CRIA says what it thinks of US Rubber Expo

ERJ staff report (DS)

Beijing -- In comparison with similar events in China, October's Rubber Expo was poorly attended, said Ding Liping, Branch Secretary-General of the China Rubber Industry Association, who was part of a delegation to the event. He wrote, "At the show, you can clearly feel the US rubber industry is still sluggish, the audience is relatively small, from another perspective, also reflects the US economy still in recession."

Following a visit to the University of Akron, the report noted that "University of Akron has very favourable working conditions and has set up a special research unit with students and student teachers participating in research and development. Chinese companies are very interested."

The Chinese visitors noted with astonishment that a catering team of 12 could provide lunch for 500 people. While noting that some of the 'Chinese' food on offer was different from traditional Chinese food, the delegation applauded the catering teamfor their efforts.

The delegation visited Goodyear's R&D centre, but was unable to learn Goodyear's most sensitive secrets. Nevertheless, the Chinese delegation felt it could, 'knock on the door' of Goodyear's performance in test data.

Later, the delegation went to Toyo Tire near Atlanta, Georgia. The delegates were impressed by the cleanliness and lack of smell in the tyre factory, and observed the production of jointless bands and the use of bar codes on green tyres to track production. The delagates were also impressed by the automated safety features within the factory

Overall, the delegates were left with the impression that ther eis a large gulf between the US manufacturing and technology and that which currently exists in China.

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Report from CRIA (Chinese language)

Above report auto-translated (from Chinese)