Haier Founder and CEO Visits Taiwan, Discusses
Sourcing
Zhang Ruimin, founder and CEO of the Haier Group, the
world's fifth largest maker of refrigerators and white
goods, recently visited Taiwan to discuss component sourcing
and strategic alliances with major Taiwan makers.
Haier
Group is based in Qingdao (Tsingtao), China and has
become one of the China's first companies to go global
under its own brand name. It has a joint venture with
an American partner Haier
America, and has its own manufacturing facility in
the US. Zhang Ruimin, the founder, has acquired a cult
following as a business hero, and a movie was even made
about the founding and early days at Haier.
For this reason, Zhang's visit to Taiwan had added importance
and significance. In 2002, Haier signed a partnership
agreement with Taiwan's Sampo Group, which is also in
the home appliance industry. On his trip to Taiwan, Zhang
will explore ways to increase cooperation between Haier
and Sampo.
Sampo currently does some refrigerator manufacturing for
Haier, and sells compressors for air conditioners to Haier.
Recently, Haier has also diversified into electronics
and IT-related products, and has explored ways of making
"intelligent" home products. Some components
it has bought from Taiwan are used in DVD players, motherboards,
mobile phones, refrigerators and air conditioners.
Haier also plans to make an 8 inch silicon wafer plant
in Qingdao, and it is believed that Zhang will also visit
some chip foundries in Taiwan.
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