After checking out our hotel rooms in Guangzhou, we were looking forward to our last company visit of our China field trip. A one hour coach ride took us to the suburbs of Guangzhou, where we reached the local branch of SGS. SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company.

In a detailed presentation by a manager of SGS we learnt that the aim of SGS is to help customers all over the world operate in a more sustainable manner by improving quality and productivity, reducing risk, verifying compliance and increasing speed to market. The firm with its headquarters in Geneva employs over 55’000 people and operates a network of more than 1’000 offices and laboratories around the world.

After the presentation, we had a highly interesting tour through the laboratories of SGS. We were very impressed about the variety of products which are tested and evaluated by a wide range of methods. From simple static load tests of office chairs to crash tests with bike helmets to chemical analysis of liquids we explored the wide area of operation. During the tour, several questions regarding chemical analzysis were rised by the students and were competently answered by Dr. Ivan Chan, direcor of corporate R&D

In the early afternoon, the coach drove us to the Guangzhou train station where we boarded the train. At the boarder to Hong Kong our temperature had been taken again. Some of us had been checked twice, for whatever reason… Finally, everyone reached Hong Kong the metropolis located at the Chinese south coast. The rest of the day, we could explore the fascinating city on our own.