We are now on day four, factory number three, and fatigue is setting in.
We spent the first few days at our factory in Guangzhou looking at a dozen or so SS2010 prototypes. Twelve hours on both days followed by a meal out with the owners and then back to the hotel to write up comments and update diagrams. These are then sent back to the office in the UK so the team there can modify the specifications ASAP to be sent back out to the factory to get the process going again. Bedtime around 2am
We then flew up to Qingdao in the north of China arriving at out hotel at 3am due to late flights. Up at 6:30 for breakfast before heading to our factory about one hour away. A long day looking through another set of prototypes and production issues was followed by another meal out and yet more comments and diagram modifications. Again bed around 2am.
Today we were up at 6am before being picked up and driven to our Japanese owned factory slightly further north. There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the factories out in China and this place certainly dispels any myths. The building has a NASA development centre feel about it with floors you could eat your dinner off and a super organised production line. However, it is the imported Japanese toilets complete with electronic heated seats and jet wash that takes the biscuit. Not to mention they have a better view out the windows than I do in Manchester!
