Event Management
Accepted New Responsibilities for APAC Events transferred to APAC Communication Function. Before the set-up of an APAC Communication function, some event management responsibilities that were not directly related any particular Schaeffler company in the region, was taken up by Schaeffler China. However with the set-up of an APAC communications department, these responsibilities gradually were transferred.
Examples of APAC Events
- APAC Board, Management Meetings, Executive workshops
- APAC MOVE Trainings (company’s continuous improvement program: hotel, transport, catering)
- APAC Corporate Function Workshops
- APAC Quality Conferences
- APAC Purchasing Conferences
- APAC Marketing Events such as Automotive Symposium 2010 and Innovation Days 2011 (see photos above and also refer to for APAC Marketing Events more details)
- APAC Strategic Roadmap Roll-out
- Celebration of Schaeffler China’s 1 Billion RMB and Schaeffler Korea’s 1 Trillion Won sales milestones (see photo above)
- Senior management meetings of other countries sometimes held in China, e.g. Extended GL Meetings, FAG India BoD etc
- Visits of Schaeffler Group founders Ms. Schaeffler and Mr Schaeffler and also CEO Dr. Geissinger
Set-up an APAC Events Calendar on Microsoft Outlook
Promotional Gifts Program
- Use of promotional gifts in corporate communications and marketing activities. Promotional gifts were heavily used in corporate communications as well as marketing activities across the Asia Pacific region. They were given aways as small gifts in trade fairs, marketing events, company dinners, to customers etc. Promotional gifts when used effectively always brought smiles, surprises and helped to built warm relationships and also boosted the company’s corporate image and identity.
- No consolidated purchasing, no cost savings, no quality control and lots of repeat work. However at that time, the different Schaeffler companies in the Asia Pacific region were sourcing for give-aways in each country on their own and also sometimes from the German Headquarters directly. The gifts ordered and shipped from the German headquarters were very expensive, even though they were originally sourced and produced in Asia. In addition the orders were not consolidated and the Schaeffler company has a whole in the Asia Pacific was missing out on some substantial savings. In addition some consistency in the corporate identity was lacking as different communication departments and local vendors had different preferences and abilities to present the company logos and colours correctly.
- JR set-up a project to develop a centralised purchasing process. JR set-up a project stream to look into a more centralised purchasing process for the Asia Pacific region’s combined giveaway purchases. His focus was to find cost savings which can be channeled into other critical initiatives, reduce the team’s work which can be used channeled into other areas and generally improve the corporate image of the company in the region.
- List of top 20 preferred promotional gifts in Asia Pacific identified. This communication colleagues brainstormed a list of promotional gifts they would want for their countries and a voting process was undertaken to list down the top 20 preferred gifts. Then a long sourcing process was started together with the local sourcing departments to find out which sources eventually offered the best offer for all, including tax and freight costs. Eventually two countries with attractive giveaways production and sourcing abilities were selected as the main sourcing venues: China and Thailand.
- What success looked like. The project team eventually put in place a centralised ordering process for promotional gifts in the Asia Pacific region. If any communication colleagues needed to source promotional gifts for their local market activities, they needed to observe this process (other than for small or ad hoc needs for which they can can find a solution themselves). The project team produced an online promotional catalogue with an ordering sheet with which all Schaeffler communication colleagues can place orders in a centralised way. The prices, freights costs and delivery lead times were clearly stated. This drastically reduce repeat work in each country, saved times, cut costs and also improved the overall quality of the Schaeffler promotional gifts and its corporate look and feel. And there were a few occasions when the German headquarters even ordered from the team in Asia Pacific.
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