On our second day in Shanghai we visited 2 companies, namely Geberit and Schindler.
The first stop was at Geberit. The swiss company manufactures and sells its products mainly under the Geberit brand, although alternative subsidiaries’ brands are also used. It has operations in more than 41 countries. Geberit’s strategy rests on the following four strategic pillars: focus on sanitary technology, commitment to innovation, selective geographic expansion and continuous business process optimization. For a number of years now, Geberit has been pursuing the three-stage sales model, respectively the push-pull strategy. More specifically, Geberit products are distributed via the wholesale trade, with the company training over 100,000 plumbers and decision-makers each year in its 25 training centers around the world or at external training courses. To date, Geberit has received a range of awards for the company’s innovative strength, product design and its strong focus on sustainability.
At the beginning Mr. Jackie Tu gave us an interesting presentation in which he came up with much knowledge which we learned in our modules at the ZHAW. For example we could see how the 6-Sigma and SMED models have been successfully implemented. Also impressive was to listen how much knowledge Mr Tu had. It was a valuable experience. After that we was invited to take a tour through the production side of Geberit. At the end we also had the pleasure to see an illustration of how a sanitary system works at all.
Our second stop was at Schindler Group. Schindler Group is the largest supplier of escalators. The Schindler Group is a manufacturer of escalators and elevators worldwide, founded in Switzerland in 1874. Schindler produces, installs, maintains and modernizes elevators and escalators in many types of buildings including residential, commercial and high-rise buildings. The company is present in more than 140 countries and employs more than 48,000 persons worldwide. The production facilities are located in Brazil, China, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, India and the USA.
The first impression was a very modern company. We was welcomed by Mr. Goia, Product Line Manager, which introduced Schindler China and the escalator division. Schindler has. He is the production line manager and just started to work here in Shanghai 6 months ago. After that the Managing Director of the escalator division Mr. Egbert Weisshaar. He talked about the history of Schindler and at the end we was able to ask him questions. Next we spited in 2 groups the one group stayed in the meeting room and the other group had an interesting roundtrip on the largest production side, for escalators, of the world. It was very impressing to see the 7 assembly lines and to see how an escalator is produced step by step.
