ONE CEC CUSTOMER is a US-based manufacturer of lighting control systems for office buildings, hotels and upscale residences. Its products range from dimmer switches to multi-million-dollar lighting systems that allow the user to control the level of lighting from a remote location for an entire building or large residence. We worked with this customer on the ground in China for a year and a half.
We first assisted the customer in a broad site selection process that covered areas of Guangdong Province (in the south of China) and the Yangtze River Delta, including the greater-Shanghai area. Each site was analyzed in terms of tax breaks, infrastructure, proximity to suppliers and customers, etc. In terms of suppliers, we assisted the customer with the sourcing of components, including PCBs, plastic injection-molded parts, stamped metal parts, and wire harnesses.
We located a facility in the Shanghai area, negotiated lease terms in both Chinese and English languages up to final signing, applied for and obtained the Chinese business license and subsequent registrations on behalf of the customer, and successfully obtained “Encouraged Status” from the Chinese government for the new enterprise, allowing our customer to import their equipment into China duty-free. Next we identified local general contractors to work on the fit-out of the facility, and managed the bidding process up to final acceptance of the contractor bid by our customer.
Over the next several months, we managed the fit-out of the facility via daily onsite visits at the construction site, until final completion of the factory fit-out. On the human resources front, we connected the customer with local engineering schools and universities, to assist them in recruiting qualified personnel. Finally, we located the local logistics outfit to successfully import the customer’s equipment into China. The customer has now completely ramped up production and is currently running a successful operation in China.
