DETROIT – Forget about rolling back the clock on the rise of low-cost manufacturing in China and other regions, concurred a panel of CEOs of Midwest-based manufacturers. Globalization is here to stay. But they take a cautious approach to doing business in China.
“Stop whining about [global competition],” says David Rayburn, CEO of Modine Manufacturing Co., a Racine, Wis.-based supplier of automotive heat-transfer components that just closed record sales of $1.6 billion for its fiscal year. “We’re in a global economy ? and it’s not going to change.”
The panel?held at the Wisconsin Business & Technology Expo?included Modine’s Rayburn; Robert Arzbaecher, CEO of Actuant Corp., a Glendale, Wis.-based maker of motion-control systems and industrial tools; Peter Gottsacker, president of Wixon, a St. Francis, Wis.-based manufacturer of spices and flavorings; and Richard Meeusen, CEO of Badger Meter, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of flow-measuring systems.
These executives from heartland America say their companies all have some degree of operations in China and other low-cost regions in the form of plants, partnerships, or sourcing. However, they take a cautious approach to doing business in China.
To read the rest of the story, click on GlobalAutoIndustry.Com
