www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

London mascot maker feels pinch of rising labor costs

Updated: 2012-08-04 04:16:18

By Cheng Yingqi ( China Daily)

  Comments() Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按鈕 0

Gu Feng, whose company has made around 500,000 sets of Wenlock and Mandeville, the London 2012 Olympic Games mascots, is worried as he looks ahead to the 2016 Games in Brazil.

The 55-year-old chairman of Yancheng Rainbow Arts and Crafts Co in East China's Jiangsu province said his plant is under pressure because of workers' pay rises and the depreciation of the US dollar.

Although this should be the peak season for selling toys, Gu's plant is not busy because of a shortage of new orders — except for the Olympic ones.

"We were lucky to get the Olympic orders this year. But who knows what will happen four years later in Rio de Janeiro?" he said.

"I mean, if the franchisee emphasizes nothing but low price, we might lose our advantage to the Southeast Asian countries where labor costs are low."

Gu started Rainbow 15 years ago, and it is now the oldest toy plant in the city of Yancheng. Other toy plants that opened during the same period have closed down.

"When I started Rainbow, I had only 12 workers and seven sewing machines," Gu said. "But the export demand was great, and we expanded quickly."

His business enjoyed enormous growth between 2002 and 2008, when market rules and the logistics system were improved in Yancheng, a coastal city. In 2008, the plant had 157 million yuan ($24.64 million) in export sales.

In the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, Gu sold 2 million stuffed mascots.

"When the mascot was unveiled, the organizing committee did not give out the manufacturing design, which meant we had to design the toy based on the image by ourselves," Gu said.

The design process was expensive. Gu's designers changed a number of molds for example, to find a proper nose for the mascot, and each mold cost 3,000 yuan.

"Making the samples of a mascot named 'Mukmuk' alone cost over 50,000 yuan. We send the samples to Vancouver for adaptation, and it took more than 20 attempts to reach a satisfying result," he said.

Gu said the prolonged design process might have scared away some plants, but the experience helped him to win the order in London.

"Lucky for us, the franchisee of the London Games, a company named Golden Bear, focuses more on quality rather than the extra 2 or 3 yuan (apiece) they will pay," Gu said.

He sent a design team to London to discuss and determine the toy design, and after receiving a Golden Bear inspection team, obtained the order in a few months.

However, things did not go as smoothly as Gu hoped they would. In January, a UK newspaper, The Sun, accused the company of using slave labor, saying it forced workers to put in 358 hours a month and while paying only $145.74. But Gu said the report was not true.

"The salary of our workers is $300 to $400 a month, and actually, you cannot find any workers for your plant in Yancheng lower than that price. And we had never forced the workers to work long hours," he said.

The wage surge is not unique to Yancheng. In fact, labor costs shot up 20 percent each year for the past four years, and China's coastal provinces are losing their power to find workers, according to a recent report in The Economist.

"We can see the trend that more and more manufacturing is moving to other countries and regions — more and more textiles industry to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand — where the cost of manufacture is much lower, whereas electronic products move to Taiwan and Malaysia," said Graeme Read, group managing director of Antal International, a global executive recruitment organization.

But Read also said that in comparison with other countries in the region, China still retains a manufacturing advantage in terms of better logistics and an abundant labor force with engineering diplomas, and China manufacturing is moving up the value chain.

Gu said some toy plants in Yancheng moved to central China, and some moved to other countries.

He added his business setup in Jiangsu has both advantages and disadvantages.

"Because the industrial chain is complete here, from a button on the toy to the packing case, you do not have to waste time buying the smallest parts."

"But I know I will have to move sometime anyway. It is the trend."

Gu said he has considered moving to other industries, but that takes time.

"For example, I tried to invest in photovoltaic material, but ended up losing money. Now I wish I had chosen real estate instead of toys when I started my own business 15 years ago."

Contact the writer at chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn

Medal Count

 
1 46 29 29
2 38 27 22
3 29 17 19
4 24 25 33
5 13 8 7
6 11 19 14

Watch the Future of Olympic Sports

SUPERBODIES 2012:
Soccer
Click for HD

Most Viewed

Gold medal moments

Age not a problem for Olympic dreams

Olympic moments to remember

Beijing Olympics just keeps on giving

Against the Olympic spirit

Olympic fashion tips

Taking success overseas

more

Competition Schedule

...
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 青青操在线视频 | av人摸人人人澡人人超碰 | 欧美精品首页 | 精品一久久香蕉国产线看播放 | 男女乱配视频免费观看 | 国产黄色片网站 | 欧美日韩精品一区二区三区视频播放 | 亚洲精品资源在线 | 国产成人精品日本亚洲麻豆 | 欧美视频网站在线观看 | 国产91成人精品亚洲精品 | 久久国产精品免费 | 亚洲欧美精品中字久久99 | 亚洲成a人在线播放www | 美女一级片 | 久久久免费视频播放 | 99久久综合精品免费 | 国产成人午夜 | 欧美一级aa免费毛片 | 久久综合久久美利坚合众国 | 精品国产免费一区二区三区五区 | 国产精品短视频免费观看 | 国产成人精品三区 | 欧美在线观看视频一区 | 亚洲haose在线观看 | 波多野结衣一区在线观看 | 国产综合13p | 91成人精品| 免费在线一级毛片 | 亚洲在线视频网站 | 99免费在线观看 | 国产综合第一页 | 日韩美女专区中文字幕 | 67194在线午夜亚洲 | 免费日韩一级片 | 亚洲精品亚洲人成在线麻豆 | 狠狠色丁香婷婷综合久久片 | 欧美一级毛片免费高清aa | 成人国产精品免费软件 | 久草免费资源站 | 一区二区日韩欧美 |