A COMPANY

The undertaking was meant to take 2 on-site years to reach full operability.

Local partners had not delivered the desired results and undertaken undesired activity, the extent of which had to be first investigated and secondly, reversed.

A subsidiary capable of fully independent operation (administration, warehousing, incoming/outgoing shipping, traceability, adherence to company operation procedures) needed to be established from scratch. 

When necessary, technical and on-site representation/support of HQ had to be done with local factories and vendors both for new and existing projects.
As no detailed process and operating manuals existed, these had to be created in preparation.

Taking on the role of CTO, Sebastian would lead all these.
A local partner would handle Commercial, Sales, Logistics and HR.
Along with very clear requirements regarding the location, agents and size of the company to be established, HQ would remotely provide IT infrastructure and maintenance, accounting, existing vendor and customer transfer as well as quarterly, hands-on, on-site support.

At the beginning, a projective roadmap and timeline had to be created.

After cross-referencing the gathered information with the situation on the target market, Sebastian managed to identify the reasons for the failed/dissatisfying attempts and propose an error-proof success strategy.

Various administrative, political, economic and sociocultural differences had not been taken into account before. Comprehensive analysis and presentation of these points as well as solution proposal would start the development of a viable China strategy. 

To save time and cost, Sebastian would in simultaenously gather necessary information and resources to enact each part of the updated strategy when the decision to implement was made.

However, the undertaking coincided with the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. This meant that, in order to deal with the rapidly evolving situation, the strategy had to remain extremely vigilant and adaptive.

After thorough analysis of the emerging pandemic in January 2020 and analyzing policies and trends and an emergency meeting on the matter, Sebastian highlighted the necessity of expediting emigration to China, planned to happen in April that year, by two weeks.
This meant accelerating training time in favor of avoiding the upcoming Chinese border closure, the consequences of which presented an unfathomable risk for the feasibility of the endeavor.

As the strategy had not been adjusted to the predicted, rapidly evolving pandemic situation, the border had closed only a few short days before Sebastian’s scheduled departure.
This was a pivotal moment in the project.

Owing to his deep understanding of Asian culture and thorough analysis of rules, regulations, hard numbers and statistics, Sebastian was able to identify challenges to overcome and solutions to save the endeavor.

Valuable time was lost day by day as well as money. Yet, timing was critical. 
Using his understanding of Chinese culture and requirements, contacting various high-value resources in embassies, governments and chambers of commerce, Sebastian successfully applied for the coveted and then unannounced PU letter (special immigration requirement throughout the entire Covid period).

This also required self-management of the entire visa process.

This crisis could have been entirely averted. However, faced with this new challenge, Sebastian managed to provide a great solution to an almost insurmountable problem. 4.5 months of time and money were lost in the process. 

Finally, the ability displayed in tackling this issue would be a valuable building block in winning the trust of vendors and customers alike.

Sebastian developed a thorough strategy to open the Chinese market to the investor, who had no such strategy prior.

Analyzing all development plans of the entire East China for the coming years, consulting with seasoned and experienced veterans such as the German Chamber of Commerce as well as international and Chinese experts, industry representatives and specialsts and taking into account risks and opportunities during Covid-19, it became very clear that the differences in market would mean a different strategy would need to be adapted.

His fact-based, solution-oriented approach would lead to a gradual buildup of understanding by the investor and adaptation of the strategy he devised.

After a decision to have accounting handled by an experienced international provider, finding one such trustworthy one had to be handled.
Desires were also contrary to applicable rules and regulations, valuable advice from the German Chamber of Commerce was also requested and then not followed.

Thus Sebastian searched for, analyzed, compared and assessed such providers and selected the ones most suitable to the investor’s corporate situation. 
As the preferred choice was initially not convinced, Sebastian would spend the next 2.5 years diligently and constantly networking to enable this opportunity and the switch over to his trusted provider.

Bank accounts had to follow clear requirements set by the Chinese authorities regarding international business and investment.
Experienced financial operatives normally handle these topics.
Sebastian learned enough about the topic and assembled the support necessary to execute bank account creation in a manner that would follow applicable law.
It proved challenging to combine investor desires with said rules and regulations, however, after tireless effort, Sebastian managed to convince the investor of a step-by-step plan which would follow international rules yet still meet investor demands.

Energy conservation was also important and could be marketed as environment protectionalism. 
In order to facilitate warehousing, each aisle was equipped with motion sensors in order to only illuminate the exact area of operation. This would cut down on energy cost and provide workers with worry-free access. 
Since commercial sensors had to be used, Sebastian designed and produced special angled sensor shades that limit the sensor area to the precise area required.
It was a quick and easy solution in line with budget. 

Furthermore, this helped us in winning our first award certificate in the field of Green Operation – certificates being very important in China, this helped the company’s reputation.

In Stage 1, lighting and sensors alike would be mounted on inexpensive, disposable metal profiles stuck into the storage rack beams.

Not only does this create a fully functioning and highly cost-efficient business, it also permits all this in an incredibly short amount of time, lower the initial threshold and provide easy scalability.  

One of the main reasons Sebastian chose that property was the 5m high ceiling.
Modifications to the building’s structure were not allowed.
However, the modular racks, when fully stocked, were far below their maximum weight carrying capacity.

After working together with and gaining approval by building management,  Sebastian designed a set of brackets and braces that fit on top of the existing racks.
With all components pre-produced offsite to reduce dirt on all stored goods, a modular metal structure was joined on top of the racks and plated over by sturdy wood. 

Thus, the top of the racks then became the floor of the second level racks, securely joined together and spreading the overall weight out safely.

Two reduced-size racks on the first level had to be removed and a freight elevator installed in their stead, the sliding door and mechanism an entirely custom design.  In effect, this noninvasively added a new storey which is not integral to the building and can be easily disassembled and reassembled at a new location to reduce waste.

Employee access was via the elevated office, with one staff usually assigned the top warehouse floor, and another on the lower floor working as a team, their handshake point being the elevator shaft.
In practice this worked so well that during stocking or shipping, the goods flow was very quick and smooth with almost zero wait.

Hinged railings were also incorporated that could be swiveled to allow forklift access or others. In the warehouse, that’s primarily a redundancy in case of elevator malfunction or when bulkier equipment needed to be moved.

Each level featured three-zone moisture level control as well as redundant air driers and, as backup, aircon.

On the first level, the old walkway was plated over using rack components. 
With clever spacing, the gaps could be utilized as pallet storage.

Meanwhile, the IT infrastructure also had to be moved and reinstalled, which could only be handled by Sebastian.

Additional challenges due to the Covid-19 situation and fast approaching lockdown were:

a)increased goods demand

b)difficulty in sourcing building materials

c)external contractor contact being a risk a risk simultaneously

d)constantly changing rules and precautions requiring extra capacity

This was another critical moment. Good crisis management would be the best proof of competence in a high-competition, highly troubled market. 

The upgrade was projected by Sebastian to take 8 weeks under normal conditions.
As per investor timetable he was granted 6 weeks in spite of the coming lockdown. 
He managed to open the double-capacity warehouse within 4 weeks. 

It can’t be understated how critical it was to have the right employees, with the right training and understanding of the task and the importance of their efforts. 

By making use of his excellent planning ability, Sebastian had previously been able to reduce the price per square meter to unheard of levels in the most expensive city in China and one of the most expensive cities in the world at very competitive expense.

However, the prerequisite for Warehouse II was significantly different.
Under strict orders to acquire much more space but strictly not granted the budget to do so, Sebastian adjusted the strategy to meet demands.

Having long surveyed the building complex for strategic reasons, a plot on the ground floor proved suitably dry and easy to access with only minor modifications to the entrance and the design of a special loading/unloading ramp.
Accessing the IT infrastructure also had to be taken care of.

Carefully balancing the expense in cost, time, effort and trying to preserve the company image, a use for this space then had to be found. 

The solution was fourfold: 

• Restructuring of company workflow.
  Shipments would first be arrive in one section of WH-II, inspected and stored by pallet.
  WH-II would, once a week, replenish WH-I which itself was to retain ~4 weeks of goods in individual packages.
  WH-I would handle commissioning, the prepared pallets would then be transported to the outgoing area of WH-II for pickup.
• Flexible storage locations
  Using a system of spaced-out ground markers, generous pallet parking spots were designated. 
  Scannable tags were hung from movable steel wires attached to walls and pillars.
  This extremely cost efficient and versatile system would ensure the required structure, traceability and order. 
  To store more goods or subdivide entire sections, the wires, tags and markers could be moved to a more efficient spacing within minutes.
• Low investment
  Forfeiting the use of pallet racks meant savings thereof as well as eliminating the need for powered forklifts.
  Should it become necessary in the future, these could always be quickly added by shifting the a/m storage system to one side and upgrading the warehouse in sections.
• Commission-renting
  The storage solution devised by Sebastian was the most cost-efficient warehouse near the center of the city. 
  Due to his growing reputation for trustworthyness and efficient solutions, small businesses forced to store their goods out in the countryside showed interest in the competitive rates and logistical benefits made possible by Sebastian’s solutions.

Corporate operations, in the case of the distribution company in question, required a level of goods scheduling, tracing and planning that can be considered to be at a rather high level of efficiency and accuracy.
Most of the key strenght involved therein lay in the IT infrastructure and thus, this part required a great degree of attention.

Scanners and label printers had to be directly integrated into the management software via WiFi.
Furthermore, the investor greatly valued data security while requiring a system completely open to himself, in spite of the unique circumstances that come with doing business in the PRC.

Initially, it was planned to deploy the required infrastructure in Germany and for Chinese staff to connect remotely. 
In spite of recommendations to do the necessary research into the feasibility and cost of this solution, the decision was made based on other factors.

After the initial on-site registration was done, it was decided to reverse this decision and for Sebastian to find a solution.
Going forward, the server would be programmed and set up by a provider in Germany.
There would be a permanent remote connection in order to allow the required transparency and control by the German investor which met his requirements.

A close cooperation with HQ’s IT department and the software provider enabled Seabstian to preoperly prepare the on-site infrastructure in advance as well as preconfigure the server respectively, allowing for efficient and easy on-site completion.

Unfortunately, supply shortages would cause a 9-month delay.

This was a crucial point which, could doom the endeavor. 
The 4-month lead created with incredible effort was ruined and turned into an as-yet TBD delay.

In order not to waste this time, an interim solution had to be found.
Sebastian managed to leverage his reputation and obtain free PC hardware to start business operations.
As the business relied on goods flow, he set up interim means of order tracking and goods tracing which would have to be logged into the system at a later time.

Albeit at a reduced capacity due to the a/m limitations, this still meant that Sebastian could implement processes and the team become familiar with operating principles, learn about the industry, cooperation with vendors and customers alike.

Having strategically guided personnel development before in a very limited capacity, Sebastian had to grow into this role.
With the help of experienced advisors and with constant involvement of HQ experts, a starting team was assembled. 

Challenges were:

• High regional salaries 
• Low funds availability
• Regional workforce focusing on other sectors
• Relatively low staff retention due to regional culture
• Unusual (multiple) job tasks
• Insecurities from pandemic

Personnel would ideally be cheap, capable and able to develop as their roles and responsibilities shifted.
Especially in the beginning, each initial member of the team would be very hard to replace. 
Due to often taking on multiple roles as well as taking a lot of Sebastian’s time to individually train, retention was key.

This strategy’s payoff would be that, when new staff could be hired, training could be greatly accelerated and supported by the whole team.
Structuring the warehouse layout around this approach helped convince said staff as well as vendors and customers alike of the validity of the approach.

During the hiring phase, Sebastian would test each employee towards their willingness to adapt to new processes and acquire new skills as well as train future staff in tandem.
To alleviate the initial, culturally highly unusual funding mentality, a lot of effort had to be put into showing the planned future expansion and beautification efforts of the work environment and linking this to individual effort.
Staff motivation would need to be carried by the promise of appropriate reward by preferential promotion when team size grew, linking to high stability and better compensation later.
Last but not least, Sebastian would need to convince all staff members of his future plan for the business and their well-being by acting as interpreter and protector from the investor, providing a high degree of personal guidance and hands-on leadership as well as constant positive outlook and feedback.

One key goal from day one was equipping this key team with enough knowledge to maintain the company in the direction he set it on after Sebastian’s tasks were complete. Transparent in this approach, this would serve as further motivation for his staff to grow.

In the end of 2022, this concept went into full fruition when, after a mix of attempted and successful hires, the key team according to his long-term plan was well trained and able to run operations independently.

As a leader, Sebastian took it onto himself to constantly protect his staff all-around, especially in front of the investor and his different cultural approach.

As previously highlighted, there existed no employee manual.

Needing to adapt the workflow to the realities of working in Asia

As the branch establishment coincided with a big ERP system upgrade, most operations couldn’t be directly copied but had to be fundamentally understood, abstracted and reintroduced into the new system without a transitioning period.

Trying their best to alleviate the results of improper planning, two IT teams in Germany and Sebastian worked tirelessly to get a functioning ERP system up and running and make up the time lost.

Additionally, there was not yet a running version of this system that matched the investor’s wishes at the time.
Thus Sebastian developed the plan to have the system integrator perform a base software setup, ship to China and finalize everything remotely once the hardware was fully integrated with the on-site components.

Unusually long shipping lead times during the pandemic would mean that system integrator and HQ IT could keep working on the system meanwhile and implement updates on-site.

Hardware integration on-site was greatly helped by the excellent preparation and support of the IT teams and could be done in very little time.

Due to the unique situation regarding interconnectivity found in China, most of the early setup process had to be supported by Sebastian in night-long sessions.

For the next 10 weeks, the entire China team would work tirelessly during the day learning to use the new system, identify bugs and submit, at night the system integrator would work with Sebastian to implement the solutions.

Strategically focusing on the company’s core processes as identified during his training in Germany, basic corporate operability was proven established within 10 weeks.

System implementation in the German HQ would progress simultaneously.
It is noteworthy that the brisk catch-up performed by the China office meant that a synergy was created between both locations. Fixes would be found in Germany, then rolled out to China and, quite often, issues solved in China would aid implementation at HQ.
As a result, the company-wide rollout of a significant generational shift was aided and everybody involved commended for their excellent mutual support and teamwork.

With the core functionality of the business established, operations could commence and cash flow secured.

What was envisioned by the investor to require mimimal time and effort to implement turned into a major, unplanned undertaking when faced with reality.
Sebastian was able take on this duty and find a solution for this situation, which had not been included in the already-ambitious timeline.

Through effort going above and beyond, all mission-critical operability could be created to within close proximity to the original timeline desired in the business plan: 

A foundational part of the entire endeavor, business plan and a prerequisite to being issued a business license in China was the guaranteed scope of business.

This included guaranteed customer and order volume as well as goods supply.
According to the strategy set out initially, this had to happen within one year of establishing the business.

A combination of pandemic situations and planning errors had led to many potential desasters.
Sebastian had managed to avert all these and, by shifting focus, keep the original schedule.

As previously agreed, large quantities of goods would be delivered to the China branch and distributed, thus the new company could sustain itself.
However, due to internal power struggles at HQ, this legally binding certainty was broken and no alternate support provided.
Instead, these goods would keep getting supplied from Germany to Chinese customers via Air freight, incurring 10x the cost compared to shipment  from the China branch. Also, this goods volume was the reason for the China office’s existence and crucial for its survival and reputation on the market.

With very little means to financially support the business going forward and increasing demands by the investor to spend funds and effort for other non-return endeavors, the situation was gradually worsening.

After comprehensively reporting the situation and notifying all involved party of impending doom, no corrective action was made and Sebastian had to find a solution by himself.

After more than half a year of intense remote lobbying with HQ, Sebastian managed to guide the investor to the decision to fulfil his obligation and permit the business transfer.

However, this unnecessary delay had cost many valuable months that were not budgeted in the extremely streamlined business plan.
Fortunately, Sebastian’s skill at efficient operation and cost preservation meant that he was nonetheless able to both stretch out the already thin budget and, in a financial system with limited opportunities, temporarily sustain the business operation with external funds at extremely favorable conditions while staying within the frame of law.

After ensuring that all criteria were met for the business to sustain itself and grow, Sebastian had reviewed his involvement with the investor.

Noting various unacceptable shortcomings therein, Sebastian decided to inform the investor of his plans to stop representing the investor after the tasks he’d agreed to were complete.

Sebastian then increased his training of existing staff to fill more responsible roles.
This having already been part of his initial strategy, the strenghthening of this approach was easy to achieve.

Working together with his team, he managed to alleviate their fears and strenghten their confidence and provide a comprehenive set of guidelines of operation with the investor.

It took about 9 months to reach the point of Job Done, during which Sebastian put all his efforts to ensuring smooth transition and difficult tasks to be resolved.

His goals, to establish the investor’s China presence, create new jobs and prove his various professional and leadership skills had been fulfilled.

After his resignation, his former staff would frequently ask his advice on crucial business operations and how to handle investor relations.

The local office guaranteed a range of vendors and prices due to existing global aggreements which the China branch would benefit from as part of the company group.
Nevertheless, long-term relationships for new projects had to be set up over time.

Additionally, Sebastian’s strong technical background meant that he would assist with HQ-vendor issues such as sample verification and technical issues.
The commercial team would assist with translation and interpretation.
Highlights during this period were Sebastian’s humble and efficient on-site support with customers during RMAs, production line and tooling consulting, providing valuable imnprovements as well as cost savings and quickly growing trust.

It became clear that the investor had not done due diligence assuring the support he’d promised, compromising the business plan.

With immediate and strategic business development in mind, Sebastian analyzed all available vendors and proposed a suggested plan of building cooperation based on priorities and outlook.
Due to internal politics, however, this plan was modified by the investor.
Valuable effort was wasted trying to reach strategic vendors that, due to global strategic contracts, could only be handled by HQ.

Sebastian understood the importance of building strong relationships and the differences in how to do so compared to other regions and developed a strategy based on the situation and capabilities of his investor’s business.
He adapted a down to earth, humble, respectful but result oriented partnership style for the business he was in charge of.
Cultural integration of himself and his behaviors was another key, making vendors understand his integration in the local culture.
The detailed, planned approach Sebastian worked out would gradually show and convince the investor of a suitable approach to the new market.

With his focus on mid-to-long term cooperation, the unusual circumstances of the pandemic created special demands.
The crisis management during covid, being able to stay ahead of threats  keep his employees as well as customers safe, helped provide hard proof of the viability of his strategy and business model.

Some vendors became so convinced by the cultural orientation and understanding Sebastian’s leadership provided that they sought the China branch’s support even with international issues, cementing rare USPs for the investor’s business globally.

Initially, the investor felt sure he would be able to handle customer relations and sales from Germany.

This had, however, turned out to be erroneous after on-site meetings.

Not having received any Sales training beforehand, Sebastian needed to find a solution.
By tirelessly focusing on customer ccoperation, adding his engineering knowledge to the company’s portfolio he managed to convince the customer to change the supply chain while the pandemic was ongoing.

During the 8-weeks lockdown, his foresight and leadership assured uninterrupted supply and firmly established his company as a well-rated supplier.

Competent and fact-oriented in dealing with arrangements, he improved the investor’s standing significantly and widened the recognition of the company name throughout.

The reputation became so good that customer contacts leaving for new employers would hold the business Sebastian had established in such high regard that they would recommend and introduce their new employers as new customers.

After repeatedl highlighting the importance of building a relationship with the China businesses’ most crucial vendors, the investor remained fully convinced of his own ability to remote manage these relationships and felt no need to introduce their new branch.

When this, predictably, turned out to be a serious mistake, Sebastian was charged with resolving it wit hzero HQ support.

After the company became operational, a new project deal was made by HQ and to be handled by the China office.
Details on said deal were not provided, only an extremely short timeframe and scope of goods. The rest had to be collected by the China team.

Contacting and working together with the other parties involved, the findings were then presented to the HQ people in charge.
An unbelievable discrepancy was thus discovered which would normally be grounds for serious and immediate disciplinary action.

In a further guesture of goodwill, Sebastian worked closely with his team to provide a direction and strategy to guide the company in the coming years.

Having proven his foresight and planning, he derived a set of guidelines and SOPs which would ensure future success if largely kept.