice cream in storage.

-28℃

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FEATURE Cold Chain

冰淇淋的故事

期待已久的冷饮店终于开业，却发现原本香滑可口的冰激凌上只有一些冰晶和可笑的纹理！英格索兰冷链学院副院长刘芳博士最近 发起一项调查，想探明为何如此多的冷饮店在开业之后都会以同样的命运关门大吉。结果她发现几乎每条物流链在极端温度的波动 下都已千疮百孔，它们中的大部分已经解冻了一次以上。有一些针对冷饮爱好者的意见说：当你打开香草巧克力冰激凌的时候，如 果在它的底部看到了一些白点——那么这条冷链中至少有一次脱节。 可以使冰激凌稳定储存的平均温 度要在低于-18℃。刘芳清晨7点 第一次在储存室观察这些冰激凌 是在这些标准情况下的

-28℃

在15分钟后，包装完毕，从 仓库运往到阅台堆放。

7:

午

上

12℃

00

7:15

非标准化操作：卡车和平台之间并 没有做到无缝连接。 非标准化作业：连接到室外的门总 是敞开的 非标准化作业：室外手动装货

上午

-8:30

上午7:15

15℃~ -3℃ 冰激凌被运送到终端用 户所在地 非标准化作业：没有冷 藏，只是绝缘

上午8:30-9:40

-8℃

上午

9:4

上

午

上

10

10

:10 11

午

上

:4

0-

0:1

0 冰激凌抵达并连接至 装货码头

:10

午

0-1

-10

-16.8℃

:40

11 :

10 冰激凌放入装货平台

20℃

20℃ -28℃

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冰激凌入库

冰激凌卸下，准备储藏

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

47

FEATURE Cold Chain

冷链不冷

蔬

梦醒高温

菜变质、鱼肉腐烂，冷链薄弱是农民和 消费者担忧之所在。国家发展改革委员 会最近发布的一项报告显示，中国有20%的新鲜蔬果、12%的 鲜肉以及15%的海鲜在货到时已经变质。食品腐败率高得离 奇，生产商每年会因此损失约1000亿人民币（相当于147亿 美元）——这个数字对于大部分人来说是不可承受的。 尽管这个数字耸人听闻，而面对市场迫切的需求，中国 的冷链网络仍然步履维艰。总的来说，供应链的千疮百孔

缘于实践中的不良做法（请见46页，冰激凌供应链）、薄弱 的基础设施、未经培训的劳动人员以及老旧的设施设备。比 如，国家发改委的报告指出,中国现今的冷藏货运工具只占 全国所有物流交通工具的0.3%，而这些冷藏货运工具中大多 已使用了30年以上。 中国政府已正式宣布将相关标准严格化。中央政府一号 文件近日公布将投资8000亿人民币用于支持农业发展，其中 包括交通。但是物流网络究竟面临着什么，要做出何种改变 才能满足日益增长的国内外需求呢？ 挑剔的消费者 近日在全球供应链协会（GSCC）举办的冷链峰会中，美 国艾力斯的合伙管理人Francis Bassolino指出，中国GDP的 增长及其城市人口的膨胀将推动冷链的发展。他举例说人口 增长会促进对冷藏产品如牛奶、冰激淋、调味乳饮料以及冷 冻甜品等的需求。 草根需求不仅针对上乘的口味和丰富的种类，还强调更 为透明的质检。英格索兰冷链学院的副主席刘芳说过，中国 消费者不仅需要冷链供应的产品，更要求严格的质检监督。 最近排山倒海的质量问题大多涉及奶制品，所以物流链尤其 是冷链受到了严格监督。冷链管理若透明安全，消费者自然

48

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

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FEATURE Cold Chain 能重拾信心。 质量问题已上升为全球议题。有毒牛奶和不净蔬菜的 交通运输远不及商贩不诚的问题严重，同时供应链缺乏透 明度也是个大问题，中国在近日与拥有全球最复杂冷链的 美国的公开合作中也提到了这个问题。 可行方案 寻找称心的运输载体存在一个问题——公司 翻新供应链所需成本。冷藏货车价格不菲，操作 维护也需资金。虽然诸如夏晖食品这种大型国际 企业有力投资，但是大多其它公司还是得应付为 节省成本而在货运途中关冷气的司机。 冷链网络规模仍需扩大。如果市场仍以相 同速度扩张，为满足需求，冷藏中心数量在 2013年会增加3倍，而冷藏货车的数量也会翻 倍。Bassolino指出冷链仓储市场相比去年同期会 增长24%，而冷藏货车相比去年同期将增长18%。 但虽数据在此，却没有具体计划，实践中也没有坚持细节。 Bassolino说，“他们似乎有一种观念‘只要楼建了，人 就会来’，但是供应过多实则会造成价格走低。因为像百盛 这种大型公司自建冷链设施而非冒险依靠其它企业，这就会 造成供应过多。” 在隔热措施、减少供应链中断方面（请见46页，刘芳看 冰激凌冷链中断），选用良好的隔热方法也许比投资购买或 更新配备冷气的货车要更好。他指出冷链中最大的问题就是 供应中断，原因很多，可能因为多次转手、食品安全检测不 力、货车因配备落后而无力混合负载，或者因为码头、车 门、运货板等方面没有相关标准。能覆盖运货板的绝缘罩 能够减少温度波动——哪怕运货板暴露于烈日下的柏油路 上。Smith说他的绝缘罩能够维持大多产品温度，尤其是鲜 冷蔬果奶制品，这对于中国的农民来说不失为一种解决方 案，可以避免质量投诉，相比翻新冷气设备而言交通成本也 可节省一半。 放眼未来 这些不足亟待更为完善的系统，国家发改委最近推出一 项“农业产品冷链物流发展计划”的五年计划，这篇洋洋洒 洒的报道旨在加速建设中国当下落后的冷链物流基础设施。

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这项宏伟的计划预 计在2015年建立一个单 一的冷链物流系统，它 将解决全国20%新鲜蔬 果、30%的肉类和36%海 鲜类的供应问题。中国 希望通过完善这个项目 来在国际农贸市场中攫 取竞争优势。荷兰合作 银行食品农业研究咨询 北亚部（FAR）的负责 人指出用快速效果来推 动中国的生产率和可用性可减少浪费。 看着炎炎夏日中被抛出街市的成吨的蔬菜，中国确实该 着手做点什么了。虽然国家为冷链基础设施推出了鼓励发展 政策，但要付诸实践仍是前路漫漫，尤其在中国这种物流系 统不完善的国家，很多供应只是基于地方或地区而没有达到 国家统一标准。 变化是有的，但在短期内也不会更快。Bassolino说，“ 这远非规章制度能解决的问题，执法如隔靴搔痒没有效率， 力度也不够。”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

49

FOCUS RISK

KAZAKHSTAN

Urumqi

Risk Roundup

Almaty

GEORGIA

Tbilisi

Bishkek Tashkent

AZERBAIJAN

Baku

Nakhchiyan (AZERBAIJAN)

Risk alerts around Asia

TURKMENISTAN

KYRGYZSTAN

UZBEKISTAN TAJIKISTAN

Ashgabat

Dushanbe

Kurdish region Tehran

BANGLADESH: the recent months. This ‘wave’ Baghdad In response to recent of labour unrest is spreading I R A Q Amman violent protests by garment across the country, and foreign I R A N workers, Bangladesh looks to manufacturers are relocating JORDAN increase its monthly minimum as a result.KUWAIT These strikes show wage in the garment sector there is a threat of ‘copycat’ from 1,600 taka ($25) to 3,000 strikes and the underlying causes Dhahran BAHRAIN taka ($43). This increased wage of protests bothQATAR persist.

Dubai Abu Dhabi may undermine Bangladesh’s Jiangxi - 23 May 2010 - Train Riyadh SAUDI UAE competitiveness as a major texderails in Jiangxi as torrential Muscat ARABIA tile producer. rain continues to affect southJeddah 8 August - At least 17 power east.

OMAN plants across the country were 16, 23, 31 July - Amid closed due to fuel shortages and heavy rainfall, flooding maintenance work. Several mapersists in many provinces. This jor cities, including the capital flooding Sanaa has led to thousands Y E M Ebeing N Dhaka, experienced power outof residents stranded, the ages throughout the day. slowing of essential services and almost 200 deaths.

BURMA/MYANMAR: 22 July - The US Congress reINDIA: Somaliland newed for another year a series 31 July - Truck drivers’ unions Addis Ababa of sanctions against the ruling called off indefinite strikes State Peace and Development scheduled to begin on 1 and 6 Council (SPDC) military regime.

August after the government The SPDC and the numerous agreed to address the group’s SOMALIA Mogadishu Asian countries doing regular grievances by 10 August. The business with the regime are ununion can be expected to stage likely to take much notice of the an industrial action if the govsanctions or the US censure. ernment fails to reach an agreement with the groups by 10 AuCAMBODIA: gust, which will likely to cause 27 July - Police ended a weeksignificant travel disruption; long strike at a Malaysian owned roadblocks are also possible. garment factory in Phnom 31 July - Finance MinPenh. Lower exports have ister Pranab Mukherjee caused significant job losses and unveils a proposal for a goods falling profits, leading to more and services tax (GST), reafconfrontations with unions. firming the India National ConHowever, protests are believed gress (Congress)-led United to present only minor risks of Progressive Alliance (UPA) govdisruption to wider business opernment’s pro-reform credenerations. tials. However, the fact that the implementation of the GST has CHINA: been delayed until April 2011 A series of strikes have demonstrates the political and affected foreign firms in bureaucratic impediments to the

50

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Kashmir

Kabul

Islamabad

AFGHANISTAN Kandahar Lahore

PAKISTAN

NEPAL

Delhi

Kathmandu

BHUTAN

Karachi

BANGLADESH

Dhaka

Ahmadabad

I N D I A

Kolkata

Chittagong

BU Mumbai Hyderabad

Bangalore

Rangoon

Chennai

Jaffna

MALDIVES

Colombo

SRI LANKA

A

Government Unrest SECURITY RISK FORECAST

Violence

Insignificant

High

Low

Extreme

Medium

Natural Disaster Protest/ Strikes Energy Problems

implementation of reforms.

8 August - Public transport operators in the eastern state of West Bengal postponed a three-day work stoppage until 22 August after the state government agreed to look into their demands. The strike had been scheduled to begin on 10 August in protest at the government’s decision not to allow operators to increase fares following a fuel price hike.

4 August - The United Naga

Council (UNC), a group representing the ethnic-Naga community in the state of Manipur, has announced that it will commence a 20-day blockade of two national highways in the state in protest of the federal government. The blockade will restrict traffic on the two highways and affect the availability of essential commodities.

The Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee (PSBJC0 will stage

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M O N G O L I A

(Maharashtra)Sapporo and Bangalore (Karnataka), seriously affecting opposition strongholds.

business areas, complicating transportation and affecting commercial activity.

INDONESIA: 14 July - The lower house of the Seoul Papua provincial parliament has JAPAN SOUTH KOREA Tokyo scheduled a special meeting in Nagoya Osaka response to the upper house’s Fukuoka decision in June to revoke the province’s special autonomy status. Tensions of political groups are expected to rise increasing the risk of violent protests.

21 July - Key industrial areas in Northern parts of the capital Jakarta suffered one of the longest blackouts in recent years following a fault in an electricity sub-station. DeteriPACIFIC oration of infrastructure caused OCEAN the blackout. PLN is constantly on the verge of bankruptcy and has failed to upgrade its system.

PHILIPPINES: Security heightened in Zamboanga City following suspected suicide bombing at airport At least two people were killed and 22 others injured on 5 August in a suspected suicide bombing outside the arrival area of Zamboanga International Airport.

Vladivostok Shenyang

NORTH KOREA Beijing

Pyongyang

Dalian

Tianjin

Xian

C H I N A

Shanghai Chengdu Chongqing

Taipei

Guangzhou

URMA

Aceh

FOCUS RISK

Ulaanbaatar

Shenzhen Hong Kong

TAIWAN

Hanoi

LAOS

Vientiane

THAILAND Bangkok

Manila

CAMBODIA VIETNAM PHILIPPINES

Phnom Penh Ho Chi Minh

Cebu

BRUNEI M A L A Y S I A

Penang

Sulu archipelago

Kuala Lumpur SINGAPORE

Kalimantan Sumatra

Sulawesi Maluku Jakarta Java

Surabaya

I N D O N E S I A

Denpasar

EAST TIMOR

a 48-hour shutdown strike on 3-4 August in the eastern state of West Bengal. There is an increased likelihood of rebel attacks during this period, particularly targeting security force installations and personnel, as well as transport or other public

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infrastructure, posing incidental risks to personnel.

5 July - Opposition parties staged nationwide strikes and demonstrations against an increase in the price of fuel. The strikes caused disruption in several cities, including Mumbai

PAKISTAN: 22 May 2010 - Politically motivated killings continue in Karachi; related shutdown strike observed in Quetta.

Heightened security, which will likely include roadblocks and checkpoints, will cause localised traffic disruption.

19 July - Boisterous demonstrations have occurred and are expected to continue in several areas of Karachi (Sindh province) over power and water shortages.

Papua Service delivery protests occur frequently during P A P U Athe summer E W increased months due toNthe deLae GUINEA mand for power and water.

Port estiMoresby 3 August - It is mated that flooding in northern parts of the country has affected about 3m people, killing at least 1,400. State and non-state agencies are struggling to reach those affected.

4 August - More than 60 people have been killed in Karachi since the 2 August assassination of local politician Syed Raza Haider.

Unrest can spill into central

SOUTH KOREA: 5 August - South Korea began major anti-submarine exercises in the Yellow Sea (West Sea). North Korea on 3 August condemned the drill plans and warned of ‘powerful physical retaliation’. Korean peninsula developments continue to demand close monitoring; elevated tensions are unlikely to abate in the near future.

THAILAND: 4 August - The authorities increased security measures at 26 high-risk locations in the capital Bangkok following government warnings of further attacks by anti-government activists, while the risk of isolated attacks persists, the likelihood of renewed unrest remains low at this time.

25 July - At least one person was killed and ten others were Bougainville (PNG) injured in an explosion near Ratchaprasong intersection, in SOLOMON ISLANDS the capital Bangkok. Increased security force presence and associated traffic restrictions will cause localised disruption.

Control Risks is an independent, specialist risk consultancy with offices on five continents. Go to http://www.control-risks.com/ for more information.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

51

FOCUS Manufacturing

Spread the Word:

There isn’t A ‘Next China’

The wake-up call for sourcing professionals

P

n By Josh Green, Panjiva

rices of products made in China are rising. In the short term, this is bad news for consumers and businesses that buy products made in China (read: everyone). As a result, a lot of people in the manufacturing world are asking, “Where’s the ‘Next China?’”

The answer to this question is vitally important, but not particularly uplifting. Unfortunately, there is no “Next China.” Sourcing executives would do well to spread the word - and fast.

The Rise of China China is not the first country to dominate manufacturing. In reverse chronological order, think of the other examples: South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, America, and England. However, the speed of China’s rise and the scope of its manufacturing dominance has admittedly been particularly staggering.

There have been three ingredients to China’s success: pro-trade government policy, solid infrastructure, and a huge, underemployed labor pool.

It is this last ingredient (China’s huge labor

pool) that has kept manufacturing costs so low for so long. Typically, you would expect wages to rise as more and more companies start manufacturing in a particular region and demand for labor increases. However, in the case of China, there were so many people that needed jobs that it seemed companies would always be able to find more people that were willing to work for very little.

But, as we now realize, it only seemed that way.

Rising Prices in China In the last few months, we have seen the landscape change very quickly in China. In the wake of several suicides, high tech powerhouse Foxconn raised wages dramatically.

In response to multiple strikes, Honda also offered workers significant pay increases.

Yum, parent company to the wildly popular KFC, reaps 35 percent of its profit from its China division, but in a recent statement noted that they expect China labor costs to

52

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

increase from $12 million in the first half of 2010 to $32 million in the second half.

While the speed of change is breathtaking, the fact that things are changing is not a surprise to most sourcing executives, who have seen the writing on the wall for years. Prior to the Great Recession, wage rates were already increasing, particularly in coastal China, leading many companies to move inland or to begin the search for the “Next China.” However, the Great Recession forced many suppliers into survival mode and enabled buyers to get low prices for a little while longer. But this was a temporary state of affairs.

As the global recovery picks up steam, wages are again increasing, and China’s recent decision to move to a more flexible currency, while good for China and the global economy in the long run, only compounds the effect of wage increases. There is now little doubt of what the future holds: prices of products made in China will rise. Now, companies are again asking themselves, “Where’s

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FOCUS Manufacturing the ‘Next China’ going to be?’”

Where’s the Next China?

In attempting to identify China’s successor, it’s worth revisiting the ingredients to China’s success: pro-trade government policy, solid infrastructure, and a huge, underemployed labor pool. Doing so brings us to the bad news: there is no “Next China,” because there is no country in the world that has these three key ingredients.

To be sure, there are countries that have these first two (the United States, virtually all of Europe, and many ASEAN countries).

But there isn’t a country in the world that has as many underemployed people as China did when it began its march to manufacturing dominance.

India comes close, and frankly should be the “Next China.” In fact, India should have been China before China was China. However, India lacks the first two ingredients; a pro-trade government policy and solid infrastructure. It shows no signs of remedying things in the near future.

Does this mean that there aren’t low-cost alternatives to China? No. In fact, many companies have found success by sourcing from places like Vietnam, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia. The problem is that none of these countries have a large enough underemployed population to keep wages low if companies pour in for as sustained a time period, and in such huge numbers, as they did in China. Therefore, any gains from moving to new geographies are likely to be short-lived.

Only the most nimble sourcing organizations who can stomach shifting geographies on a regular basis will be able to stay a step ahead of wage increases; everyone else is going to have to cope with rising manufacturing costs.

Spread the Word If there isn’t a “Next China,” what should

www.supplychains.com

Surge in wage rates: Credit Suisse claims the Labor Contract Law, in operation since January, will increase manufacturing costs by a further 15%-20% due to labor prices. Labor has already increased 70% since 2004.

Chart courtesy of Credit Suisse

Dongguan Guangzhou

1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200

960

Shanghai

860 770

350 320 320

0 1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

Monthly minimum wage (yuan) sourcing executives do? First off, they need to spread the word. For a long time, sourcing organizations have been known for being able to reliably deliver low manufacturing costs. This is about to change. Telling your colleagues this fact will take courage, but it’s essential. What’s worse than rising costs? Being surprised by rising costs. At least if your colleagues know that rising costs are on the horizon, they can plan accordingly.

It’s worth acknowledging that some still say the days of cheap labor in China are not yet over. Those making this argument point to the possibility that China is in the midst of a bubble that will soon burst, ultimately resulting in a renewed willingness of workers to accept lower wages. Others counter that China’s young workers, having tasted higher wages and white collar opportunities, will never tolerate a return to the old order, even if China is in the midst of a bubble that will soon burst. In any event, wouldn’t you rather your colleagues be surprised by lower-thanexpected costs, rather than by higher-thanexpected costs?

Second, invest in being nimble. Sourcing organizations need to excel at working flexibly across multiple geographies. Technology and information can help; but only if your team recognizes that, in today’s world, only the nimble survive. Presuming your team is up

to the challenge, arm them with information that allows them to get up to speed in new geographies as quickly as possible. Alternatively, if you don’t think your organization is up to the challenge, consider partnering with organizations that already know how to work flexibly across geographies.

Finally, recognize that, in the long run, innovation is the only reliable way to consistently keep costs down. High technology companies have already figured this out; technological innovation is a key reason that the price of iPhones will go down, even as the wages of Foxconn workers go up. However, beyond the world of high tech, abundant, cheap labor has traditionally been the key to keeping manufacturing costs down. “In the past, factories in Asia tended to throw more people at a tough job,” notes Tom Nelson, VF Corporation’s VP of Global Product Procurement. “However, I believe that with good engineering, the Asian factories could offset many of the current cost increases we are seeing today.”

For the last decade, we’ve had China to thank for low costs. In the medium term, we will have flexible supply chains to thank. In the long term, as wages rise across the globe, innovation will be the key to cost-containment. But, in the short term, manufacturing costs are likely to rise - because there isn’t going to be a “Next China.”

Josh Green is CEO of Panjiva, an intelligence service for sourcing executives. He can be contacted at josh@panjiva.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

53

FOCUS Labor

Wage Increases

A

re the rising labor wages something to be worried about? Michael McCool, Principal at AT Kearney, said no at a recent Global Supply Chain Council breakfast.

“The statistics are being overstated substantially,” he stated during a presentation. “Chinese labor costs actually look lower than the overall trend.”

In light of the recent Foxconn protests and subsequent wage increases, it’s easy to feel a little bit panicky by just glancing at media headlines. But McCool cautions hot-heads that this is simply a case of a developing economy. He also pointed out the fact that Foxconn didn’t just fire the workers who protested and hire new ones. This is because Chinese

workers like the ones at Foxconn are more skilled and therefore more valuable than unskilled laborers who are less likely to strike.

McCool also noted that while China still remains a good option for many companies to base their manufacturing/ outsourcing operations (as opposed to

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Mexico or Poland – which have proximity to market, but other bad points) there are some industries that will start to suffer, most notably apparel. This is due to it being an intensive, though not highly skilled, labor when compared to the automotive or technology sector. Other sectors will be able to rebalance rising labor costs with factory automation, therefore being able to support a higher wage rate. This will not be as possible within the apparel section – especially when you’re in the business of creating, for instance, mens suits.

But, according to research from AT Kearney, McCool also says that there is not really anywhere left for factories to go. They ran a study comparing operations in Bangledesh vs. China and came out with only a 4% difference in total costs. If true, this means that companies in China trying to keep their costs down will have to find a new way to do it – or deal with the fact that their prices may rise in the future.

Iris Duchetsmann, Senior Associate at Salans, says that labor laws will also become more stringent as laborers become more demanding. However, she also says that labor laws can be vaguely convoluted, and it’s important for employers to understand where to turn in the event of a protest. “Within the labor laws, workers do not technically have the right to strike,” Duchetsmann said. “However, they can be involved in “work stop-

pages” or “slowdowns” – when this happens, you need to make sure you Trade Union representative gets involved early.” There is a Trade Union representative in every factory, and the government is currently working to strengthen their role in workers rights. She says that while they don’t necessarily have a lot of power, they have the unique ability to negotiate agreements, participate in meetings regarding rules/regulations and provide information to the workers in the event of any changes or worker layoffs.

In the unlikely event that protests get out of hand at your factory, John So, Director and General Manager of Control Risks China, says you should be aware that police don’t like to side with employers, especially if they’re foreign.

They only time they can get involved is if violence occurs, but as most Chinese employees protest passively, there is little police can do besides negotiate.

So says, from his point of view, the best thing that you can do in these situations is make sure that you are very open with workers as to why, when and how upcoming events will happen.

At the end of the day, most of the speakers agreed that the rise in labor costs should not be viewed as a bad thing, but merely as another step that is marking China’s forward moving progress. While some complications, such as rising/inflated costs might occur, it is not something to panic about.

www.supplychains.com

FOCUS M&A

Now is the time

M

ergers and acquisitions seem to be hot this year as the logistics market is beginning to consolidate, foreign companies continue to entrench in the China market and domestic companies begin to look outward.

At a recent Global Supply Chain Council event, Chee Wee Gan, Senior Principal at A.T. Kearney, discussed what companies should look for when they begin the M&A process.

Driven by the economy, Gan says that the logistics market is getting too big for many global players to ignore, but that companies need to be careful when they begin to sends out tendrils of M&A inquiry. By 2015, China’s combined international and domestic land/ air transportation network will reach a value of RMB 3 trillion. Gan says that the Chinese logistics market is now in a stage that it is ready for consolidation, as there are too many small players working in a fragmented and intensely competitive market. Essentially, Gan expects for the market to show clear consolidation and emergence of market leaders within the next three to five years.

In addition to pure market drivers,

www.supplychains.com

Gan also points to government initiatives that are driving the logistics market towards consolidation. He noted that as labor, licensing, and standards laws become more stringent, weaker players will be driven from the market, creating a more level playing ground for high quality foreign and domestic players. Domestic players are being encouraged to expand and improve, and money is going into north and west infrastructure.

In short, if you’re looking for a merger or acquisition, now would be the time to start observing potential candidates.

However, one of the luncheon participants wanted to know exactly what it was that companies should look for when they began to consider looking

for acquisitions. While Gan pointed to some successes like TNT-Hoau, he says that a tailored approach is key. It’s important to look at all aspects of a company very carefully, especially the web of relationships that extend through

the company and in relationship surrounding other people the factory uses.

Are there any clear leaders? Is the truck driver the boss’s brother? If one person goes, will the rest follow? Gan also warns of watching out for hidden costs lurking within company strategy, equipment etc.

“Don’t underestimate due diligence,” he said. “It’s crucial to finding out about the little things within the company.”

Another participant wanted to understand exactly how often they should be looking around for potential companies.

Gan noted that the business environment in China changes so quickly, that companies could do well to re-evaluate the market every six months. While this seems like a lot, companies also seem to change on a much quicker scale in China than in other countries. It remains unusual for a bad company to change into a good company, but smaller companies often get an extra boost from good leadership and begin to expand or update their processes.

The most important advice for companies looking to acquire in China is constant vigilance.

“The market is still a little messy,” says Gan. “But now is definitely the time to be looking.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

55

FOCUS Quality

I

n a recent event held by the Global Supply Chain Council, professionals joined together to swap ideas on how to make sure quality standards are met in China’s notoriously spotty environment.

Stuart Kinkade, Senior Manager of TRW Automotive, said that quality is leadership driven, and will never be met unless top management drives change. In his definition, this means that top management knows what is going on in the production line of any factory, and is actively involved in looking for improvements. He uses the example of one factory, when the big CEO came in every day and visibly stood on the floor and watched operations. Kinkade says that this added involvement gives motivation to the factory workers. He also mentioned that people on the factory floor who see everything should be given a voice in the company. “People like production engineers aren’t often asked their opinion,” said Kinkade. “But they’re the ones who see everything happen and who know

the details of what’s going on.”

From a pharmaceutical perspective, Rory Budihandojo, Director of the China Quality Audit group of Boehinger Ingelman, says it’s important for regulations to be mature and be enforced. For instance, he notes that the State Federal Drug Administration (SFDA) is not yet able to cope with many of China’s quality problems. With a couple of rare ex-

tions.”

This same issue is seen along the supply chain of other sectors. Gene Slusiewicz, Supplier Quality and Global Sourcing Manager of PAC Group China, mentioned that he often sees auto suppliers hitting the ceiling on capacity and coming to PAC for help. However, domestic companies in particular are not always willing to invest in new equipment if they can’t see how it will save them money. Some of the most common comments that Slusiewicz says he hears are “you’re offering to help us, but we can get the same information free in manuals on the internet,” or “our major customers aren’t demanding these changes an what we’re doing it good enough for now.”

To get over this, Slusiewicz presented a way that shows Chinese factories tools, generally used to improve quality, can also be used to improve throughput. While improving efficiency is what often resonates with Chinese factories, quality improvement becomes a part of a deal. For instance, first time rework due to quality problems are considered as

Bridging Quality Gaps

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

ceptions, the SFDA does not inspect goods exported out China. He also cites flexibility in Chinese culture and politics as a driver for spotty quality standards that vary from prefecture to prefecture. They lead to fraudulent GMP certifications among other problems.

“The impact of being an emerging market means that companies are pressured to make more money faster as a result of investor pressure,” he said. “This leads to a pressure to reduce costs, which leads to a potential for economically motivated quality adultera-

www.supplychains.com

FOCUS Quality bad for efficiency as extra scrap. Internationally, the average company gets their product right the first time 95% of the time. Chinese companies have an average of 70%. This is due to a couple reasons, including inspectors who don’t want to deal with the problem, bad communication, and accepting bad parts then wasting time by filing each part down, because they don’t want to throw them away.

By getting the part right the first time, factories actually save money and time, as well as avoid unnecessary quality risks.

Slusiewicz also says that Chinese companies do not capture lessons learned, and do not effectively train their new operators and laborers. There is a huge turnover rate on the shop floor among both operators and laborers. Even if there is an initial orientation, there is no follow up training for the most part. “You only remember 70% of what you read and 30% of what you hear,” said Slusiewicz. “If training is so limited, there are going to be quality gaps.”

Something that everyone seems to agree with is that China is ready to start paying at-

www.supplychains.com

tention to improving quality by improving processes. However, achievement of this goal still looks like a long road.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

57

EXECUTIVE Appointments

Now is the time

M

ergers and acquisitions seem to be hot this year as the logistics market is beginning to consolidate, foreign companies continue to entrench in the China market and domestic companies begin to look outward.

At a recent Global Supply Chain Council event, Chee Wee Gan, Senior Principal at A.T. Kearney, discussed what companies should look for when they begin the M&A process.

Driven by the economy, Gan says that the logistics market is getting too big for many global players to ignore, but that companies need to be careful when they begin to sends out tendrils of M&A inquiry. By 2015, China’s combined international and domestic land/ air transportation network will reach a value of RMB 3 trillion. Gan says that the Chinese logistics market is now in a stage that it is ready for consolidation, as there are too many small players working in a fragmented and intensely competitive market. Essentially, Gan expects for the market to show clear consolidation and emergence of market leaders within the next three to five years.

In addition to pure market drivers,

58

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

Gan also points to government initiatives that are driving the logistics market towards consolidation. He noted that as labor, licensing, and standards laws become more stringent, weaker players will be driven from the market, creating a more level playing ground for high quality foreign and domestic players. Domestic players are being encouraged to expand and improve, and money is going into north and west infrastructure.

In short, if you’re looking for a merger or acquisition, now would be the time to start observing potential candidates.

However, one of the luncheon participants wanted to know exactly what it was that companies should look for when they began to consider looking

for acquisitions. While Gan pointed to some successes like TNT-Hoau, he says that a tailored approach is key. It’s important to look at all aspects of a company very carefully, especially the web of relationships that extend through

the company and in relationship surrounding other people the factory uses.

Are there any clear leaders? Is the truck driver the boss’s brother? If one person goes, will the rest follow? Gan also warns of watching out for hidden costs lurking within company strategy, equipment etc.

“Don’t underestimate due diligence,” he said. “It’s crucial to finding out about the little things within the company.”

Another participant wanted to understand exactly how often they should be looking around for potential companies.

Gan noted that the business environment in China changes so quickly, that companies could do well to re-evaluate the market every six months. While this seems like a lot, companies also seem to change on a much quicker scale in China than in other countries. It remains unusual for a bad company to change into a good company, but smaller companies often get an extra boost from good leadership and begin to expand or update their processes.

The most important advice for companies looking to acquire in China is constant vigilance.

“The market is still a little messy,” says Gan. “But now is definitely the time to be looking.”

www.supplychains.com

EXECUTIVE Appointments With talent at a premium, CHaINA keeps an eye on which executives are moving where.

Connie Tang Managing Director CEVA Logistics, South China and HK

Jezi Ji Senior SCM Business Development Manager, Great China Panalpina

CEVA Logistics announced the appointment of Connie Tang as Managing Director South China and Hong Kong. Based in Hong Kong, Ms. Tang will assume responsibility for managing and directing CEVA’s Contract Logistics and Freight Management businesses in Southern China, penetrating new markets and identifying opportunities for business growth. Ms. Tang joins CEVA from DHL Express, where she held a number of senior management positions, including Managing Director for Hong Kong & Taiwan and Senior Vice President for Greater China.

Panalpina has appointed Jezi Ji as the new Senior SCM Business Development Manager of greater China. Ji comes to Panalpina from Penske Logistics, where he spent two years as the Regional Manager and developed business relationships. Ji has deep experience both in the office and on the floor, as he also spent five years as department manager of Expeditors International.

Ji received his MBA from Shanghai Tongji University.

James E. Thompson III Deputy Managing Director Crown Relocations, Mainland China

Keith Lomason Managing Director The PAC Group, China

Crown Relocations appointed James E. Thompson III deputy managing director of mainland China. Thompson, who is fluent in Mandarin, joined Crown in 1999. Prior to that, he had a two-year term as business development manager for a logistics company in China. For the past nine years, he has managed Crown’s expansion into Beijing and developed the business to include the Beijing Ultracentre, wine cellars and logistics division. The new role will have Thompson working to on strategic management, HR, and financial policies in China.

Keith Lomason has 25 years of experience in the global automotive industry, with the past 14 years focused in China. Keith took the helm at The PAC Group, China after a 5 year stint as Executive Director of Business Development at Magna International, China. Prior to that, Keith established and managed a 50/50 Sino/US joint venture specialized in manufacturing automotive seat frames for the China market and seats complete for export to the USA.

Thierry Jaccon Global Commodity Manager, Copper and Aluminum ABB Switzerland

Mark Parlane Regional Vice President Linfox Logistics, Greater China, Thailand and India

Linfox Logistics has appointed Mark Parlane the Regional Vice President of Greater China, Thailand, and India. Previously, Parlane was based in Shanghai for 4.5 years, where he headed up Linfox Greater China and held a regional Vice President of Retail Asia role. He is now based in Hong Kong.

Parlane has almost 20 years experience in the logistics industry commencing with Tibbett & Britten in the UK before moving to Asia where he held a Regional Commercial Director role. www.supplychains.com

For more jobs, go to www.supplychains.com/jobs

Thierry Jaccon was placed as the Global Commodity Manager of copper and aluminum at ABB Switzerland in July. Previously, Jaccon was the Head of Supply Robot Automation, for ABB Robotics where he was in charge of the SCM teams, defined the policy, strategy and priorities to achieve quality and continue cost reductions. Jaccon has been with ABB since 2001. Before that, he was the purchases coordinator for Sagem.

Jaccon recieved his MA in economics and marketing from EDHEC. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

59

Event Forklift

THE GEAR Internal Combustion Trucks - Weight: 4.7 tons - Designed by Porsche - Heavy and strong, with precise control

Electric Trucks

- Three-point structure, small turning radius, flexibility.

- Easier for female operators - High space utilization: benefits modern logistics warehouse operation

Reach Trucks

- Weight: 2.9 tons - Ergonomic & flexible - Warehouse truck: mast lifts to a height of 11.5 meters

Safety Precautions

1. No drugs 2. Fasten seatbelt 3. Keep your body within the cabin frame 4. Drive slowly and cautiously 5. Slow down when making turns 6. Do not get off the truck until the truck comes to a full and complete stops and the forks are lowered onto the ground 7. Climb down off truck, do not jump 8. Do not make any new doorways in warehouse without permission 9. Forklifts are not for highway/commuter use

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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

T

he people who are reading CHaINA magazine already know that forklifts are one of the most essential tools used for moving things through and around warehouses. But what would they do if faced with the steering wheel? The Global Supply Chain Council - with support from Linde Forklift, Global Logistics Properties, Chep who provided pallets, and the Lingang Group - decided it was time to see what these executives were made of. Could they drive a forklift? In the event of a race…who would win?

Nearly 40 competitors, from a wide swath of the supply chain sector, gathered at the brand-new GLP Park Lingang for a day of classes, quizzes and forklift operation. The crowd included representatives from Schenker, TNT, Duisport, Siemens, and of course Global Logistics Properties and Linde (who did not necessarily have an advantage). After introductions, the Linde forklifts were unveiled and their operations demystified. To see if the group was paying attention, a written

quiz was administrated on various aspects of forklift operation, with the emphasis on safety.

(Take the quiz at left to see how you match up) After the quiz, plus another stern lecture on safety, competitors tried their hand driving the two different forklifts provided by Linde, with guidance from Linde trainers.

Contestants were pointed to two courses.

The first was a Grand Prix style that required each forklift operator to maneuver around turns and demonstrate forward and reverse capabilities. If the driver hit any of the cones that marked the course, penalty points ensued. The other challenge was to pick up a pallet with boxes on it, move it to another location, and set it down squarely. The competitor would earn a penalty point for dumping boxes over.

Contestants who were swept up into the moment and drove unsafely were also given penalty points. Safety violations not only included driving recklessly and hitting a bystander, but could also be accrued by having a body part outside the cab, not setting the

www.supplychains.com

Event Forklift

Operator Quiz:

___________________________________________________

The most important key to safe operation of a forklift is the Operator. Each participant must answer the theory test prior to competing in the Rally. For each question missed or not answered properly, one point will be added to the operator’s score.

Instructions: mark True/False Questions by checking the correct response. For multiple choice, circle the most correct answer/s. More than one multiple-choice answer may be correct. In this case, circle all of the correct answers.

1. When picking up a load?

A) Lift and then tilt the load forward slightly B) Never exceed the rated load capacity of the forklift C) Lower the load to about 2 feet off the floor D) Check under the load to make sure it is secure 2. How far should forks go under the pallet?

A) Half way B) Three fourths C) One fourth D) All the way 3. Speed is the most frequent factor (cause) of powered industrial truck accidents when traveling with a load. _____True _____ False 4. A forklift steers or maneuvers more easily loaded than empty. _____ True _____ False 5. When entering or leaving a building, you should: A) Slow down and blow your horn B) Stop, sound your horn and proceed slowly C) Stop, and then drive out 6. Which factor(s) should you consider when approaching a load?

A) Make sure the forks are spread as wide as possible B) Make sure the truck is square to the load C) Make sure the mast is vertical

www.supplychains.com

8. Professional powered industrial truck operators sound their horn: A) To let pedestrians know they are in a hurry B) To warn pedestrians and other traffic of their presence, especially at blind corners and intersections C) There is no requirement to sound the horn 9. A license is required for which of the following devices?

A) Powered hand trucks B) Manual hand carts C) Powered, counterbalance powered industrial trucks D) Hand carts 10. No person shall be allowed to stand or pass under the elevated portion of any truck, whether loaded or empty. _____ True _____ False Answers:

1 ) B ; 2 ) D ; 3 ) T ; 4 ) T ; 5 ) B ; 6 ) A , B, C ; 7 ) A ; 8 ) B ; 9 ) A , C ; 1 0 ) T.

parking brake after parking, and standing on the roof yelling “Top of the world Mom!” Finally, contestants were ready to compete.

With dust flying and the competition fierce, supply chain professionals lifted, set down and raced around with the best of them; but many quickly racked up the penalty points. “It looks so easy when you see other forklift operators driving around,” said one supply chain professional. “This activity really gives me an appreciation for what those guys do – it takes a lot of concentration and dexterity!” Each of the contestants times, plus penalty points were written up on a big scoreboard.

At the end of the day, three participants emerged victorious. Congratulations to PAtrick Xie, Samuel Michael and John D. Van Fleet for conquering the forklift challenge.

7. Is it okay to operate powered industrial trucks with your head and arms outside of the operator’s compartment?

A) No! Never place any part of your body outside the compartment B) Yes, as long as the truck is not in an aisle C) Yes, but only if your are moving a load

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

61

CLASSIFIED Listings

LOGISTICS SERVICES

LOGISTICS SERVICES

4SCM A10, 5/F, 61 Old Warehouse Building, 61 Yangshupu Road, Shanghai 200082 上海市杨树浦路61号老栈商务楼5楼A10室 邮编200082 +86 (21) 6148 9800 www.4scm.com.cn

Deret Logistics Asia Suite 1703 Shanghai Bund International Tower, 99 Huangpu Road, Shanghai 200080 上海市黄浦路99号上海滩国际大厦 1703室，邮编：200080 +86 (21) 6306 2592 www.trans-access.com.cn

Agility 20/F Broadway Centre, 93 Kwai Fuk Road, Kwai Chung, N.T. Hong Kong, China 香港新界葵涌葵福路93号 百汇中心20楼 +852 2211 8721 www.agilitylogistics.com www.alls-sh.com

DHL Exel Supply Chain 3398, Xiupu Road, Shanghai 201315 上海市秀浦路3398号， 邮编: 201315 +86 (21) 3825 6288 www.dhl.com

5/F Raffles City Office Tower, 268 Middle Xizang Road, Shanghai 200001 上海西藏中路268号

来福士办公楼5楼 邮编：200001

+86 (21) 2301 2800 www.apllogistics.com Arvato Services B-1/F XingHong Science & Technology Industrial Park, Feng Huang Gang Village, Xi Xiang, Bao’an District, Shenzhen 200231 深圳宝安区，宝安西乡前进二路凤凰岗村 星宏科技园，邮编：518102 +86 (755) 3386 1666 www.arvatoservices.com.cn BDP International Unit 2101-2110, Shanghai Bund Int’l Tower, 99 Huangpu Road, Shanghai 200080 上海市虹口区黄浦路99号上海滩国际大厦 2101-2110室，邮编：200080 +86 (21) 6364 9336 www.bdpinternational.com Ceva Logistics 19/F, Jiang Nan Shipyard Building 600 Luban Road, Shanghai 200023 上海鲁班路600号江南造船大厦19楼 +86 (21) 5302 9988 www.cevalogistics.com Clasquin Room 203, Qingke Mansion, 138 Fen yang Road, Shanghai 200031 上海市汾阳路203号轻科大厦138室， 邮编：200031 +86 (21) 6445 1452 www.clasquin.com Damco 5/F, Tian An Centre, 338 West Nanjing Road, Shanghai 200003 上海黄浦区南京西路338号天安中心24楼， 邮编：200003 +86 (21) 2306 2000 www.damco.com

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DSV Logistics 38/F, 1 Grand Gateway, 1 Hongqiao Road, Shanghai 200030 +86 (21) 5406 9800 www.dsv.com www.dsv.com/cn DTW Logistics Group 16 Tianzhu Middle Road, Zone A, Tianzhu Airport Industrial Area, Shunyi District, Beijing 101312 北京市顺义区天竺空港开发区A区天柱中路 16号，邮编101312 +86 (10) 5923 7777 www.dtw.com.cn Duisport Packing Logistics A, 8/F Shanghai Industrial Bldg, 18 North Caoxi Road, Shanghai 200030 上海漕溪北路18号上实大厦8楼A座， 邮编200030 +86 (21) 6427 2906 www.duisport-packing-logistics.com Elee 375, Kefu Road, Nanxiang Town, Jiading District, Shanghai 上海嘉定区南翔镇科福路375号 +86 (21) 3912 4360 www.eleechina.com

FM Logistic 3 West Guangzhou Road, Taicang EDZ Jiangsu Province.

江苏省太仓市经济开发区 广州西路3号 主楼8楼，邮编：201103 +86 (512) 8889 8666 www.fmlogistic.com Geodis 3/F. OOCL Plaza, 841 Middle Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200040 上海市静安区延安中路841号 东方海外大厦3楼，邮编200040 +86 (21) 6193 2323 www.geodis.com H & T International Transportation 5/F, China Merchandise Building 152-155 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

LOGISTICS SERVICES +852 2543 0708 http://www.hthkg.com.hk Havi Logistics 6 Xingsheng Jie, Beijing Economic & Technological Development Area, Beijing 100176 北京经济技术开发区兴盛街6号， 邮编：100176 +86 (10) 6788 3335 www.havi-logisitics.asia Hercules Logistics Unit 5A, Bldg. A, Shenfubao Hightech Park, No. 3, Huanghuai Road., Futian Free Trade Zone, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518038 广东省深圳市福田保税区， 黄槐道3号深福保科技工业园A栋5A， 邮编518038 +86 (755) 8358 0000 www.hercules-logistics.com ID Logistics Room 19D, Dong Tai Plaza, 309 Tanggu Road, Shanghai 上海市塘沽路309号19D +86 (21) 6306 7083 www.id-logistics.com

8/F Tower Block, LiFung Plaza 2000 Yishan Road, Shanghai 201103

上海市闵行区宜山路 2000号利丰广场 主楼8楼，邮编：201103 +86 (21) 2416 4700 www.idslogistics.com Kuehne & Nagel Block 1, 11-16F, 1868 Gong He Xin Road, Shanghai 200072 上海共和新路1868号大宁国际商业广场 第一幢11-16楼，邮编：200072 +86 (21) 2602 8000 www.kuehne-nagel.com Linfox Road Transport 26-F, Cross Region Plaza, 899 Ling Ling Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai 200030 上海市徐汇区零陵路899号飞洲国际广场26 楼F座，邮编：200030 +86 (21) 5150 6699 www.linfox.com Linghua Logistics 333 Ke Yuan Road Zhangjiang HiTech Park Pudong New Area, Shanghai 201203 上海市浦东新区张江高科技园区科苑路333 号，邮编201203 +86 (21) 5080 0107 Linkstar Logistics 49A, 199 North Riying Road, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Shanghai 200131 上海市外高桥保税区日樱北路199号49A, 邮编：200131 +86 (21) 5046 1865 www.linkstarlogistics.com

LOGISTICS SERVICES Logisfashion Transportation Tower, Room 1101 218, Hengfeng Road, Shanghai 上海市现代交通大厦恒丰路218号1101室 +86 (21) 5180 1781 www.logisfashion.com Logwin 5/F & 6/F, Ocean Towers, 550 East Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200001 上海市延安东路550号海洋大厦5楼和6楼， 邮编：200001 +86 (21) 2326 2000 www.logwin-logistics.com

13/F Tower, Golden Eagle Mansion, 1518 Min Sheng Road, Shanghai 200135

上海浦东新区 民生路1518号 金鹰大厦A座13楼 +86 (21) 6160 1198 www.menloworld.com Nowaday Rational Logistics 685 Huadan Road Qingpu District Shanghai 201708 上海市青浦区华丹路685号， 邮编201708 +86 (21) 5155 6226 www.heli56.com Penske Logistics Room 1801, Honi International Building, 233 Weihai Road, Shanghai 200030 上海威海路233号恒利国际大厦1801室， 邮编：200041 +86 (21) 6227 8566 www.penskelogistics.com P.G. Logistics Group 4/F, Baogong Building, 361 East Longkou Road, Tianhe district, Guangzhou 广州市天河区龙口东路361号宝供大厦四楼 +86 (20) 3848 2090 www.pgl-world.com Schneider Logistics UC Tower,Suite 1605, 500 Fu Shan Road, Shanghai 上海浦东福山路500号城建国际中心1605室 +86 (21) 5058 7970 www.schneider.com SDV International Logitics 20/F, East Building, New Hualian Mansion, 755 Middle Huai Hai Road Shanghai 200020 上海市淮海中路755号新华联大厦东楼20 楼，邮编：200020 +86 (21) 3395 0600 www.sdvchina.com SunJet Freight Express 299 Huaxiang Road, Shanghai 上海华翔路299号 +86 (21) 6127 2637 www.sunjex.com

www.supplychains.com

CLASSIFIED Listings

LOGISTICS SERVICES Toll 18/F, Times Plaza, 1 Taizi Road, Shekou, Shenzhen 518067 深圳蛇口太予路1号新时代广场1801室， 邮编：518067 +86 (755) 2681 9188 www.st-anda.com Werner Global Logistics 5/F South Harbour Building, 1 Fenghe Road, Shanghai 上海市浦东新区丰和路1号港务大厦南5楼 +86 (21) 3887 9520 www.werner.com Yatfai Logistics 39-H, Fortune Building, 88 Fuhua San Road Futian District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province 广东省深圳市福田区福华三路88号， 财富大厦39楼H座 +86 (755) 3336 6898 www.yatfai.com YRC Logistics 8F, Building 2#, Xinda Commercial Building, 1158 Xiehe Road, Shanghai 200335 上海协和路1158号鑫达商务楼2号楼8楼， 邮编：200335 +86 (21) 6137 7668 www.yrclogistics.com PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Accenture 30/F, Central Plaza, 381 Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200020 上海市淮海中路381号中环广场30楼， 邮编：200020 +86 (21) 2305 3333 www.accenture.cn Araia Shanghai Times Square Suite 1709, 93 Middle Huai Hai Zhong Road, Shanghai 200021 上海市淮海中路93号大上海时代广场办公 楼1709室，邮编：200021 +86 (21) 6391 8356 www.araia.com Arvato Services 20/F, Cloud Nine Tower, 1018 Changning Road, Shanghai 200042 上海市长宁路1018号龙之梦大厦20层， 邮编：200042 +86 (21) 6161 1866 www.arvatoservices.com.cn Baker & McKenzine Suite 3401 China World Tower 2 China World Trade Center, 1 Jianguomenwai Dajie, Beijing 100004 +86 (10) 6535 3800 www.bakernet.com Barkawi A 705,69 Dong fang Road, Eton Place, Pudong New District, Shanghai 200120 上海市浦东新区东方路裕景国际商务广场 A705室，邮编：200120 +86 21 6859 9686 www.barkawi.com BBK Consulting 17/F Lippo Plaza, 222 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 上海市淮海中路222号力宝广场17楼 +86 (21) 5396 5600 www.e-bbk.com

www.supplychains.com

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 上海市湖滨路222号，企业天地1号楼2501 室，邮编：200041 +86 (21) 6256 7333 www.kornferryasia.com

Suite 1001 East Tower China Merchants Plaza, 333 North Chengdu Road, Shanghai 200041

上海市成都北路333号 招商局广场东楼1001室， 邮编：200041 +86 (21) 5298 1800 www.control-risks.com Demand Management Systems PO Box 6180, Norwest Business Park, Baulkham Hills BC NSW 2153 +612 9659 4555 Dragon Sourcing Suite 1502, Jin Tian Di International Mansions 998, Renmin Road Shanghai 200021 上海市人民路998号今天地国际大厦 1502室，邮编：20002 +86 21 61413955 www.dragonsourcing.com easySOURCING easySOURCING Hong Kong www.easy-sourcing.com ET2C International 23 Wangjiao Plaza, 175 East Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200001 上海黄浦区延安东路175号旺角大厦23楼， 邮编：200002 +86 21 5308 1220 www.et2cint.com

KLB Group Room 2205, Universal Mansion Building, 172 Yuyuan Road, Shanghai 200040 上海愚园路172号世界环球大厦2205室， 邮编：200040 +86 (21) 62480735 www.klb-group.com Lloyd’s Register Asia 20/F Ocean Towers, 550 East Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200001 上海市延安东路550号海洋大厦20楼， 邮编：2000012 +86 (21) 5158 5700 www.lr.org www.lloydsregisterasia.com Logistics Executive Suite 13G, Shanghai Ind’l Investment Bldg.

18 North Caoxi Road, Shanghai 200030 上海市徐汇区漕溪北路18号， 上海实业大厦13楼G座，邮编：200030 +86 (21) 6427 6697 www.logisticsrecruitment.com.cn LowendalMasai 1505 Hai Tong Tower, 689 Guangdong Road, Shanghai 200001 上海市黄浦区广东路689号 海通证券大厦1505室，邮编：200001 +86 (21) 6341 1255 www.lowendalmasaichina.cn Michael Page International 601-603 Shanghai Kerry Centre 1515 West Nanjing Road, Shanghai 200040 上海南京西路1515号，嘉里中心601- 603 邮编：200040 +86 (21) 3222 4758 www.michaelpage.com.cn Poyry 802/8F, Tower One, Prosper Center, 5 Guanghua Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100027 北京市朝阳区东三环北路2号 南银大厦809室，邮编：100027 +86 (10) 6410 6550 www.poyry.com

27/F, Room 02 418-428 Jiang Ning Road 200041 Shanghai, China

上海市江宁路418-428号 27楼02室， 邮编：200041 +86 (21) 6217 0253 www.iiaps.org Ivie Asia Room 1507, You You International Plaza, 76 Pu Jian Road, Pu Dong New District, Shanghai 200127 上海市浦东新区浦建路76号由由国际 广场1507单元，邮编：200127 +86 (21) 6165 9100 www.ivieinc.com Korn/Ferry International Suit 2501, One Corporate Avenue 222 Hubin Road, Shanghai 200021

11/F PricewaterhouseCoopers Center, 202 Hu Bin Road, Shanghai 200021, China 上海市湖滨路202号 普华永道中心11楼， 邮编：200021

+86 (21) 2323 8888 www.pwccn.com Resources Global Professionals Room 2705-06, Lippo Plaza, 222 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200020 上海市卢湾区淮海中路222号

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

63

CLASSIFIED Listings

REAL ESTATE SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES 力宝广场2705-06室， 邮编：200020 +86 (21) 6386 8710 www.resourcesglobal.com Russell Reynolds Associates 4504, Jin Mao Tower, 88 Centure Avenue, Pudong, Shanghai 200121 上海浦东世纪大道88号金茂大厦4504， 邮编200121 +86 (21) 6163 0888 www.russellreynolds.com Smart Sourcing 1210-1213 Guo-Li Plaza, 1465 West Beijing Road, Shanghai 200040 上海市北京西路1465号 国立大厦1210-1213室， 邮编：200040 +86 (21) 5212 1200 www.smart-sourcing.com Tractus Asia Suite B, 22/F, Zhaofeng Universe Building, 1800 West Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200235 上海中山西路1800号 兆丰环球大厦22楼B座， 邮编：200235 +86 (21) 6440 0990 www.tractus-asia.com World-Check Unit 4C, Times Plaza, 1, Taizi Road, Shekou, Shenzhen, 518067 深圳蛇口市太子路1号新时代广场4C座， 邮编518067 +86 (755) 2688 9786 www.world-check.com

Global Logistic Properties Room 2708 Azia Center, 1233 Lujiazui Ring Road, Shanghai 200120 上海市陆家嘴环路1233号汇亚大厦2708 室，邮编：200120 +86 (21) 6105 3999 www.GLProp.com

2107 - 2109, Shui On Plaza, 333 Middle Huai Hai Road, Shanghai 200021 上海淮海中路333号 瑞安广场2107-2109室， 邮编：200021

+86 (21) 6133 2000 www.goodman.com GSE 27C Industry Building, 18 North Cao Xi Road, Shanghai 200030 上海市徐家汇漕溪北路18号 实业大厦27C,邮编：200030 +86 (21) 6090 1388 www.gsegroup.com

REAL ESTATE SERVICES AMB Property Suite 2908, Plaza 66 II, 1366 West Nanjing Road, Shanghai 200040 上海南京西路1366号 恒隆广场二座 2908单元， 邮编：200040 +86 (21) 6135 1688 www.amb.com Blogis International Logistics +86 (755) 2669 4211 www.blogis.com.cn CB Richard Ellis Suite 3201 K Wah Center, 1010 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200031 上海淮海中路1010号嘉华中心3201室， 邮编：200031 +86 (21) 2401 1200 www.cbre.com.cn Colliers International 16/F Hong Kong New World Tower, 300 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200021 上海淮海中路300号， 香港新世界大厦16楼， 邮编：200021 +86 (21) 6141 3688 www.colliers.com/china Gazeley Suite 805, Kerry Centre, 1515 West Nanjing Road, Shanghai 200040 上海市南京西路1515号嘉里中心805室， 邮编： 200040 +86 (21) 5298 6622 www.gazeley.com

64

25/F, Tower 2 Plaza 66 1366 West Nanjing Road Shanghai 200040 上海市南京西路1366号恒 隆广场2期25楼， 邮编：200040

+86 (21) 6393 3333 www.joneslanglasalle.com.cn Mapletree Suite A-D,14/F, Times Square Office Building, 500 Zhangyang Road, Pudong, Shanghai 200122 上海市浦东新区张扬路500号, 华润时代广场办公楼14楼ABCD单元， 邮编：200122 +86 (21) 5836 7177 www.mapletree.com.sg Vailog Room 702, City Gateway, 398 North Caoxi Road, Shanghai 200030 +86 (21) 6090 5292 www.realtyvailog.com Yupei Group Yupei Building, 2500 Jinchang Road, Shanghai 200331 上海市普陀区金昌路2500号宇培大厦， 邮编：200331 +86 (21) 6627 7577 www.yupeigroup.com

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

IT & SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS Apprise Software 6009 Changjiang Science Building 40 Nanchang Road, Nanjing 210037 江苏省南京市南昌路40号 长江科技园大厦6009室， 邮编：210037 +86 (25) 8345 5308 www.apprise.com

IT & SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS Manhattan Associates Software Unit 2110, 21/F, Shui On Plaza, 333 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200021 上海淮海中路333号瑞安广场21楼2110 室，邮编：200021 +86 (21) 6386 8800 www.manh.com

ATMS Number One, Holt Court, Aston Science Park, Birmingham, B7 4EJ, UK +44 121 628 9000 www.atmsplc.com

Seeburger Room 523-526, 5F, Cimic Tower, 800 Shangcheng Road, Shanghai 200120 上海浦东新区商城路800号 斯米克大厦5层523-526室, 邮编：200120 +86 (21) 5835 7779 www.seeburger.cn

Barloword Optimus 15/F NCI Tower, 12A Jianguomenwai Avenue, Chaoyang District Beijing 100022 北京市朝阳区建国门外大街甲12号新华保险 大厦15楼邮编，邮编：100022 +86 (10) 8523 3103 www.barloworldoptimus.com

Tradecard Room B, 23/F, Jinrun Mansion, 6109 Shennan Road, Futian District, Shenzhen 518040 深圳市福田区深南路6109号 金润大厦23楼B座，邮编：518040 +86 (755) 8830 9265 www.tradecard.com

BravoSolution 19F-08, Chinese Overseas Building, 129 West Yan’an Road, Shanghai 200040 上海市静安区延安西路129号华侨大厦 19楼08室，邮编：200040 +86 (21) 6145 8500 www.bravosolution.com DDS Logistics & Sourcing Software Suite 2605,26/F, Hong Kong Plaza, 283 Huaihai Road, Shanghai, 200021 上海市淮海路283号香港广场26楼2605室， 邮编：200021 +86 (21) 6103 5715 www.ddslogistics.com/cn Epicor Software 2008 Cross Tower, 318 Fuzhou Road Huangpu District, Shanghai 200001 上海市黄浦区福州路318号 高腾大厦2008单元，邮编：200001 +86 (21) 63912808 www.epicor.com GXS International Room 1602, 16/F, Grand Gateway Tower 1, 1 Hongqiao Road, Shanghai 200030 上海市虹桥路1号港汇广场1座1602室， 邮编：200030 +86 (21) 6120 1088 www.gxschina.com.cn

Suite 1515, Silver Centre, 1388 North Shanxi Road, Putuo District, Shanghai 200060 上海陕西北路1388号 银座中心1515室， 邮编：200060

+86 (21) 6149 8042 www.supplyon.com

EQUIPMENT PROVIDERS Anwood 3F-D4 Jiacheng Mansion, 128 Jinjihu Road, Suzhou 苏州市金鸡湖路128号加城大厦3F-D4 +86 (512) 6761 5558 www.anwood.com.cn

40/F, Suites 8-10, 2 Grand Gateway, 3 Hongqiao Road, Shanghai 200030 上海市虹桥路3号 港汇二座40楼08-10室 邮编：200030

+86 (21) 6127 2488 www.chep.com Dexion (Shanghai) Logistics Equipment 155, Zha Yin Road, Shanghai 200438 上海市闸殷路155号， 邮编 200438 +86 (21) 6505 0011 www.dexion.biz Loscam Packing Equipment Room 508, 707 ZhangYang Road, Pudong, Shanghai 200120 上海市浦东新区张扬路707号508室， 邮编：200120 +86 (21) 6104 8156 www.loscam.com Schoeller Arca Systems Unit 1111-1112, Shui On Plaza, 333 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai 上海淮海中路333号, 瑞安广场办公楼1111-1112室 +86 (21) 3133 2081 www.schoellerarcasystems.com

www.supplychains.com

COMPANYINDEX

360buy.com ���������������������������36, 38 AFL ����������������������������������������������17 Agility ��������������������������9, 17, 62, 65 Alaris �������������������������������������44, 45 Alibaba ����������11, 36, 37, 38, 39, 65 Amazon ���������������������25, 36, 38, 65 AMB ���������������������������������������19, 64 AMC ���������������������������������������29, 35 APLGuaranteed ���������������������30, 34 Apple �������������������������������11, 16, 65 Applied Global Service ����������29, 35 Aspen Law & Business ����������������14 AT Kearney ����������������������������54, 55 Auctiva �����������������������������������������11 Austin Ventures ���������������������������11 Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (API) ����������������26, 27 Beijing Ultracentre �����������������������59 Boehinger Ingelman ��������������������56 Caterpillar ������������������������������������25 CEVA Logistics ����������������59, 62, 65 Charles River Laboratories ���11, 65, China Business Herald Net ���������12 China Changjiang National Shipping Corporation in Nanjing ����7 China Lonking �����������������������������25 China Post �����������������������������37, 39 Chrysler �����������������������������9, 10, 65 Chu Kong Shipping ���������������������11 CIMC �������������������������������������28, 33 Cisco ���������������������������������������8, 65 Civet Logistics �����������������������������11 Control Risks �������������������51, 54, 63 Copper and Aluminum ABB ���������59 Crown Relocations ����������������������59 Daxing Beijing South Logistics Center (DBSLC) ��������������������������13 Dell ������������������������������5, 18, 19, 65 DHL ���������������������������19, 59, 62, 65 Drewry �����������������������������������������28 Duisport ���������������������������������60, 62 eBay ����������������4, 11, 36, 37, 38, 39 Expert Group �������������������������������15 Faurecia ��������������������������������������13 FM Logistic ������������������������9, 62, 65 Foxconn ���������������������52, 53, 54, 65 Freshport Asia �����������������������������45 Gazeley ���������������������������������19, 64 Geely �������������������������������������13, 65 General Motor �������������������8, 16, 65 Giant Eagle ����������������������������26, 27 Global Logistics Properties ����60, 64 Global Modular Buildings ������41, 43 Google �����������������������������14, 16, 65 GSE ���������������������������������������19, 64 Handseeing ���������������������������������11 Hasbro �����������������������������������28, 33 Honda ������������������������������������52, 65 Honeywell ������������������������������������25 IBM ����������������������������������������10, 65 IKEA ��������������������������������������������19 Ingersoll Rand �����������������������44, 46 Integrated Distribution Services (IDS) ���������������������������������9, 21, 62

www.supplychains.com

EVENTSCALENDAR

Intel ����������������������������������� 16, 25 Intermodal Steel Building Unit (ISBU) Association Int’l ����� 40, 42 Jones Lang LaSalle ���������� 10, 64 KFC ���������������������������������� 52, 65 Li & Fung ���������������������������������� 9 Linde Forklift ��������������������������� 60 Linfox Logistics ����������������� 59, 62 Linkedin ������������������������������ 5, 17 L’Oreal ������������������������������������ 19 M&A ������������������������ 5, 17, 55, 61 Magna International ���������������� 59 Mapletree Investments ����� 10, 64 Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) �� 8 Moneywise Media ������������������� 17 Morgan Stanley ���������������������� 28 Nike ������������������������������������ 2, 65 Novartis ���������������������������������� 25 OceanGuaranteed ������������ 30, 34 Panjiva ������������������������������ 52, 53 Perfect Products Group ���� 37, 39 Prologis ���������������������������� 19, 65 Purchasing Practice ��������������� 16 Salans ������������������������������������ 54 Samsung �������������������������� 10, 65 Schmidt ���������������������������������� 26 Shanghai Tongsheng Logistics Park Investment & Development . ������������������������������������������������ 9 Siemens ��������������������������������� 60 Singamas ������������������������� 28, 33 Suning ������������������������������ 13, 65 Taobao �������������������� 4, 36, 39, 65 Temesek Holdings ������������������ 10 China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry ���������������� 6 Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) ��������������������������������� 8 The PAC Group ���������������� 56, 59 TNT ������������������������ 19 55, 56, 60 Toll group ���������������������������������� 8 TRW Automotive ��������������������� 56 Tyco ���������������������������������������� 25 Urban Space Management �������� ����������������������������������������� 41, 43 US Postal Service ������������ 37, 39 UTC ���������������������������������������� 25 Vancl ��������������������� 36, 37, 39, 65 Volume Industrial Park (VIP) �� 15 Volvo ��������������������� 13, 28, 34, 65 Wal-Mart ����������������������������� 9, 19 Wuhan Container Center Station ����������������������������������������������� 13 Xinjin Shifeng Medical Apparatus and Instrument ����������������������� 13 Yahoo ������������������������������� 37, 39 YRC Logistics ��������������������11, 63 Yum! ��������������������������������� 45, 52 ZAP ������������������������������������������11 Zhejiang Jonway Automobile ���11

2010 SEP

7

TUE

2010 SEP

16 THU

2010 OCT

1

FRI

2010 OCT

12 13 THU-WED

One Step Ahead Developing an effective B2B communications plan Shanghai Venue:

Osteria

Organizer:

2010 SEP

14 TUE

The Council Automotive Supply Chain Forum Shanghai

2010 SEP

28

Venue:

Renaissance Zhongshan Park Hotel Organizer:

Emerging Supply Chain Tech Trends Shanghai Venue:

Renaissance Zhongshan Park Hotel Organizer:

The Council E-commerce and B2C Logistics Shanghai Venue:

Osteria

Organizer:

The Council

TUE

The Council 2010 International Conference of Logistics Engineering and Management Chengdu Venue:

2010 OCT

11

Chengdu Organizer:

13

MON-WED

SWJTU

New Landscape Of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing In China Shanghai

2010 OCT

12

Venue:

InterContinental Pudong Shanghai

Strategic Portfolio Management - Key Commodity Management Shanghai Venue:

Silver Centre Organizer:

EIPM

China Sourcing Fair: electronics & components Shanghai Venue:

15

Organizer:

TUE-FRI

The China Domestic Trucking Paradox Shanghai

2010

Asia World-Expo Organizer:

China Sourcing Fair

Oppland

2010 OCT

13

Venue:

TBA

Organizer:

The Council

OCT

17 FRI

2010 OCT

20 WED

The Second Chinese Renewable Energy Conference & Solar Power Exhibition Wuxi Venue:

Wuxi

Organizer:

China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Reverse Auctions in Logistics Services-The Right Route Shanghai Venue:

TBA

Organizer:

The Council

14 THU

WED

2010

OCT

2010 OCT

18

Insurance in Logistics & Transportation Shanghai Venue:

TBAl

Organizer:

The Council

Fundamentals of Inventory Management Shanghai Venue:

19

Sliver Center Organizer:

MON-THU

EIPM

2010

Managing Employee Retention in Logistics Shanghai

OCT

21 THU

Venue:

TBA

Organizer:

The Council

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

65

FINAL Word

CBD PARKING RATE SURVEY | 201 GLOBAL COMPARISON TOP 50 MONTHLY PARKING RATES* (USD)

Pardon my Parking

T

here are several milestones a city should pass on its road to becoming global. Things like ethnic diversity and a developed financial center full of flashing screens are important. Hordes of angry taxi drivers, a varied economic platform, and always being within two blocks of a Starbucks are also on the checklist.

But everyone knows that if the monthly parking rates for your car aren’t over US$200, then your city doesn’t yet make a blip on the global radar screen.

According to Colliers International’s Global Parking Rate Survey 2010, Shanghai has made the top 50 list for worlds most expensive parking rates for the first time in history.

As of June this year, the monthly parking rate in Shanghai stood at US$278.73, giving it the 38th position worldwide. This makes Shanghai a more expensive place to park than other historically expensive cities like Moscow (US$267.30), Washington D.C. (US$245) and Dubai (US$240). However, Shanghai doesn’t come even close to the king of parking rates, which remains the mighty city of London. Here, average charges hit

66

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

US$932.99. Two Asian cities also made the top 5 list, with Hong Kong coming in number three in at US$744.72 and Tokyo number four at US$654.00.

Beijing was the only other mainland city to go into the survey, but its wide open spaces still means that monthly parking stay relatively low at US$141.81.

While space crunch has ricocheted Shanghai to international status, monthly parking rates in the city are still extremely varied from district to district. A parking space outside of core business/ residential districts, but still within central city limits, can go for as little as RMB100-200/month.

Shanghai’s daily parking rates, at US$12.91, also don’t compare to those in places like Abu Dhabi (US$55) or Tokyo (US$54.50). However, despite variations, it is undeniable that parking prices are going up and space is diminishing in Shanghai. Warehouses are being pushed farther and farther out of the city and stackable parking centers are being built at a frenetic pace. In the face of the current real estate bubble scare, perhaps parking lots would be a wiser investment.

EUROPE

MARKET

London – City

932.99

London – West End

873.50

Hong Kong

744.72

Tokyo Rome

654.00 615.00

Zurich

605.64

Sydney

591.28

Perth Brussels

563.37 549.94

New York – Midtown

538.00

New York – Downtown

529.00

Copenhagen Vienna Amsterdam Brisbane Manchester Calgary Geneva Birmingham Oslo Boston Bristol Antwerp Milan San Francisco St. Petersburg Stockholm Munich Toronto Chicago Hamburg Philadelphia Melbourne Leeds Seattle Paris Taipei Shanghai Madrid Auckland Montreal Moscow Wellington Edmonton Frankfurt Vancouver Athens Washington Glasgow Dubai

516.88 496.22 482.28 469.47 462.87 432.93 431.34 428.05 425.98 425.00 419.34 393.70 393.70 375.00 356.40 332.80 322.09 321.09 320.00 307.58 300.00 296.07 294.55 285.00 282.97 279.00 278.73 276.82 272.44 267.96 267.30 265.63 262.60 259.59 254.78 246.06 245.00 243.77 240.00

www.supplychains.com *Monthly unreserved median rates

Tirana Vienna Minsk Brussels Antwerp Sofia Zagreb Prague Copenhag Tallinn Helsinki Paris Berlin Düsseldo Frankfurt Hamburg Munich Stuttgart Athens Budapest Dublin Tel Aviv Milan Rome Riga Vilnius Podgorica Amsterda Eindhove Rotterdam The Hagu Utrecht Belfast Oslo Warsaw Lisbon Buchares St. Peters Moscow Belgrade Bratislava Johannes Madrid Stockholm Geneva Zurich Istanbul Kyiv Abu Dhab Dubai Birmingh Bristol Edinburg Glasgow Leeds London London Manchest

ASIA PA

MARKET

Adelaide Brisbane Melbourn Perth Sydney Beijing Hong Kon Shanghai Bangalore Chennai Delhi Mumbai Jakarta Tokyo Auckland Wellingto Singapore Seoul Taipei Bangkok

68

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

www.supplychains.com