Visit us!
ProMat 2009,
Chicago, IL
12 – 15 January 2009
Stand 1547
Conveying Loading Palletizing Packaging Sorting/Distributing
Mail order
BEUMER sorting and
distribution technology,
to reach your objectives
quickly and smoothly.
Your customers expect their goods to be delivered in perfect condition, fast and around the
clock. BEUMER high-performance systems
sort and distribute all of your conveyed goods
quickly, precisely and carefully, and they are
flexible when it comes to coping with changing product cycles and in-demand seasonal
fluctuations. Tailored overall concepts that
take account of all the technical and business-related factors for optimised returns handling
complete the picture. See for yourself. We look
forward to your visit!
www.beumer.com
tics infrastructure and a dearth of skilled practitioners. As a
result, shipping costs from China run as high as 10 percent
of a product’s retail value, compared with 3 percent in the
United States and Europe, according to data from consultancy AMR Research. And worries linger over the quality
and safety of Chinese imports in the wake of toymaker
Mattel Inc.’s massive 2007 recall of Chinese-made toys after
they were found to contain excessive amounts of lead.
Companies that had built much of their global sourcing
platforms around China had a lot to think about during
2008. Suddenly, the idea of “reverse globalization”—or
bringing supply chains
closer to home—didn’t
seem far-fetched.
But with the new year
comes a settling of the
dust. The Olympics are
history, along with the
production hiccup that
accompanied the games.
The Chinese government
has launched a $586 billion stimulus program,
much of it aimed at
improving the nation’s infrastructure. There are glimmers
of hope that the turmoil in global credit markets will recede
so normal lending can resume.
Most notably, oil and raw materials prices have fallen
considerably from their 2008 peaks. The sharp commodity
price declines have given global companies a badly needed
respite from the cost pressures experienced during most of
last year. It also gives them an opportunity to re-evaluate
their sourcing strategies and determine if the issues that
drove their supply chains to China in the first place are still
valid today.
Sticking with the plan
To be sure, no one is counseling businesses to act on what
could be short-term price or market fluctuations and dismantle intercontinental supply chains that took years and
significant capital to build. And there are indications that,
for all the heightened risks and costs, many U.S. companies
now in China plan to remain there.
According to a preliminary survey of 108 manufacturers
in China by the American Chamber of Commerce-Shanghai and management consultant Booz & Co. (
formerly Booz Allen Hamilton), 90 percent of the respondents
say they don’t plan to move their production capacity out
of China in the next five years. That is higher than the 87
percent positive response rate in 2007, says the chamber.
The potential of selling into China’s vast and growing
domestic market could be a compelling reason to keep production there. In the survey, most respondents say the
opportunity to penetrate the country’s domestic consumer
base is the most important factor in their decision to remain.
