We had two more site visits today in Tianjin to John Deere and Boeing. My initial thoughts rolling up to the city is the architecture of the town - all the apartment high rises are in clusters of identical design (see pic). I thought this was really interesting that they don't vary more and that … Continue reading Day 3 →

Today we took a drive to Tianjin to visit John Deere and Boeing. John Deere did an incredible job introducing the China Agriculture industry and then going into John Deere's position within it. Once again, the government showed up quite frequently in the conversation, and it was interesting to learn that their main competitor is … Continue reading 5/16 – Blog #3 →

Today we visited the Boeing Tianjin Composite facility, which was my personal favorite visit so far. I interned at Boeing in supply chain last year, and specifically remember learning about this facility and working with materials from the location. A memorable moment for me was the tour of where the composites are made, because I … Continue reading May 16 Post →

Today I had a few main takeaways from our corporate visits. From John Deere, I found it interesting that they are starting to focus on growing their export business- this implies that their domestic business isn’t growing as fast as they’d like and this is probably due to the SOE market leadership and state-owned farms. … Continue reading Tianjin Visit →

Zhi Yong. Henry says it means someone who is both intelligent and courageous. I am so flattered. Today we had company visits at John Deere and Boeing. The manufacturing plants were bringing out the nerd inside of me. It was amazing to see the concepts I have learned in my classes translating to actual production … Continue reading Day 3: Henry gave me a Chinese name and it is wonderful →

I found today's site visits very valuable. From John Deere, I enjoyed seeing the differences between what we saw in Moline versus here-- their market share is significantly lower due to Chinese competition. One of the most shocking things our speaker mentioned is that JD's main competitor, YTO, benefits from being an SOE because national … Continue reading John Deere and Boeing →

Catching up to a group on the other half of the planet in a country whose language you know nothing about is an unprallelled experience. It seemed like a deja vu from a year ago when T&M went on a trip to Peoria and St. Louis, where I slept through the bus and had to … Continue reading Journey to China →

While there were lots of great things that I learned, what I found most interesting was comparing the reactions to similar concerns in the energy industry by both the US and China. Both countries have a history of relying on foreign producers of fossil fuels and are concerned with the leverage that that gives producers … Continue reading 5/15 Post →

Today began before sunrise with the flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square. Five of us had the opportunity to maneuver through crowds of hundreds of people to the square, view the flag go up to the music of the national anthem, and experience the Chinese public transportation system through the subway.  A crowded Tiananmen Square. … Continue reading Sunrise to Sunset →