Our last day in Beijing started in the morning, where we had to check out of the Novotel and be ready for boarding the coach. Around 8:30am the coach took us to the Zimmer’s (US company) new acquisition, the Montagne factory in Changping District. We were warmly welcomed by Mr. Robby Kissling (Integration Director) and his team. After a detailed presentation, that contained information about the changes, which had been made since the time Zimmer had acquired the company, we were shown those changes while walking through the factory. As earlier described by Mr. Kissling during the presentation, Montagne produces orthopaedic implants for the Chinese market. Even as those products are in the mid range, seen from a global prospective, those product are on the higher end for the Chinese market, as the sell around USD 3,500. When Zimmer was taking control over the factory in the beginning of the year, post-merger integration process started.Moving over to the actual production ground, the team was separated into three groups and were shown around. They showed us the quality control made to new incomes of raw material, which are delivered from external suppliers. As a footnote Mr. Kissling was mentioning the specialty to the Chinese market, were most surgeons are not limiting their choice to one supplier, but various. After an interesting Q&A session, we were boarding the coach again and were heading to the birds nest to have a look inside the stadium itself. Around three o’clock, our driver was bringing us to the Shanghai South Train Station to board the high-speed train, which officially went into service the day before. After a 6 hours drive, we arrived safely in Shanghaihongqiao for staying in our first Chinese Hotel «The Bund Riverside».
