Sean Miller shares an interview with Chris Lynn, Manager of Operations at No Limits Group, on Chris’ recent trip to China.
After working in the logistics and planning field for close to twenty years, No Limits Group’s Operations Manager, Chris Lynn, recently embarked on his first trip to China. 30 hours of travelling, a couple Dim Sum meals and many business meetings later, we sat down with Chris to learn more about his journey and what he learned.
As the Operations Manager, what are the main roles and responsibilities?
My job is all about logistics. I mainly focus on importing our brands from China; as well as IT and IS in relation to our ERP practices. Another big part of my job is tailored to process improvement; where I focus on improving our level of efficiency when it comes to inventory allocations and dollars spent towards these transactions.
So what made you want to visit China?
I’ve been involved in the planning and logistics (back-end) operations with various organizations in China for close to twenty years and I’d never yet had the opportunity to actually visit. The Chinese export system was a blind area for us and I wanted to better understand their export formalities so we could work on improving our existing business there. My main drivers were to get better import rates, and improve our supply chain. Essentially, I was hoping to explore new options that would improve our current business practices in our existing services.
Where did you visit while you were in China? Why?
I visited our two main 3PL locations and freight forwarders in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The majority of our business, and by extension my time spent there, was in Shenzhen. I wanted to visit and meet the people who we deal with.
What was the main goal that you were trying to get out of your visit?
The main goal in operations and logistics is to constantly reduce lead times to allow the product get to the end user, faster. We were looking to explore new practices or avenues that would increase efficiency. This would take form in rate negotiation with our existing business partners; focused on import rates and exploring an expansion of current services and new service providers.
Our secondary, but also equally important goal was to build on our existing relationships with our partners. The Chinese conduct day-to-day business in a very formal manner, and they have a great deal of respect for face time and in-person meetings. By taking the time to visit, we demonstrate (to them) our level of commitment to grow our relationships.
Do you feel like your goals were met?
Absolutely. Not only did I manage to effectively save both time and money on the logistics side, we were able to explore new avenues that would prove beneficial to our brands. No Limits Group is committed to building custom solutions that are tailored to each brand’s strategy which, not surprisingly, includes operations and logistics.
You mentioned there was a cultural difference, what did you learn about conducting business overseas?
The Chinese emphasize value on face-to-face meetings. They appreciate human interaction that North Americans tend to forgo in favor of efficiency and speed. Respect is an important aspect to their society, and is critical in the way they conduct business; they place a lot of emphasis on positions and titles.
We as North Americans will also tend to be more direct in conversation than they are. You will rarely hear a Chinese business person say “no” in your conversations, as they feel it is a sign of weakness. However, “yes” will not always be a straightforward “yes”. Rather, it could be interpreted as they understand what you are asking them. So it’s always important to delve a bit deeper into the conversation to grasp the full meaning of what they’re saying, rather than take a statement at face value.
On the business side of things, what was the best part of your visit?
For me personally, it was being able to experience their culture firsthand after twenty years of conducting business with them from afar. I was excited to meet my colleagues face-to-face and strengthen these relationships. The fact that I was able to introduce new ways to make the business better was an added bonus.
How do you think your visit will benefit the brands we manage?
It’s important for us to keep our brands informed and up-to-date with what we’re doing to improve their business in Canada. This visit helped us put in place new solutions that will increase our speed to market, which translates to consumers getting the goods faster. It is important that we strive to be the best at providing optimal solutions for our brands.
Now that we’ve brushed up on the business, outside of work, what was the most exciting part of your trip?
It was great to be immersed in their culture. I had never experienced much of Asia outside of Thailand, so to visit this country first-hand was incredible. What struck me as the most interesting was this mix between the old and the new. Shanghai is the one of the world’s oldest ports of call and the architecture and landscape of the city is a testament of that. Shenzhen, on the other hand, is a completely modern cityscape that has undergone massive change in the past 20 or 30 years. To experience both of these cities really helped me better understand the people and learn more about them on cultural level.
