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[不指定 2007/09/19 22:24 | by SamChan ]
[不指定 2007/09/19 22:00 | by SamChan ]
In co-ordination with the restructuring and upgrading of EU industry, China provides many products that the EU is or will no longer be producing. Such co-operation helps the EU to focus on high-end industries and further boosts its international competitiveness. There is also a huge demand from the Chinese market for EU products. In 2007, China imported Dollars 111bn worth of products from the EU, at a rate of growth of 22.4 per cent a year, faster by 6 percentage points than the growth rate of imports from the US and Japan. In the first quarter of this year, imports from the EU were almost Dollars 30bn, up by 25.6 per cent year-on-year. It is estimated that China's imports from the EU provide more than 2.2m jobs in member states. Against the backdrop of global inflation and resource shortages, high quality and low-priced Chinese products not only contribute to prosperity in the EU, but also help prevent inflation and improve living standards. While the EU has many concerns, the Chinese side is also confronted with difficulties: the EU's denial of market economy status to Chinese enterprises; the discriminatory treatment they receive in the EU; the EU's frequent anti-dumping investigations in textiles and steel; special safeguard measures targeting China; restrictions of technology exports; and the unfair treatment of Chinese enterprises for visas and display stands in conventions in the EU.
 

Global sourcing of products in a low-cost region is a waste, if the logistics cost or process to get the company products out of that region counterbalance the product cost savings. Global sourcing requires an in-depth analysis of a company's logistics set-up梐nd that's exactly what consumer appliance giant- Electrolux has done.

When Hans Straberg was the CEO of Sweden-based Electrolux in 2002, the company was dealing with severe competition and price pressure in its primary markets. Straberg lay down four chief priorities for the company i.e. brand building; product growth based on buyer insight; internal talent development; and improvement in operational efficiency to reduce costs. Thus, global sourcing of materials to support those industrial unit goods came into view as Electrolux planned to give importance and put their stake on low cost countries like China. Consumer products maker Electrolux thus began a major manufacturing shift to low-cost regions including Mexico and Eastern Europe and establishing new production capacity in Asia.

But, the increased global sourcing would tend to increase the company's on the whole logistics costs, so to make sure those costs were managed effectively, Francois Van Caeyzeele 杢he purchasing head of Electrolux instigated a deep-dive project to review the company's logistics net in Asia. Leading that deep-dive was Mr. Amit Kumar, who was the head of logistics services for Asian Global Sourcing and International trade. Kumar moved to Shanghai, China in 2004, from his post in Europe to begin scrutinizing everything that went in and out of the Asian region.

Kumar told the purchasing department that they started doing a routine checking exercise for the logistics spend in that region. What was moving from where to where? They had the suppliers control logistics and minor notice was paid to what the real cost was for logistics and the management of the shipments for B2B International trade.

The pricing factor was taken into account only in phase two. Kumar made an excellent choice for the project because of his backdrop in procurement as well as his vast experience and work knowledge in a Global Sourcing. The Company targeted several major factories in the Asian region, charting the logistics network and lowering the freight cost from the part cost. Two issues stood to notice at the end of the project that the company's container fill rate was much lesser than was expected and many of the suppliers were transporting via shipment to Electrolux in parallel lanes using various logistics providers at varied rates.

So there was an obvious situation for establishing consolidation positions in China suppliers. Accordingly all suppliers in a particular region were brought together as one committed factory manufacturers and goods were shipped to the destinations.

This enhanced container fill rates and let Electrolux select the logistics providers it needed in various area. Electrolux used a standardized assessment table to sort out logistics service providers with deep emphasis on an international level, global sourcing, management and innovation.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.co...

About the Author:
Tootoo.com , the leading B2B platform, combining vertical search engine with value added service portal. It has more than 430 000 China quality suppliers and provides top quality B2B services to both sellers and buyers worldwide.

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