Posted February 22, 2002 Manufacturing News China's Haier Group Fits US Factory into Global Strategy A United States factory is part of Haier Group's implementation of an international strategy for their refrigerator manufacturing company. Designing, manufacturing and marketing are being carried out locally, according to Zhang Jinmin, general manager of the American Haier Factory, in a recent interview by People's Daily correspondent Wang Rujun. Construction of the factory started in Camden, South Carolina, in April 1999 at a cost of US $30 million, and it went into production in March 2000. Now the factory boasts state-of-the-art buildings, dust-free workshops, busy employees and brand-new refrigerators. The company feels such cooperation has benefited both China and the United States. The American manager of the factory says compared with other American factories, Haier's working environment and pay to its employees are highly competitive. He said Haier has first-rate production lines and products, and great potential for development. Besides training in production and operation among the newly recruited personnel, there is also Haier culture training. "Quick response, immediate action" is a saying of Haier workers in China, now accepted by American employees. Plans are in the works for the American Haier Industrial Park to become a comprehensive home-appliance manufacturing center. Although currently the US economy is in the doldrums, the Haier people believe "there is only slack-season thinking, and not a slack-season market". To them, as long as the enterprise itself has good conditions, it still can, through its own efforts, tap the market potential and grow. The Manufacturing Report © Copyright 2002 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. E-mail Editorial Dept: tmr-editorial@lionhrtpub.com Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com