On Tuesday, EMBA 43 boarded a high speed train to Suzhou, about 60 miles due west of Shanghai, to experience the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) International Trade Zone.  The journey that would normally take 60-90 minutes by car or bus took 30 minutes.

Pictured above: EMBA 43 students Tracy Reiter, Doug Stockton, and Teri Vermillion boarding the bullet train to Suzhou from Shanghai.

The 110 square mile master planned city of Suzhou is home to 3,000 international companies, and has a population of 1 million.

 

Our first stop was Caterpillar (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. Caterpiller broke ground in the SIP in 2008. Wilson Wong, GM, presented the company’s history and outlook before offering us a guided plant tour.

Wong explained that the average age of employees at the plant is 28, and that–as in other industries–it is challenging to keep this age group engaged and interested in this work.

 

We were not allowed to take photos in the plant itself due to stringent Intellectual Property concerns, but we did observe robots building the enormous earth movers as well as the systematic testing environments established for these giants prior to shipping them out.

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon, we heard from Ted Hornbein, a long-time resident of China currently running a company that provides parts for iPhones.

Among Hornbein’s insights was his unique perspective on what the Chinese educational system does not prepare Chinese students to do–innovate and work in teams.

In addition, now that a lot of industry is leaving China due to rising labor costs here, the question is not how you can manufacture in China cheaply to sell outside of China, but “How will you sell into China? It’s a market that demands attention in its own right.”