Word: leathering
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Manzano's once dominant share of the market for no-frills office swivel chairs has collapsed because Chinese producers churn them out with almost the same quality at a fraction of the cost. Now the Chinese are stepping up to more sophisticated chairs in wood and leather too. Talk about "the crisis" is ubiquitous in Manzano--even the executives of thriving companies are worried that the unique industrial fabric of the area is fraying. "We see people with tears in their eyes, not knowing what to do next," says Simone Focacci, manager of one of Manzano's three principal banks...
...billion-a-year business. To cope with the demand, the number of firms grew tenfold as highly specialized artisans set up their own shops, supplying individual parts to their neighbors, who would then work them into the next stage of the manufacturing process. One artisan would do just leather upholstery, for example, or specialize in varnishes. The highly decentralized industrial structure, a type of extreme outsourcing network, is quite common in Italy. By one estimate, there are about 100 such industrial clusters in the country, producing shoes, clothes and even some food products...
...long been an Italian strength. Chairs are easily copied. Manzano's entrepreneurs complain that Chinese manufacturers simply steal what they find in catalogs and on websites. The Italians insist they still have an edge in quality--especially with chairs made out of fine wood or upholstered in top-quality leather-- and in their ability to tailor production to customers like the hotel industry. But even there the Chinese are muscling...
...plastic-mold factory worker, scraped together $3,000; bought wheels, arms, foam padding and plywood chair bodies from local components manufacturers; and hired 20 friends to assemble the parts into finished products. Today his Heaven Office Furniture makes 1,000 kinds of office chairs, from executive models in black leather and chrome to squat cloth-clad cubicle standards. Zhu won his first export contract in 2004. He also attended the Cologne Furniture Fair in Germany and sent 80% of his $3 million output to 20 countries. Through a screen of plastic bamboo along his office window, he points...
...know they have to change. From the vantage point of Italy, Chinese firms may seem to have enormous cost advantages. But none in Anji think sustained economic growth can be built on price alone. Wang Yongqi, a gym teacher who started making chairs in 2000, surveys a batch of leather-sheathed dining chairs bound for Spain and sighs. "Our materials are getting more expensive," he says, "and we need more workers, but unless we can improve our designs, we can't raise prices. Otherwise our clients will go to Vietnam or other parts of China." Chairs may be for sitting...