Monday, December 04, 2006
Aboard the Thailand Express
I just finished spending a week working in Thailand. Despite having to spend a week away from my family, it was a nice break away from China. It was always sunny and in the mid 80’s whereas it’s been cloudy/rainy and in the 50’s in Suzhou, China (both better than Michigan though). But even better than the weather, the air in Thailand was much cleaner than the air in China. Lately, I have really noticed that there is a lot of stink and smoke and smog in the air in China. Certainly some days are better than others, but in general the air quality in China is quite bad. I can most easily tell how good/bad the air quality is by the smell (or lack of it) when I get off the plane. On October 24, I flew to Stuttgart, Germany and the air had no smell when I got off the plane. On November 4, I flew back to Shanghai, China and the air had the distinct smell of pollution. On November 20, I flew to Bangkok, Thailand and the air had no smell when I got off the plane. On November 25, I flew back to Shanghai, China and again the air had the distinct smell of pollution.
Aside from the air quality, there were a number of other interesting things about Thailand. First of all, the Thai people love their king. There are pictures of the king every where. And not just 4” x 6” photos, but life size and 2x life size and 4x life size and 10x life size. And these pictures were not displayed on plain matted frames, they were displayed in ornately carved, brightly colored and gold leaf inlaid shrines. I saw many, many public and private displays and it wasn’t because the king loves the king, but these people truly love their king – at least all the people I talked to said everybody does.
Transportation in Thailand is also much different than in China. Whereas China has a lot of bicycles, electric scooters and taxis, Thailand has a lot of motorcycles and pickup trucks. It is very rare to see a pickup truck in China, so I was astounded to see so many in Thailand. Granted they were mostly Isuzu and Toyota, but the only place I’ve seen more pickup trucks are in USA. Pickups are even used as taxis. With a special cover over the bed, seats installed over the wheel wells and the tailgate removed, people 8 at a time just climb into the back and away they go like a load of migrant farm workers. Motorcycles are also used as taxis, but not before getting transformed into a Took-Took. The front half of a Took-Took looks like a motorcycle and the back half looks like a golf cart. I rode in one from the company office to my hotel and although I can’t say it was the safest ride I ever had, the slow rate of traffic flow and the 100cc engine ensured there wouldn’t be any high speed accidents. Thailand also had a lot of buses for public transportation, but there wasn’t anything special about the construction of the buses. The paint jobs however were truly phenomenal. It seemed that every bus had a unique air-brushed paint job – Japanese cartoon characters, landscapes, advertisements, and other designs, all in only the brightest colors.
The reason I spent a week in Thailand was to visit suppliers and potential suppliers. Thailand actually has quite a broad manufacturing base. Many of the companies are Japanese transplants (similar to Taiwanese transplants in China and American transplants in Mexico). In fact, Japan is heavily invested in Thailand, much more so than any other country – very different from China where there is minimal Japanese investment, due in large part to the bad relations between China and Japan. Some factories have a very strong Japanese influence (well maintained equipment with Total Productive Maintenance fully implemented, completely visual operations management, clean and organized shop floor) and other factories the influence was not so prevalent. Regardless of the ownership of the company, regardless of the amount of Japanese influence, regardless of the manufacturing technology (machining, forging, casting, spring coiling, etc.) one thing that was common at all factories I visited was the need to remove my street shoes and put on slippers/sandals when I entered the lobby. It really felt quite strange to wear flip-flops on the shop floor of a manufacturing plant (but we did put our street shoes back on in the casting and forging shops).
I was really amazed at the number of street vendors in Bangkok – so many more than in Shanghai. But the street vendors only come out at night. During the day, there are regular shops, businesses and restaurants that are open. During the evening, the day businesses close shop and the street vendors set up shop. It’s very well organized too. There are painted lines on the sidewalk to indicate where a vendor can set up. From there, it’s first come first serve, but I found that most vendors tended to set up in the same general area each night that I was there. Even the street vendors selling food had an organized business. Many of them had small plastic tables and chairs for their customers. In China, street vendor customers are expected to eat their food while sitting on the street curb, standing on the sidewalk or get it to go in a plastic bag.
In China, KFC and Pizza Hut are everywhere. In Thailand, McDonalds and 7-Eleven are everywhere. I would even say that 7-Eleven is a bigger institution in Thailand than it is in USA. In Thailand, there are not so many gas stations and pharmacies (like Walgreens, CVS, Eckerd) like there are in USA. Also, there are not so many other competitors to 7-Eleven. In some respects, It was a lot like being in USA because I could easily order a Slurpee from a cashier who couldn’t speak English very well.
I recently learned of an economic index called the Big Mac index. Basically, McDonalds has a very systematic method of setting the price of a Big Mac meal for every location throughout the world and the cost of a Big Mac meal can correlate to the cost of living and the spending power that people have. So as I visit various cities, I will check out the price of a Big Mac meal. In Bangkok, a Big Mac meal was 99 Thai Baht ≈ US$2.60. That’s a good deal. The thing that most intrigued me about McDonalds was the statue on Ronald McDonald. I saw two of these life-size statues in Thailand. Normally (meaning in USA) Ronald is giving a friendly wave. In Thailand, Ronald is holding his hands together just as a Buddhist monk would extend a friendly greeting. It seems to work, the Thai people were lining up six deep.
Aside from the air quality, there were a number of other interesting things about Thailand. First of all, the Thai people love their king. There are pictures of the king every where. And not just 4” x 6” photos, but life size and 2x life size and 4x life size and 10x life size. And these pictures were not displayed on plain matted frames, they were displayed in ornately carved, brightly colored and gold leaf inlaid shrines. I saw many, many public and private displays and it wasn’t because the king loves the king, but these people truly love their king – at least all the people I talked to said everybody does.
Transportation in Thailand is also much different than in China. Whereas China has a lot of bicycles, electric scooters and taxis, Thailand has a lot of motorcycles and pickup trucks. It is very rare to see a pickup truck in China, so I was astounded to see so many in Thailand. Granted they were mostly Isuzu and Toyota, but the only place I’ve seen more pickup trucks are in USA. Pickups are even used as taxis. With a special cover over the bed, seats installed over the wheel wells and the tailgate removed, people 8 at a time just climb into the back and away they go like a load of migrant farm workers. Motorcycles are also used as taxis, but not before getting transformed into a Took-Took. The front half of a Took-Took looks like a motorcycle and the back half looks like a golf cart. I rode in one from the company office to my hotel and although I can’t say it was the safest ride I ever had, the slow rate of traffic flow and the 100cc engine ensured there wouldn’t be any high speed accidents. Thailand also had a lot of buses for public transportation, but there wasn’t anything special about the construction of the buses. The paint jobs however were truly phenomenal. It seemed that every bus had a unique air-brushed paint job – Japanese cartoon characters, landscapes, advertisements, and other designs, all in only the brightest colors.
The reason I spent a week in Thailand was to visit suppliers and potential suppliers. Thailand actually has quite a broad manufacturing base. Many of the companies are Japanese transplants (similar to Taiwanese transplants in China and American transplants in Mexico). In fact, Japan is heavily invested in Thailand, much more so than any other country – very different from China where there is minimal Japanese investment, due in large part to the bad relations between China and Japan. Some factories have a very strong Japanese influence (well maintained equipment with Total Productive Maintenance fully implemented, completely visual operations management, clean and organized shop floor) and other factories the influence was not so prevalent. Regardless of the ownership of the company, regardless of the amount of Japanese influence, regardless of the manufacturing technology (machining, forging, casting, spring coiling, etc.) one thing that was common at all factories I visited was the need to remove my street shoes and put on slippers/sandals when I entered the lobby. It really felt quite strange to wear flip-flops on the shop floor of a manufacturing plant (but we did put our street shoes back on in the casting and forging shops).
I was really amazed at the number of street vendors in Bangkok – so many more than in Shanghai. But the street vendors only come out at night. During the day, there are regular shops, businesses and restaurants that are open. During the evening, the day businesses close shop and the street vendors set up shop. It’s very well organized too. There are painted lines on the sidewalk to indicate where a vendor can set up. From there, it’s first come first serve, but I found that most vendors tended to set up in the same general area each night that I was there. Even the street vendors selling food had an organized business. Many of them had small plastic tables and chairs for their customers. In China, street vendor customers are expected to eat their food while sitting on the street curb, standing on the sidewalk or get it to go in a plastic bag.
In China, KFC and Pizza Hut are everywhere. In Thailand, McDonalds and 7-Eleven are everywhere. I would even say that 7-Eleven is a bigger institution in Thailand than it is in USA. In Thailand, there are not so many gas stations and pharmacies (like Walgreens, CVS, Eckerd) like there are in USA. Also, there are not so many other competitors to 7-Eleven. In some respects, It was a lot like being in USA because I could easily order a Slurpee from a cashier who couldn’t speak English very well.
I recently learned of an economic index called the Big Mac index. Basically, McDonalds has a very systematic method of setting the price of a Big Mac meal for every location throughout the world and the cost of a Big Mac meal can correlate to the cost of living and the spending power that people have. So as I visit various cities, I will check out the price of a Big Mac meal. In Bangkok, a Big Mac meal was 99 Thai Baht ≈ US$2.60. That’s a good deal. The thing that most intrigued me about McDonalds was the statue on Ronald McDonald. I saw two of these life-size statues in Thailand. Normally (meaning in USA) Ronald is giving a friendly wave. In Thailand, Ronald is holding his hands together just as a Buddhist monk would extend a friendly greeting. It seems to work, the Thai people were lining up six deep.
