"I had a fantastic time as
a guest of IMI. Seeing how everything's done in the factories to
optimise efficiency and productivity, I learned how and why China's
become such a popular location for industry. I also discovered how
motivating it can be to be asked for your opinion, as we were
thanked by many of the people we interviewed for giving
them the opportunity to have their voices heard"
Fellows spent two weeks
with IMI in China. Below, Lara shares some of her
thoughts and experiences.
Yesterday we began our
time with our host companies, and I have been placed with IMI. I am
going to be honest, and since I discovered that I was being placed
with IMI, I have felt a little apprehensive for being placed with
an engineering company as I have little knowledge of the field and
felt completely out of my depth - as I am a
Geographer.
On the first day, we discovered
our intense itinerary, and it wasn’t until today that I fully
appreciated just how much experience and opportunities IMI will
give me. To explain a little about IMI. It consists of five
separate areas; four of which are located in China and thus we will
be visiting, including Indoor Climate, Fluids and Beverage
Dispensers. There are several things that I am grateful for
- having the chance not only to travel all over Shanghai, but
also being lucky enough to be flown to Tianjin (which is just south
of Beijing) and for having a task to complete for the two weeks as
we are all glad that we are active and not just passengers for the
company to ‘put up with’. We also had a short talk on Chinese
culture, and it was interesting learning Chinese Business Culture,
with the importance of face, recieiving and giving with two hands,
and their general integrity and diligence. From my time in both
Beijing and Shanghai, I can definitely see how, even from people
working on the streets all the way up to the top executive
positions, maintain and value a strong work ethic. The importance
placed on their positions and hierachy, even through to how to
address people, is evidently different to that of the UK. For
example, a teacher in the UK is addressed as Mr, Miss and so forth.
In China, a teacher is addressed by the Chinese word for
teacher, followed by their surname. Furthermore, for a taxi driver,
it is quite
insulting to call him a
driver, but very acceptable to call him a manual,
'hands-on' worker, which shows the importance of work and title
which is intriguing.The past two days with IMI have been
intriguing. We have started interviewing the IMI Employees with our
questionnaire and all four of us are equally impressed with both
the number of English speaking Employees and their level of
English. I, who cannot speak another language, am even more
determined to continue with Mandarin once back in the United
Kingdom as communication is crucial in an ever-shrinking world, and
the employees have highlighted our complacency of an ‘English
speaking world’.
So far we have visited
Norgren and ICG
(Indoor Climate Group)
with tours of the plants and offices after presentations
on
the individual work of
each section. With ICG, we were extremely lucky to visit and drive
around the construction site of the Shanghai Expo 2010 which will
be impressive with its innovative architecture once fully
constructed. The purpose of Expo does, in some ways, serve as a
reminder of a globalising world. With each country represented by
its own Pavilion, constructed amongst exhibition and events
buildings, the idea is to instigate how the “world feels at home in
China” whilst the actual project is intended to be sustainable for
urban dwelling. Similar to the Olympic stadiums, many of the
buildings will be utilised for public use once Expo ’10 has
finished. However, the fact that many of the buildings will be
replaced by residential dwellings highlights Shanghai’s ever
increasing population.
In addition to the past
two days, today we visited CCI, where there was a large amount of
valves and Becky felt rather ill after a rather bumpy, crazy taxi
ride across Shanghai. We were fortunate enough to meet Jill today.
She is the same age as us and currently on an internship from
Singapore, and so we now have an awesome friend in Shanghai. We
also ventured out of the luxury of Shanghai to the outer
districts where there is a stark contrast between the wealth of
central Shanghai and the conditions on the streets. The
infrastructure and building material changed rapidly, degrading
quickly as signalled by the increasing number and depth of the
potholes on the road.
And finally... Annie,
Jon, Jake and Calvin were on the television at a school for
B&Q. They were amazing!