First, the two representatives of Galanz took us to the showroom, where all their products are exhibited. Besides microwaves they also produce air conditioner, small kitchen products and white electronic goods. Then we listened to a presentation about company and its history.
This successful company was established in 1978, the same year as the Chinese reforms took place and even after a disastrous flood in 1994, it took them only 3 month to recover its production. Today, they follow the strategy of lowering cost by enlarging scale. The production works 24 hours a day (3 shifts) and has 40’000 employees. It is more than remarkable that every second microwave in the world is being produced by Galanz.
Later we were able to visit the factory which has a tremendous size, just as the Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou. Galanz is one of the biggest firms that we visited during this trip. Afterwards the firm kindly invited us for delicious lunch at their company-owned canteen. Again – the variety of the Chinese kitchen impressed us (in a positive way). During the time at Galanz, we were also joined by Mr Guohuni Sheng (Secretary of Excecutive Council) who provide us with very interesting information about the company.
In the afternoon we visited Pinnacle, a small-sized clothing producer and therefore completely different to our visit in the morning at Galanz. The company managers, Maggie and Wilfried welcomed us warmly in their showroom. The first thing that caught our eyes was the very well known brands from Switzerland, as Switzerland is the most important market for them. Later on they took us to their design and production department area, which contains a high share of labour intensive processes. They produce for different prize ranges and in different volumes.
After this exhausting day all of us were quite happy as were invited for drinks in a Golf Club near the production place. After this highly appreciated break we were
eager to experience the famous hotpot dish we already heard about. Being familiar with the Swiss Fondue Chinoise it did not require too much time to get used to the Chinese way. As the soup started to boil and the waitresses brought huge amounts of different meat and vegetables, first bets were placed by our students. Who would be able to swallow the most chillies? The winner ended up being the thirstiest person of the evening. The hotpot is regarded notoriously as one of the spiciest dishes so many students had the fear of not being able to master it. This fear turned out as exaggerated. The real problem for us was the room temperature some of us tried to fight with beer, other were looking for a cooler place next to the air conditioner. After all, everybody was happy to go back to the hotel with a full stomach.