Archives February 2009

Maintenance & Facility Manager (eo157cs)

Job Title: Maintenance & Facility Manager
Location: Changshu
Company Introduction:
Our customer is a leading global producer of industrial minerals, founded in Switzerland and has more than 100 locations in many countries. It mainly fillers and pigments derived from calcium carbonate and dolomite, and a worldwide distributor of chemical products and the major markets are the paper, plastics, paint/coatings/adhesives industries as well as construction, environment and so on.
Job Description:
The job holder is responsible for overall management and supervision of the maintenance department;

Responsibilities:
1. Manage maintenance& repair work for all plant equipment, including equipment condition maintaining, preventive maintenance work planning, maintenance work recording;
2. Supervises maintenance personnel ensuring production equipment is running safely, efficiently, and effectively;
3. Establish and develop maintenance procedure to reduce time and cost;
4. Planning and coordinate the ordinary, planned maintenance and coordinate extraordinary maintenance;
5. Supervise all matters regarding the organizational and operational support concerning the buildings, facilities and systems;
6. Ensuring that resources are available to allow the department to perform its functions.
7. Convene with direct reports to review and evaluate their individual performance and personal concerns, plant results, action plans for special projects, personnel issues, and set priorities for assigned tasks;
8. Propose, plan, and execute productivity, quality and facility improvements;
9. Work with Engineering on capital projects, from concept to implementation, helping to ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget guidelines;
10. Seek out new innovations, technology, equipment manufacturers, and suppliers that can benefit the operation;
11. Work with Safety committee to ensure safety is enforced and implement modifications for safety improvement.
Qualifications:

1. BS in Engineering, Mechanical Preferred; MS in Engineering will be given higher consideration
2. 5+ years maintenance work experience in a manufacturing environment;
3. Demonstrated knowledge in continuous learning in discipline ;
4. Experience in project management;
5. Communication Skills – Clearly conveys information and ideas to others in a manner that helps them understand and retain the message;
6. Customer Orientation – Cultivating strategic customer relationships and ensuring that the customer perspective is a driving force behind value added business activities;
7. Work Standards – Setting high standards of performance for self; assumes responsibility and accountability for successfully completing assignments or tasks;
8. Business Knowledge – Understanding and utilizing basic economic, financial and industry data to diagnose general business strengths and weaknesses; identify key issues and develop strategies and plans;
9. Planning and Organizing – Establishing courses of action for self and others to ensure that work is completed efficiently;
10. Quality Orientation – Accomplishing tasks by considering all areas involved; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks; being watchful over a period of time;
11. Safety Awareness – Being aware of conditions that affect employee safety;
12. Computer skills (Microsoft Office – Excel, Access, Word, Power Point & Microsoft Project; AutoCAD)
* Please send us your complete resume (in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_eo157cs@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject please include the position name and job #

Maintenance & Facility Engineer (eng095cs)

Job Title: Maintenance & Facility Engineer
Report To: Maintenance & Facility Manager
Location: Changshu
Company Introduction:
Our customer is a leading global producer of industrial minerals, founded in Switzerland and has more than 100 locations in many countries. It mainly fillers and pigments derived from calcium carbonate and dolomite, and a worldwide distributor of chemical products and the major markets are the paper, plastics, paint/coatings/adhesives industries as well as construction, environment and so on.
Job Description:
The job holder is responsible for overall management and supervision of the maintenance department;

Responsibilities:
1. Daily routine checking on production line and support equipment to ensure smooth operation.
2. Perform troubleshooting and repairing work when machine breakdown.
3. Lead/Coach maintenance technician to implement the PM activity. Ensure all the equipments are maintained at the highest level to minimize energy consumption.
4. Prepare PM instructions and train maintenance technician and operator.
5. Prepare equipment management document to ensure equipment are operated in its designated order.
6. Organize/Analyzing the potential weakness and risk of the production line; establish the solution and contingency plan.
7. Be involved in the production line innovation to improve the process, quality and efficiency.
8. Spare parts management: Quality & Quantity control.
9. Assist manager to establish and maintain the equipment management system. Ensure all the equipment are running at their designated condition and well maintained.
10. Maintain the good and effective relationship with other department.
11. Take active in the company level EHS business Critical Competence.
12. Other jobs from manager.

Qualifications:

1. BS in Engineering, Mechanical Preferred; MS in Engineering will be given higher consideration
2. 3+ years operator work experience in a manufacturing environment;
3. Demonstrated knowledge in continuous learning in discipline ;
4. Experience in project management;
5. Communication Skills – Clearly conveys information and ideas to others in a manner that helps them understand and retain the message;
6. Computer skills (Microsoft Office – Excel, Access, Word, Power Point & Microsoft Project; AutoCAD)
* Please send us your complete resume (in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_eng095cs@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject please include the position name and job #

LEO Pharma Establishes Strategic Company in China

LEO Pharma Establishes Strategic Company in China

SHANGHAI, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)–LEO Pharma is taking a giant leap into the Chinese market by establishing an affiliate with the ambition of eventually becoming the leading dermatological company in China.

The new company, LEO Pharma China, will market LEO Pharma’s comprehensive portfolio of high-profile and patent protected drugs for the treatment of the chronic skin disease psoriasis and other dermatological products (pharmaceuticals for the treatment of skin diseases).

LEO Pharma’s leading psoriasis brand, Daivobet®, has just been approved by the Chinese authorities and can now be marketed in China.

LEO Pharma’s new company in China underpins LEO Pharma’s long-term global strategy of providing patients that suffer from psoriasis with the best topical treatments possible.

“This is an interesting opportunity for LEO Pharma. We will be bringing our global knowledge of dermatology and comprehensive portfolio within high-profile, topical psoriasis drugs and other dermatological products into the new LEO company and out to the Chinese market for the benefit of the Chinese patients,” says Poul Rasmussen, Chairman of the Board of LEO Pharma and of the sole shareholder, the LEO Foundation.

The setting-up of LEO Pharma China must be regarded as a long term investment for the LEO Group, says Gitte Aabo, CEO and President of LEO Pharma:

“The project in China can lead to significant investments for LEO Pharma, but the earnings potential in one of the fastest growing markets for pharmaceuticals can also be huge in the long term.”

About psoriasis

Psoriasis often appears as raised red patches with silvery scales – known as plaques – in various anatomical sites.

It is primarily located on the elbows, knees and scalp, but can also appear elsewhere on the body. Severity can vary greatly.

Psoriasis affects 0.1 – 1 % of the population of China and is equally common in men and women. It can start at any age, but most patients develop psoriasis in their twenties. There is a peak of incidence in the late teens to early twenties and a second peak in the fifties.

The duration of an outbreak may vary, but in most patients, the cycle of remissions and exacerbations goes on for many years or even over an entire lifetime. If treated correctly many people with psoriasis can live regular lives with the condition.

Daivobet® is LEO Pharma’s main product family for the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris. Daivobet® is a fast, efficacious, once-daily dosage product for the topical treatment of psoriasis. Daivobet® has been used by thousands of people with psoriasis, and the product is very well documented in clinical trials. Furthermore, a 52-week randomized safety study shows that Daivobet® can be used for long-term treatment of psoriasis.

About LEO Pharma

LEO Pharma is an independent research-based pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Ballerup, Denmark. LEO Pharma is wholly owned by the LEO Foundation and is a leader within the strategic focus areas of Dermatology and Critical Care. LEO Pharma maintains a strong focus on developing, manufacturing and marketing safe and efficacious drugs for treating psoriasis and other skin diseases as well as thromboembolic disorders. 96% of the turnover, which in 2007 was DKK 5.2 billion, was generated outside Denmark. LEO Pharma is represented in more than 90 countries and has nearly 3,000 employees around the world, 1,200 of whom are based in Ballerup, Denmark.

Read more about LEO Pharma at www.leo-pharma.com. Read more about psoriasis at www.psorinfo.com – www.daivobet.com.

MNCs turn to China, India to combat recession

By Swati Prasad, ZDNet Asia

As developed markets reel deeper into recession, global companies are sharpening their focus on emerging markets and launching new products and services tailor-made for these regions..

K.P. Unnikrishnan, Sun Microsystems’ regional marketing director of emerging markets region, said in an e-mail interview: “Emerging economies are changing the global business landscape, providing incredible opportunities for companies like Sun.”

Concurred Manish Bahl, research manager at Springboard Research: “Looking at the current global situation, we believe the strategy to focus on China and India is considered to be a safe and viable option for multinational companies (MNCs) that want to expand operations and even for those who plan to enter these markets.”

In July 2008, Sun made a strategic business decision to strengthen its presence in fast-growth markets such as China and India. To closely align sales with key growth areas, Unnikrishnan said it created a business division focusing on emerging markets sales region, which includes Latin America, Greater China, India and SEE (Russia, Balkins, Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and Greece).

Manufacturers of consumer durables, car, telecom and infrastructure companies are also focusing more on emerging market in these tough times. For instance, LG Electronics India expects 15 percent growth in 2009 and believes India is not as badly affected by recession.

This month, IT security company Trend Micro set up three technology support labs in India as part of its Affinity Partner program. Amit Nath, the company’s country manager for India and SAARC, said Trend Micro will continue to develop in India and work with its customers and partners in order to provide “the best-of-breed secure content management solutions”.

Nath told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview: “There are not too many economies in the world that will grow at 7 percent.”

Booming markets

The optimism over China and India is manifested in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. While China registered a total FDI inflow of US$92.4 billion in 2008, up 23.6 percent from 2007, India’s FDI inflows rose from US$19.1 billion in 2007 to US$32.4 billion in 2008.

China and India had attracted the attention of MNCs way before the onset of the economic crisis. However, with the recession having a relatively lesser impact in these countries, it made sense to focus more on these booming markets.

Bahl said: “Favorable economic indicators such as rising per capita income, increasing domestic demand for goods and services, change in spending pattern of consumers as well as factors like well-controlled inflation, only go on to prove that a sharper focus on these economies can bring better growth for MNCs.”

The results are already visible. For instance, Sun’s emerging markets sales region reported revenues of US$1.969 billion in its financial year 2008, an increase of 13.8 percent over 2007. Total revenue for the emerging markets region in the second quarter of 2009 was US$558 million, up 20.5 percent from US$463 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Unnikrishnan said: “The emerging markets sales region opens more opportunities for Sun [to work] with governments, businesses and developers. This allows Sun to serve the unique needs of customers in these markets where infrastructure growth demands are very strong.”

The flurry of new product launches and initiatives for emerging markets only goes on to reinforce this trend. For instance, Microsoft India recently showcased a host of custom-made offerings for the Indian market. These include initiatives such as language interface packs (LIPs) in 12 Indian languages, and Windows Live, which includes e-mail, instant messenger, online storage, photo gallery and social networking, in seven Indian languages.

Consumer durables company Philips, too, has created an emerging markets model.

Gerard Kleisterlee, president and CEO of Royal Philips Electronics, said at a press conference last year: “Executing on our strategic decision to scale up our presence in emerging markets has been an important element of Philips’ transformation into a focused, less-cyclical company in recent years.”

Last year, it acquired two companies in India in the healthcare domain–Meditronics and Alpha X-Ray Technologies–in order to step up its focus on emerging markets. Philips chose to focus on healthcare since it is a recession-proof industry. The Dutch global major hopes to generate maximum revenues from this sector over time.

Anjan Bose, Philips Healthcare India’s senior director and business head, said: “In 2007, almost 40 percent of our revenues came from emerging markets. Going forward, emerging markets, especially India, will play a significant role for Philips.”

Similarly, in December 2008, Sun rolled out a telecoverage model in the emerging markets. The model is aimed to help Sun reach out to high growth small and midsize businesses (SMBs), startups and Web 2.0 companies in these economies, thus optimizing its drive to success and profitability.

Ensuring faster recovery

China and India, however, are not completely free from recession.

Bahl said: “High domestic demand, coupled with the governments’ spend on infrastructure, is largely helping companies to resist the recession.”

Unnikrishnan added: “People need innovation in crisis. As companies face challenges, they need new ideas to overcome difficulties. IT companies could possibly survive the crisis if they innovate in the emerging markets.”

In 2009, Sun sees businesses and governments in emerging markets increasingly using the latest open source technology to innovate at minimal cost.

Vivek Wadhwa, executive in residence at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, said: “I see China being in more trouble in the short-term because of its dependence on manufacturing. But, since they have such deep pockets, China may be able to spend their way out of the downturn.

“The Indian industry is taking a hit in the short term, but is likely to benefit as the economy recovers because it offers lower R&D (research and development) costs,” Wadhwa told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview.

Bahl said emerging economies are expected to recover faster from the ongoing global recession. Of all the major economies, only China and India are projected to have a healthy GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate of 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

“Therefore, China and India have much higher chances of emerging as stronger markets, post the recession,” Bahl added.

Employment crisis ‘top of NPC agenda’

Discussions about the current tough employment situation will soar to “unprecedented heights” at this year’s annual parliamentary sessions, a senior lawmaker said yesterday.

“Employment will be one of the main topics at the two meetings,” Zheng Gongcheng, a member of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said. “The discussions will focus on job stimulus policies and government investment to boost employment.”

Since the global financial crisis began, about 20 million migrant workers have lost their jobs. Also, about 7.5 million college graduates will enter the job market this year, with the number of jobs available at a two-year lowin the first half of the year.

The urban registered unemployment rate, which excludes migrant workers, jumped for the first time in five years to 4.2 percent as of Dec 31, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said. It is expected to hit 4.6 percent this year, the highest level since 1980.

In the Monday’s government work report to be submitted to the coming NPC meeting, employment is a very important part of the central government’s future work, Zheng said.

“Priority should be given to college graduates and migrant workers,” he said.

Some experts have said the rising unemployment rate will be a threat to social stability and have urged the government to do more to create jobs.

Zheng, a scholar in social security at the Renmin University of China, said: “All the policies need huge investment. I expect the government will put more money into the employment services.”

Lenovo to cut 450 international employees

China’s largest computer maker Lenovo today said it would lay off 450 international employees in China to further reduce cost.

Those employees affected are the supporting staff of the company’s oversea business, the company said.

“In light of the global economic problems, we must act decisively to reduce costs associated with global staffing and support functions to ensure our competitive strength,” said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo CEO, in a statement. “While our business in China remains very strong, many of our global support functions have employees based in China.”

The latest round of layoffs will be completed by the end of next month, the company said.

Production Manager (mn200zj)

Job Title: Production Manager
Report To: GM
Location: Zhejiang
Company introduction:
Our client is the manufacturing facility of the sampling and unit dose business unit in China. It belongs to a French Group which has 24 footprints all over the world, and 19 production sites (China, France, Germany, Spain, United States). The company targets in priority its historical customers and all international cosmetic companies that have operations in China and/or Asia. With the development in China, they are looking for the talents to join them.
Job Description:

The job holder is taking up a management responsibility of the production function. His job is to ensure the smooth running of the production function to meet the production plan, productivity, quality, associates training, safety, cost control, and target.

Responsibilities:
1. Responsible for the overall production and operation, pay attention to production safety, products quality, cost control and employee development;
2. According to the company’s policies, ensure employee’s safety from every level and by mutual cooperation;
3. Develop and implement the production procedures, production policies and regulations;
4. Adjust the production strategy according to the information and feedback of engineering or/and sales& marketing department;
5. Control the products quality via various policies and actions, meet the standards and requirements, handle appropriately defective products, and ensure the inventory accuracy;
6. To participate in the site management team and the management improvement team and endeavor contribution to improve site management under the leadership of company.
7. Manage and instruct subordinates’ work, maintain effective communication with other department;
8. Plan the employment of workforce and equipments, effectively control cost, avoid wasting;
9. Undertake other duties as assigned by GM;

Qualifications:

1. Degree/background?University degree of Chemical, Packaging, Manufacture Operation, Production or relevant;
2. Experience?Minimum 5 years work experiences in directly managing production department with strong sense on efficiency.
3. Desired Qualifications: ISO9000, With a good level of knowledge and experience of 5S, TPM, TQM, VSM and Hygiene;
4. Strong practical experiences in production organization, management and leadership; Good communication skills in personnel relationships;
5. Skilled in coaching and leading employees at all levels and in various disciplines within the organization;
6. Strong ability in coordination and supervision;
7. Skills of solving production problems, cost control ability and team leadership.
8. Fluency in both English and Mandarin (and/or French)
9. Has worked preferably in a clean industry
10. MUST have worked in a foreign organization before.
* Please send us your complete resume (in Chinese and in English) to: ‘topjob_mn200zj@dacare.com'(Please replace “#” with “@”)
* In the email subject please include the position name and job #

Biz moves

Hand joins LaSalle

David Hand has been promoted as investment head for China in Jones Lang LaSalle after seven years as managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Beijing and head of the China Retail Business. Hand said he expects to leverage the strong relations he and the Pan-China Investments teams have had with local and international developers and investors to facilitate transactions between these groups in China.

Sang is Lafarge CEO

French cement and building materials manufacturer Lafarge SA has appointed Sang Kang as chief executive officer in place of Cyrille Ragoucy, who was previously in charge of its business expansion in China. Ragoucy is returning to the company’s French headquarters where he will take up a new position. Sang jointed Lafarge in 2003 after working for several years with Boston Consulting Group as partner and board director.

Ford new Starwood VP

Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts has appointed Stephen Ford as vice-president and area managing director for South China, and general manager of Sheraton Sanya Resort. Ford has more than 40 years of management and work experience in the hospitality industry. Prior to this he was Starwood’s regional vice-president for India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Ford joined Starwood in 2001 as general manager of the Westin Bund Center, Shanghai.

WuXi CFO steps down

WuXi PharmaTech has said Benson Tsang, chief financial officer, is leaving the company for personal reasons at the end of this month. Edward Hu, chief operating officer, will act as acting CFO until a replacement is found. Tsang joined WuXi PharmaTech in 2006 as CFO.

The company’s board has formed a search committee to recruit a new CFO. Tsang has agreed to provide transition services and to assist in recruiting his successor.

Unicom appoints Lu

China Unicom has appointed Lu Yimin as president, while Chang Xiaobing will continue to act as chairman and CEO, effective Feb 13. Zuo Xunsheng, Li Jianguo, Pei Aihua, Zhao Jidong, Li Fushen, Li Gang, Zhang Jun’an and Jiang Zhengxin were appointed senior vice-presidents of the company. Lu Yimin and Zuo Xunsheng remain as company executive directors.

The appointment signals the closing of the Unicom-Netcom merger.

McQuillan named GM

British Airways has appointed Kevin McQuillan as its regional general manager for the Far East with effect from March 2. Based in Hong Kong, McQuillan will be responsible for the airline’s commercial interests on the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Philippines.

Dark clouds loom over the horizon for jobs

Multinational companies, which had gone on a hiring spree a couple of years back, have started to slash payrolls and freeze hiring as they struggle to stay afloat in the financial maelstrom sweeping across the globe.

Employees at many multinational firms, the most sought after employers in the past, are being bombarded with news of layoffs globally from their headquarters.

According to a survey by FESCO, a Beijing-based recruitment services provider for multinational companies, nearly 70 percent of the firms it polled have said they would trim their recruitment requirements for this year, while 27 percent said they have already started laying off employees.

FESCO polled 356 of its clients spread across the country and engaged a wide range of industries for the survey.

Over 44 percent of the HR managers surveyed admitted that their companies have slashed jobs, while 25 percent of the companies polled said they have plans to cut jobs this year, according to a survey conducted by KingField Management, a Guangzhou-based recruitment and executive search firm.

KingField surveyed 216 companies based in South China’s Pearl River Delta region, half of which are multinational companies like Dupont and Bosch, according to Ren Ge, general manager, China operations, KingField.

Finance, telecommunications and IT industries were the hardest-hit industries, according to both the surveys.

Banks, insurers and asset managers worldwide had announced 325,000 job cuts since August 2007, when the credit crisis began to intensify, according to Thomson Reuters calculations until Feb 12.

The announced job cuts in technology and information technology firms worldwide have added up to 300,000 in late January, TechCrunch’s Layoff Tracker showed on Tuesday.

Some global companies have also begun to downsize staff at their China operations, but most of them are carrying out such plans cautiously, experts said.

According to the KingField survey, of the companies that have already axed jobs, 68 percent have only cut less than 10 percent of their workforce.

“It shows that a majority of the companies are treading cautiously on cutting jobs,” said Zeng Jiangtao, senior recruitment consultant, KingField.

Companies who have cut jobs or are considering such moves can be generally divided into two groups, said experts.

“The first category has firms like Citibank, Motorola, etc. who are actually impacted by the crisis and have no other choice other than to cut jobs to avoid bankruptcy,” said Charles Lee from the Beijing office of Antal International, a UK recruitment company.

“The other section are those who are restructuring operations due to the crisis and have resorted to layoffs as part of this strategy,” Lee said.

According to Zeng, most of the companies are charting layoff plans as a pre-emptive step to ward off recession.

“Many of our clients are unable to sell their products as before and so they are not too keen on investing further in the Chinese market. If they do not invest, we, who are largely reliant on their projects, cannot afford so many overheads. So we have to cut our cost base,” said an employee at a European engineering and construction company, which is slashing jobs.

“No one knows when the crisis will end, so no one exactly knows when the layoffs will cease,” said Antal’s Lee.

He also urged employees planning to change their jobs to think twice before taking the leap.

“Nothing beats a stable job in an economic crisis. Companies are trimming people to replace existing hires with newcomers who do not cost as much. Companies that have got the mandate from their headquarters to hire people would also be permitted to lay off employees,” Lee said.

Plan to cap pay for SOE executives

A draft of a general regulation to cap salaries of high-level executives in State-owned enterprises (SOEs) will be submitted to the State Council for approval soon, an expert said yesterday.

The new regulation, drafted by the Ministry of Human resources and Social Security, also clarifies the system to assess performance and rules for expenditure, Liu Junsheng, a researcher with the ministry, who has participated in the discussion of the draft over the past six months, said.

“The new regulation provides a guideline and legal basis for supervising the salary structure of high-level management of all SOEs,” he said.

The Ministry of Finance earlier this month solicited views on measures to regulate salary management in State-owned financial enterprises, which reportedly plans to set a ceiling of 2.8 million yuan ($411,765) on the annual pretax salary.

“Recent media reports on the fat salary packages of SOE executives have drawn the attention of the central government,” Liu said. “So they have asked related departments to put a limit on the amount.”

The new regulation limits the salary ratio between high-level and low-level executives to 10 to 12, the National Business Daily quoted sources as having said yesterday.

However, Liu said a final decision was yet to be taken. “The current average ratio is 10 to 14.”

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first three quarters of 2008, the average income of SOE employees was 20,576 yuan ($3,026).

The 2006 statistics from the State-owed Assets Supervision and Administration Commission show that the average salary of principals with 149 large SOEs was 531,000 yuan ($78,088).

Liu said the salaries of SOE executives should be controlled “because they are appointed by the government, and not chosen by their market value, and SOEs enjoy more favorable policies and resources than their private counterparts”.

Dong Xian’an, a senior macro-economic analyst with the State-owned Southwest Securities, said the increasing income gap between high-level executives and common employees has affected the social stability, especially amid the global financial crisis.

“This regulation draft has come a little late. The gap has already grown too huge in recent years,” he told China Daily.

“The salaries of high-level executives in SOEs should be made transparent to the public,” he said.

However, industry experts said that a ceiling on salaries might affect the ambitions of some enterprising SOE executives.

“The government should pay attention to the incentive system in order to encourage SOEs to play a bigger role in the Chinese economy,” Ma Guangyuan, a business commentator, was quoted as saying in the Information Times.

Earlier this month, the State-controlled Guotai Jun’an Securities was reported to have a 320-million-yuan salary ($47.06 million) plan in 2008, an average of 1 million yuan ($147,059) for each member of the staff.