China is considered the factory of the world, manufacturing nearly everything from cell phones, to clothes, to laptops. America is one the largest importers of Chinese goods. So the idea of reverse action with manufacturing in the U.S. to sell to China sounds quite strange these days.
Actually it happens with the business of chopsticks in Georgia; many people thought it’s a joke to make chopsticks in America. The business is owned by a Korean guy named Jae Lee. He came up with the idea when he found out that more than one billion Chinese people are in desperate need of disposable wooden chopsticks. The business currently produces 2 millions chopsticks per day, operating 24/7, 6 days per week. It expects to increase capacity to 10 million chopsticks per day by the end of the year. And the owner wishes he could have 36 hours per day. Apart from Japan, Korea and other Asian countries, the big customer is China, which consumes 50 billion chopsticks annually. Currently, China is having a very low level of wood as the ban on logging and general shortage of trees.
Jae Lee has tried to set up factories in South Africa and then Canada, and he found the perfect tree in Georgia. There are a lot of woods in one U.S. town, Americus, where Georgia Chopsticks is currently located. The tree is poplar, and there are a lot in South Central Georgia. It’s not too soft, not too hard, and the trees can be treated 100% naturally.
Americus has 12% unemployment. In China, the labor is considered to be very cheap, but he thinks the quality of labor force here in Georgia is much better. When the business opened at the end of 2010, it received 450 job applications in just two weeks. The business employs nearly 100 workers now and hopes to have a total of 150 people at the end of this year. On a funny note, a lot of the workers who make chopsticks cannot use chopsticks well.
In America, people can find a lot of things labelled “made in China,” and seems like people are already used to it. Do people ever think the Chinese will see “Made in America” in China?
CNBC has talked about this in the following link:
Georgia Chopstick in America
Actually it happens with the business of chopsticks in Georgia; many people thought it’s a joke to make chopsticks in America. The business is owned by a Korean guy named Jae Lee. He came up with the idea when he found out that more than one billion Chinese people are in desperate need of disposable wooden chopsticks. The business currently produces 2 millions chopsticks per day, operating 24/7, 6 days per week. It expects to increase capacity to 10 million chopsticks per day by the end of the year. And the owner wishes he could have 36 hours per day. Apart from Japan, Korea and other Asian countries, the big customer is China, which consumes 50 billion chopsticks annually. Currently, China is having a very low level of wood as the ban on logging and general shortage of trees.
Jae Lee has tried to set up factories in South Africa and then Canada, and he found the perfect tree in Georgia. There are a lot of woods in one U.S. town, Americus, where Georgia Chopsticks is currently located. The tree is poplar, and there are a lot in South Central Georgia. It’s not too soft, not too hard, and the trees can be treated 100% naturally.
Americus has 12% unemployment. In China, the labor is considered to be very cheap, but he thinks the quality of labor force here in Georgia is much better. When the business opened at the end of 2010, it received 450 job applications in just two weeks. The business employs nearly 100 workers now and hopes to have a total of 150 people at the end of this year. On a funny note, a lot of the workers who make chopsticks cannot use chopsticks well.
In America, people can find a lot of things labelled “made in China,” and seems like people are already used to it. Do people ever think the Chinese will see “Made in America” in China?
CNBC has talked about this in the following link:
Georgia Chopstick in America
