Thursday, February 15, 2007

Vietnam - Defying Misconceptions

To many, Vietnam may still seem like a third world nation that is leap years behind countries like China and Singapore. However this common misconception is usually from people who have never visited the country. First hand looks at production and manufacturing facilities reveal that Vietnam is more modernized than many of us can imagine:

From Purchasing.com:

Whatever you think you know about business in Vietnam, forget it. The economic and business environment in today’s Vietnam surprises most U.S. buyers that visit the country in search of low-cost, high-quality suppliers.

“My personal image—as well as those of most of my associates—prior to visiting Vietnam, was one of manufacturing facilities with dirt floors and sweat-shop type atmospheres,” says James Malch, senior supply chain manager for Pacific Scientific’s Electro-Kinetics division in Carpinteria, Calif., which buys alternator parts from Vietnamese suppliers. “But after visiting several different suppliers in various industries such as stamping, PCB assembly, machining, and wiring and harness assembly, I was very impressed. Once I was inside the building, I could not tell I was in a foreign country."

This only scratches the surface, to read more from other supply chain managers, check out this article:


http://www.purchasing.com/article/CA6414448.html?industryid=2161

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