Member Site Visit: BlueScope, Suzhou
On Monday 10th of December, AustCham Shanghai’s Manufacturing, Sourcing & Supply Chain Industry Committee were up bright and early for a bus trip to BlueScope Steel’s facility in Suzhou. Braving the cold and wet conditions, they arrived mid-morning and were immediately impressed by the size and unique design of the facility.
The group were welcomed with a speech by President of Bluescope China – Gerald Cornelius, and President of Coated Steel China – Celine Zhang. They explained BlueScope Steel's longstanding history trading in China and their current involvement in the market. As of today, they are Australia’s leading manufacturing investor in China with 7 manufacturing facilities, 1 Metal coating facility, and 32 China sales offices. All together they employ over 2000 people in China.
Commencing operations in 2006, the Suzhou facility, is designed to supply China's booming building and construction markets. The plant can produce the full BlueScope Steel range of coated products, including the premium brands Clean COLORBOND® steel and ZINCALUME® steel.
Following the presentation, the group was given a tour of the BlueScope showroom (complete with a VR experience) before entering the massive red structure which housed the production line. Gerald and his team walked the group through the entire production process, outlining what goes into running a facility of this scale that has a production capacity of 250,000 tonnes of metallic coated steel and 150,000 tonnes of painted steel per annum.
The group finished off the day with lunch in the BlueScope boardroom where they had the chance to share their experiences with manufacturing and logistics in China.
AustCham Shanghai’s Manufacturing, Sourcing & Supply Chain Industry Committee is designed to provide a forum for relevant Australian and Chinese senior local representatives of AustCham Shanghai member companies. In addition to undertaking site visits, the committee aims to meet every two to three months to discuss issues, ideas, or anything related to the Manufacturing, Sourcing & Supply Chain Industries.
If you would like to be a part of future Committee activity, please email Alistair.sexton@austchamshanghai.com.
