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Moss opens China centre but pledges future to UK manufacturing
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18/04/2008
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Moss Plastic Parts - the Kidlington, Oxon-based manufacturer and distributor of a range of plastic components from cable clips to security seals - has just opened its first sales and distribution centre in China.
The company said it was one of many steps in a plan to take its products and business principles around the world. Commercial Director Mark Fish (pictured) said it sometimes seemed as if China was sucking in all the world’s manufacturing industries with nothing to stop the flow. But Moss Plastic Parts, part of the international Filtrona group, had built a very successful strategy on a different view of the business world.
“We’ve been in Central Europe for a few years now,” said Fish. “We originally set up these operations when the countries were emerging from their previous political regimes. Their business environments were quite unusual then, but as we expected they quickly adapted and adopted so that they are now very similar to the long-established EU markets.”
With the Moss Central European operations now established, it is now moving its sights further east to set up operations in Eastern Europe and the old Soviet bloc and also opening up Chinese opportunities.
However, in China the traditional business model is quite different from the way Moss runs its operations, said Fish, with the emphasis being on the supply of specials rather than standard products.
“This is the antithesis of our expertise, so the first thought is that there are no opportunities here for us. But think a bit deeper and you realise that China is largely serving a western market, and that its more local markets are aspiring to western ideals,” he said. And western markets wanted western products, which necessitated western manufacturing techniques.
Moss currently has a medium-sized facility in Beilun a 45 minute flight from Shanghi, and is assessing several options for further development plans.
Moss currently manufactures some product locally to support its Chinese operations, and is also investing in its UK production plant to maintain it as the heart of the business.
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Author
Ken Hurst
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