Satra to expand in China
14 July 2011As part of their continued expansion in China, the footwear and leather testing company, Satra are currently in the process of establishing a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) to replace the current representative office in Dongguan.
Heading up the venture is Steve Rose who takes on the responsibility of General Manager. He has been based in Dongguan since April 2011 in charge of the Satra Representative Office until the WFOE is established. Rose joined Satra in 1978 and has considerable technical knowledge and experience in the footwear and leather industries. For the past eight years he has spent significant time in China building working relationships with manufacturers, tanneries and international brands and sourcing companies.
‘Because of a shortage of labour and increasing labour rates, production efficiency is much more important now than when I first went to China on business’, says Rose.
As well as enhancing the service offered to customers in the Far East, the team Rose will be leading in Dongguan will provide an important support function for Satra staff visiting from the UK and US, especially when organising events, and in the delivery of a translation service.
Satra’s CEO, Austin Simmons, commented ‘Steve Rose is the perfect person for the job. The combination of his technical knowledge and his hands-on experience of working throughout the supply chain in China is extremely rare and valuable. Satra was one of the first Western research and technology organisations to provide a technical partnership for consumer products industries with a Far East manufacturing base. The future set up of the WFOE will take it to the next level.’
