End of china dominance in manufacturing is near

[singveld]

Due to the reckless borrowing by the banks in china that inflate the GDP of the country. The cost of employing people is rising sharply over the years, soon it will not be the interests of MNC to relocate to china. Their miracle growth will come to an halt. Why would anyone want to buy a top of the line shaver when a cheap shaver can do the job better?
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Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHIA) workers in the Dutch town of Drachten who expected to be fired were astonished when the site manager said the company was bringing production of its top-priced electric shavers home from China.

Rob Karsmakers, the factory manager who returned from four years working for Philips in Asia, told the baffled crowd that the consumer-electronics company would boost investment in Drachten, where it employs 2,000 staff.

“A product engineer in Shanghai now is just as expensive as in Drachten,” said Karsmakers, who has overseen the plant since 2009, in an interview. “But in China, the headcount turnover is high. That is not sustainable.” Philips, which also lights the Eiffel tower and the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, employs a total of 14,000 people in the Netherlands.

 

[singveld]

China No Match for Dutch Plants as Philips Shavers Come Home

Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHIA) workers in the Dutch town of Drachten who expected to be fired were astonished when the site manager said the company was bringing production of its top-priced electric shavers home from China.

Rob Karsmakers, the factory manager who returned from four years working for Philips in Asia, told the baffled crowd that the consumer-electronics company would boost investment in Drachten, where it employs 2,000 staff.

“A product engineer in Shanghai now is just as expensive as in Drachten,” said Karsmakers, who has overseen the plant since 2009, in an interview. “But in China, the headcount turnover is high. That is not sustainable.” Philips, which also lights the Eiffel tower and the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, employs a total of 14,000 people in the Netherlands.

The nation, the fifth-largest economy in the euro region, has expanded its allure as a manufacturing powerhouse next to its dominant German neighbor. The Netherlands leads in areas as varied as paints and combat uniforms for the U.S. Army. Apple Inc. (AAPL) uses chips produced by machines from ASML Holding NV (ASML) for its iPhone and iPad, and TomTom NV (TOM2) help drivers navigate unfamiliar roads.

The Dutch trade surplus in the first nine months of last year was the second highest in the euro area behind Germany, Eurostat data show. The Netherlands was the seventh-biggest export nation in the past five years, according to ING Groep NV (INGA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Keeping Triple-A

“The Netherlands in particular is a country of trade, it is how we earn our money,” said Maarten Leen, an economist at ING. Set up as gateway into Europe, with five major sea docks and the Schiphol airport near Amsterdam, the Dutch have managed to maintain a current-account surplus since 1981, Leen said.

Standard & Poor’s affirmed its AAA long-term credit rating on the Netherlands on Jan. 13, citing the “sustained and healthy current account surpluses,” averaging 6.4 percent between 2005 and 2010. That offset the view of a weaker-than- anticipated political climate in Europe, it said.

The Dutch have played a leading role in global economic trade for centuries. The Dutch East India Company came to dominate business in Asia after it was founded in 1602, in the first ever initial public offering by a company, and traded spices, metals, textiles or porcelain.

Global Dutch brands today include Heineken NV (HEIA) beer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Unilever NV (UNA), the maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea and Magnum ice cream.
Chemicals, Tech

Chemical products such as Akzo Nobel NV (AKZA)’s Sikkens paint, and machinery such as ASML’s lithography systems make up a substantial part of export growth, on top of the traditional agriculture products such as flowers, onions and tomatoes.

The chemical and technology industries have shown the strongest growth in exports since 1996, with volume increases of 4 percent and 5.8 percent per year, respectively, data from Dutch statistical office CBS show.

“We have a superior infrastructure, with docks in Rotterdam, Delfzijl and Geleen, and the connection to the pipeline system for gas and ethylene in the surrounding countries, in Belgium, Antwerp and the Rhine-area in Germany,” said Werner Fuhrmann, vice chairman of the VNCI Association of the Dutch Chemical Industry.

For ASML, its position in the Netherlands is key, as the company relies on a network of “hundreds of high-tech suppliers” and research institutes to develop its lithography scanners, Chief Financial Officer Peter Wennink said.

Specialized work “we can do fast and effectively with partners in the south of the Netherlands,” he said.
Brainport Area

ASML, which has a 80 percent market share in the semiconductor equipment sector, is part of the Brainport area in the southern part of the Netherlands, an industrial hub that combines industries from food, to automotive to design and technology, including Philips and TomTom.

The company hopes to surpass Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) this year as the largest player in its industry, Chief Executive Officer Eric Meurice said yesterday, after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter numbers. ”Our secret is that we put a lot of money in R&D and we have linked our research and development to manufacturing,” he said at a press conference.

For Karsmakers, bringing manufacturing of the high-end shavers closer to the research facility in Drachten and serving the European market, offered a good ”local-for-local” opportunity, as it would also reduce transport costs, he said. Philips kept production of its cheaper shavers in China to serve the Asian market.
Emerging Challenge

The country’s corporate prowess has attracted suitors. In the past decade, Dutch companies, including ABN Amro Bank NV, previously the country’s largest bank, and Royal KLM NV, the national carrier, have fallen into the hands of foreign owners, leading to widespread controversy in the Netherlands about a national company sell-out.

Today, the Dutch have other challenges. With the lingering European debt crisis, and two thirds of exports still dependent on Western Europe, the country faces a “great challenge” to match the growth it has seen in the past 15 years,” Leen said, adding the Netherlands still hasn’t made its mark in emerging economies, specifically in Asia.

China’s economy expanded in the fourth quarter at the slowest pace in more than two years as Europe’s debt crisis curbed demand for exports and the property market was weakened by measures to rein in home prices.

With the gravity point of the world economy shifting to countries like China, India and Brazil, innovation in the Netherlands should help the country maintain its trade position, Economics Affairs Maxime Verhagen said in a speech last year at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

The future lies in developing innovative products that help cut CO2-emissions, tackling the fallout of aging populations, and the growing demand for food from a growing global population, Verhagen said, referring to products such as Philips home healthcare offerings and Royal DSM NV (DSM)’s light material Aircargo containers.

“A big threat for industry in the Netherlands, or even Europe as a whole, is that governments erode fundamental innovation and education,” Peter Wennink, CFO of ASML, said in an interview.

 

[singveld]

TV maker to hire 100 workers at Michigan plant

A small Minnesota electronics company aims to bring TV manufacturing back to the U.S., hiring 100 workers at a plant in Canton.

Element Electronics, which sells TVs made in China to big-box stores like Walmart and Target, has teamed up with a Michigan company, Lotus International, to produce low-priced flat-screen TVs that are 46 inches and larger.

The first large TVs could start rolling off an assembly line in March. The company plans to hire workers and set up a call center to handle customer questions.

Michael O'Shaughnessy, Element's president and owner, pledges that its Michigan-made TVs will not cost consumers any more than if the sets were produced in China.

"We are doing this to set an example," said O'Shaughnessy, who grew up in Ohio. "This is the right thing to do."

Sony closed its last U.S. TV plant in 2010. Vizio is American-owned but outsources its production outside the country.

Bringing back TV manufacturing is part of a growing business trend called reshoring. With soaring costs for Chinese labor and shipping, many companies are rethinking whether it still makes sense to make their products overseas.

 

[singveld]

A cut above: The Philips RQ1280 is an impressive, sexy electric shaver - but is it worth the price of 30 Gillette Fusion razors?

The Romanian proverb, ‘A barber learns to shave by shaving fools,’ is a fitting phase to describe my eventual mastery of this new Philips RQ1280 Shaver, though Sweeney Todd would have been proud of my fumbling, foolish initial efforts.

Having never really had the need, nor inclination, to shell out mega-bucks on an electric shaver, when handed this new, top-of-the-range gadget - which at a cool £269.99 purports to be a cut above - to review, I was bristling (sorry) with intrigue.

The Philips RQ1280 SensoTouch GyroFlex 3D Rechargeable Rotary Shaver With Travel Pouch, to use its full name, may sound like a Star Wars portable, sensual massaging tool, but it is indeed a sexy bit of kit, and any man would feel empowered in possession of it. But could I harness such power, I wondered?

I’ve tried electric shavers in the past, but found them intimidating and tricky to manage, like handling a chainsaw with oven-gloves (not recommended). So I’ve always returned to my Gillette Fusion razor (£8.99 from Boots), which provides me with a minimum fuss, close-enough shave.

After plugging in the RQ1280 to charge, I marvelled at its sleek, aerodynamically-pleasing design - stroking it every so often, though with a delicacy that one would pet a tame tiger - and at the digital interface, which informs how many minutes one can use the shaver for (60 minutes is the maximum; you have to be one hairy person to need a whole hour), as it whirred menacingly.

Once fully charged, I eagerly unclipped the shaver from its holster and clicked it on a couple of times to feel and hear the buzz and hum of power. I was ready. A wet shave using foam, was my usual routine, so - thinking that going from that to dry shaving with an electric shaver would be tempting trouble - I prepared as normal.

Face foamed up, I flicked on the shaver before lowering it to my face, and allowed the blades to fizz and chug against my skin. The scientific babble - GyroFlex 3D contour-following system and Aquatec seal - on the box left me thinking that all I had to do was switch this baby on and it would do the rest. Well it should for £269.99, shouldn’t it?!

How wrong I was. Having rinsed away the suds and anaylsed my ‘shave’, I was wholly disappointed. Next to clumps of half-shaved stubbled were bloody cuts - a combination which made me appear a deranged psychotic. This was not what I had expected; not for nearly £300. I moodily finished off the job with my trusty Fusion.

Had I not had this review to write, I would have popped the shaver back into its box and returned it after that sorry first effort. But, somewhat luckily, I had to persist in the name of professionalism. It took me a couple of weeks, but I have begun to understand better how to use this machine, with much more satisfactory results.

It is incredibly cool, with its neat travel pouch, its trimmer and futuristic chrome design and, now I’ve persevered, a delight to use. But, even though most men will have to shave every other day, I’m still not sure I can justify spending £269.99.

Plus there are some notable practical downsides. I checked with Philips about replacement parts, and the head alone would cost £38 to repair, should you happen to drop it from your soapy hands. New blades, too, are eye-wateringly expensive.

Secondly, the travel pouch only works if you are on a long weekend - otherwise you’ll have to take the clunky charger with you, in a bigger bag, which rather defeats the point. Then, of course, is the general maintenance of the shaver. To keep the blades as sharp as possible, you are advised to remove the gunk and mess after every shave. Surely for £269.99 the machine should do that itself?!

I don’t have to maintain my Gillette Fusion, just clip a new blade in every other month. And with £269.99 I could buy over 30 Fusions, a vast number which would easily serve me, my sons and my grandsons throughout their lifetimes. Who’s the fool now?

 

[The_Hypocrite]

This is very good news indeed..with reshoring the job market will improve and economic activity will increase,,now all the US govt have to do is remove the tax benefits for off shoring its operations

 

[bullfrog]

have you all seen Philips range of "sex toys"? I believe they are under Health. Must be Sexual health.

 

[Fook Seng]

Maybe setting up a shaver plant in China to capture a share of the local market was a bad idea. The Chinese are less hairy than their western counterparts. Some do not even need to shave.

 

[singveld]

Maybe setting up a shaver plant in China to capture a share of the local market was a bad idea. The Chinese are less hairy than their western counterparts. Some do not even need to shave.

paying 500 dollars for a shaver is even worse idea.

why would i want to spend that kind of money for a shaver?

 

[singveld]

have you all seen Philips range of "sex toys"? I believe they are under Health. Must be Sexual health.

just like the health center in singapore.

 

[singveld]

This is very good news indeed..with reshoring the job market will improve and economic activity will increase,,now all the US govt have to do is remove the tax benefits for off shoring its operations

I hope more jobs come to singapore first before going to USA.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

I hope more jobs come to singapore first before going to USA.

Come to singapore also no use, will go to the foreigners anyway

 

[pallkia]

Maybe setting up a shaver plant in China to capture a share of the local market was a bad idea. The Chinese are less hairy than their western counterparts. Some do not even need to shave.

Yes you are very right because we Chinese had shaved our hair long time ago when we came out of the caves!

 

[pallkia]

Due to the reckless borrowing by the banks in china that inflate the GDP of the country. The cost of employing people is rising sharply over the years, soon it will not be the interests of MNC to relocate to china. Their miracle growth will come to an halt. Why would anyone want to buy a top of the line shaver when a cheap shaver can do the job better?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHIA) workers in the Dutch town of Drachten who expected to be fired were astonished when the site manager said the company was bringing production of its top-priced electric shavers home from China.

Rob Karsmakers, the factory manager who returned from four years working for Philips in Asia, told the baffled crowd that the consumer-electronics company would boost investment in Drachten, where it employs 2,000 staff.

“A product engineer in Shanghai now is just as expensive as in Drachten,” said Karsmakers, who has overseen the plant since 2009, in an interview. “But in China, the headcount turnover is high. That is not sustainable.” Philips, which also lights the Eiffel tower and the Olympic Stadium in Beijing, employs a total of 14,000 people in the Netherlands.

For the last 3 decades since China opened its door,there were so many predictions about the doomdays of China but China is still growing stronger day by day...Let me give you a hint when China will stop growing and it is when it has topped its natural growth curve which is on par with the Western Europe or American or Japanese standard of living which is above USD 40,000 per capita income.Now,China has only achieved at USD 8000 per capita income which is still a long way to go.This acheivement is not miracle but a natural process because we Chinese including Singapore,HK , Taiwan or Korea are belonging to that league.........