Everything Going Swimminglyimg1.midea.com/global/about_midea/publications/... · Midea Carrier JV Wins Itaú Unibanco Contract in Brazil M idea-Carrier in Brazil recently won the

www.midea.com Midea Advances Newsletter, November, 2012

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VOL 2, #8, November 2012, No. 23

China’s Olympic Swimming Champions Arrive At Midea Headquarters To

Celebrate And Reaffirm Their Partnership With China’s Industrial Giant

Everything Going Swimmingly


2

Midea

Advances Newsletter

Contents

NEWSLINE Grand Opening of the Carrier

Midea India Manufacturing

Facility PAGE 13-15

FEATURE

Midea/ACW Dealer Confer-

ence in Egypt PAGE 10

ASEAN Country Meeting by

TID PAGE 4

GMCC Co-sponsored China

Household Electrical Appli-

ances Technology Confer-

ence PAGE 6

Midea Advances Newsletter is published monthly

by the International Strategy Department of

Midea Group. We welcome all comments, sug-

gestions and contribution of articles, as well as

subscribing our newsletter. You can reach us at:

[email protected]

Midea Group

Add.: Midea HQ Building, No.6 Midea Ave, Bei-

jiao, Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong P.R.C. 528311

Tel: +86-757-2360 4714

Fax: 86-757-2660 5455

Web: www.midea.com

Publisher: International Strategy Dept.

Managing Editor:

Matthew Smith

Mandy Wang

Correspondents:

Min Chen

Shine Li

Amber Liu

Crystal Lun

Tony Miao

Sue Ou

Sandra Sun

James Yu

Peck Zhao

Daniel Zhang

PEOPLE

TECH SPOTLIGHT

The 17th Annual Midea Sci-

ence & Technology Awards

Ceremony PAGE 3

Midea Carrier JV Wins Itaú

Unibanco Contract in Brazil PAGE 4

Chinese Swimming Associa-

tion Surfaces at Midea HQ PAGE 11-12

The Miraco JV Dealers’ In-

centive Trip to China PAGE 9

Nónio Visits Midea PAGE 6

Midea Floor-Standing KF Se-

ries Wins Best Originality De-

sign Award PAGE 16

On To Greener Pastures PAGE 17-19

MIDEA IN THE COMMUNITY

Midea CAC Wins Contract for

27th South East Asian Games

Stadiums PAGE 5

Midea Dealers from Greece

Visit Midea Headquarters PAGE 5

Midea Full-DC Inverter Wins

Chinese Science Technolo-

gy Progress Award PAGE 7

Electric Heaters See Increase

in Sales in the United States PAGE 10

Midea Carrier Brazil Praised

for FAT in the 6th SHARE HR

conference in Manaus PAGE 20


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NEWSLINE

The 17th Annual Midea Science & Technology

Awards Ceremony

By Crystal Lun

T his year’s Midea Science & Technology Awards Cere-

mony was held in Shunde on October 26th. Midea Group Chair-

man Paul Hongbo Fang, managerial staff, and top sales execu-

tives, totaling over 1100 participants, attended the conference.

This event now grants over 20 million RMB each year to

the company’s most innovative projects, spread across 17 differ-

ent awards. The ceremony has been running now for 17 years,

since 1996, and has awarded over 100 million RMB during this

time. Research and development is an important part of Midea’s

foundation, and thus for the past five years, Midea group has

invested over 10 billion RMB into research, and Midea maintains

a policy whereby 3% of annual turnover is invested in R&D.


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NEWSLINE

ASEAN Country Meeting by TID

Coobie Zhang, General Manager of TID, gives a speech to subsidiary executives.

By Sandra Sun

S ince shifting its strategy from pursuing scale devel-

opment, Midea has begun focusing on profit growth, its de-

velopment strategy and company structure have all adapted

to facilitate this transformation. In order to carry out this

policy, TID recently held an ASEAN Conference and invited

high level company executives from China, Indonesia, Malay-

sia, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries. The conference

was organized to review marketing and product policies be-

tween each market, to discuss development strategy for each

product line and the potential synergies between marketing

resources, and to analyze Midea brand positioning and devel-

opment direction in following three years.

During the meeting, managers from each product line

presented pricing strategies in contrast to their local market

competitors, in addition to speaking about channel con-

struction in these markets. The conference also included

discussion about finances and resource consolidation, with

the aim of avoiding financial risk in an international business

environment.

On the last day of the meeting, attendees visited the

rice cooker factory, water heater showroom and air-

conditioner warehouse to gain better familiarity with HQ’s

production management.

Executives on a factory visit to gain better familiarity with head-quarters' production management.

Midea Carrier JV Wins Itaú Unibanco

Contract in Brazil

M idea-Carrier in Brazil recently won the contract

to provide air conditioning for Itaú Unibanco’s datacenter in

the Mogi Mirim prefecture outside of Sao Paulo.

By James Yu

The datacenter was already using 18 chillers, totaling

6,915 tons of refrigerant (TR) installed, and will replace

those with 16 Midea chillers to reach 19,000 TR after in-

stallation is completed around April 2013.


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NEWSLINE

Midea CAC Wins Contract for 27th South East

Asian Games Stadiums By Amber Liu

A fter serious competition, the bidding for the

27th South East Asian (SEA) Games Stadium refrigeration

projects was finalized, and the winner announced: Midea

CAC will provide the

40,000m2 stadium with heat

recovery water-cooled screw

chillers, with a HVAC pro-

ject value of around

USD $1.5 million. Winning

this project has demonstrated

Midea CAC’s strong and

increasing influence in the HVAC industry in Myanmar.

The SEA Games is one of the most popular sports

competitions in the entire Southeast-Asian region, and are

held every two years, starting from 1959. Myanmar has

already hosted the SEA Games twice before, in 1961 and

1969. In 2013, the Games will return, across the three cities

Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw.

The application of Midea heat

recovery water-cooled screw

chillers creates a comfortable

environment for athletes and

audiences, and supplies ade-

quate hot water for athletes to

take showers as well. This

product can utilize at least 30%

condensing heat capacity to produce hot water, which is an

energy saving solution for any structure needing air condi-

tioning and hot water simultaneously.

By Min Chen

F rom 7th to 8th November, a group of 50 guests from Greece, mostly Midea

brand dealers and a journalist from Athens Daily, visited Midea Headquarters, by invita-

tion from Midea RAC overseas sales. This event was aimed at supporting marketing activi-

ties in the Greece market, and enhancing dealers’ trust and confidence in the Midea brand.

To boost sales, Midea RAC overseas marketing has worked in close cooperation with

dealers in Greece, who have developed a high level of brand recognition for Midea, and

gained great experience in promoting Midea products. During the peak season of this

year, Greece dealers carried out various promotional activities through outdoor, TV, Ra-

dio, and Internet advertising which resulted in a significant increase of purchase volume

within months - an especially remarkable feat considering the state of the economy in

Greece right now.

While they were here, the group managed to visit Midea’s modern-styled product

gallery, the X-Pro Centre, as well as Midea’s Historical Museum, the iconic Midea R&D

Centre, and followed by tours around various factories. The night was topped with a wel-

come dinner party, and the presentation of a “Strategic Partner” award to the group.

After only two days here, the group, including many first-time Midea dealers

from Greece, showed and even remarked on their greatly-heightened confidence in the Midea brand and their desire to build

even closer cooperation with Midea to capture the Greece market.

An award being presented at the ceremony for Excellence in

Dealership

Midea Dealers from Greece Visit Midea

Headquarters

http://www.betweenonline.com/2012/09/15/myanmar-starts-using-debit-cards/

app:ds:athlete


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NEWSLINE

GMCC at the China Household Electrical

Appliances Technology Conference

By Crystal Lun

Remark: The China Household Electrical Appliances As-

sociation (CHEAA) was established in December 1988.

CHEAA is registered by the Chinese manufacturer of

household appliances industry, business, spare parts and

raw materials, auxiliary enterprises, research institutions

and other voluntary agencies. CHEAA is a self-composed,

not-for-profit social and economic non-government or-

ganization. You can read more by its website: http://

en.cheaa.org/

O n the last day of October, the China Household

Electrical Appliances Technology Conference was held in

the city of Nanjing, in Jiangsu province. This conference

was hosted by China Household Electrical Appliances As-

sociation (CHEAA), and co-sponsored by GMCC, and is

the most authoritative technical exchange event of its kind

in the home appliance industry.

The Chinese government is determined to decrease

greenhouse emissions by 40-50% in 2020, over 2005 levels.

GMCC has dedicated itself in this environmental endeavor

by developing high-tech compressor with different features.

In the area of environmentally-friendly refrigerant de-

velopment, GMCC has grown to become a pioneer,

launching efficient compressors, starting with the R407

compressor in 2000, then three years later introducing the

upgraded R410a in 2003. It started R&D for CO2 and

R290 environmental compressors in 2007, and in 2012 the

first R32 compressor was launched.

In regards to inverter technology, GMCC launched

the R10a full-DC inverter compressor in 2003, making it

one of the first companies to release such a compressor in

the market, and as of July 2012, its production volume has

surpassed 30 million units.

GMCC compressors also improved in efficiency by

10% compared to units from 10 years ago. With the annual

sales volume of GMCC, over 2.5 million tons of carbon

dioxide emissions are eliminated per year.

Jiang Feng, Chairman of CHEAA, and Fu Yongjun, Vice-president of GMCC, each gave speeches.

O n November 6th, a delegation from the Nónio Group visited

Midea. Nónio, beginning in the Portuguese market in 1967, promotes, dis-

tributes and provides assistance to a diverse range of leading brands of

Nónio Visits Midea By Sue Ou

http://en.cheaa.org/

http://en.cheaa.org/


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NEWSLINE

Nónio Visits Midea (cont.)

By Sue Ou

Welcome speech by John Wei, Marketing Director of Midea CAC

T his year’s China Household Electrical Appliances Technology Conference was

held in Jiangsu, Nanjing on October 31st, hosted by the China Household Electrical Ap-

pliances Association. The theme of the conference was “Energy Efficiency, Environmen-

tal Friendliness, Creativity, and Development”. During the conference, Midea’s full-DC

inverter won the Chinese Science Technology Progress Award, by merit of its new heat

exchanger technology.

The new Heat Exchanger is a technological keystone developed and applied by

Midea, which enhances air conditioner energy efficiency. The application of micro chan-

nel heat exchangers was impossible because of technical barriers in the past; but now,

Midea’s micro channel heat exchangers are made completely out of aluminum and per-

form brilliantly in enhancing energy efficiency, reducing copper and refrigerant require-

ments. Without a doubt, this is the reason why Midea won the Chinese Science Technolo-

gy Progress Award.

So far, Midea has established a completely self-developed and patented inverter tech-

nology chain including the inverter control chip, DC inverter compressor, inverter control

algorithm, DC brushless motor, manufacturing technique, and quality management of

inverter air conditioners.

Midea’s Chinese Science Tech-nology Progress Award

Midea Full-DC Inverter Wins Chinese

Science Technology Progress Award

By Crystal Lun

HVAC equipment and systems.

To start their visit to Midea, they first attended a

presentation introducing Midea CAC its products portfolio.

Nónio then presented CAC product details and domestic

market information which provide direct feedback to Midea

on the products and overall response from the domestic

market.

After the presentations, Nónio accompanied CAC’s

Marketing Manager, Peck Zhao, for tours of the factory and

laboratory. Zhao fully explained the manufacturing process

to them, demonstrating the basis of Midea’s high product

quality.


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NEWSLINE

Midea RAC Supplier Conference 2012

Groups of Asia-Pacific Customer Visited

Midea CAC

By Crystal Lun

A conference for core RAC suppliers was held by

Midea’s Residential Air Conditioning Division on the 25th of Octo-

ber, attracting nearly 400 representatives from 291 core suppliers.

The event was a great opportunity for many from both Midea RAC

and suppliers to finally meet and put faces to names, and strengthen

working relationships. During the conference, Midea RAC President

Wu Wenxin, and Vice-Presidents Li Guolin and Ma Jun gave speech-

es on division perspective, supply chain development strategy, and

quality management. Wu expressed confidence that Midea and its

suppliers would sustain and grow their cooperative, efficient and val-

ue-added supply chain with mutual effort. Wu Wenxin, President of Midea RAC

By Amber Liu

R ecently, many distributors from the Asia-Pacific

region have invited their customers and consultants to visit

Midea CAC in person to see what new technological

achievements have been made and the new products CAC

will bring to the market.

Through visits to the product showroom, factory, and

R&D center,

local reference

projects, and

key product

presentations,

customers can

gain a deep un-

derstanding

about the

strengths of

Midea Group

and CAC, build-

ing their confidence in the Midea brand. It’s likely not a coin-

cidence that orders typically increase after such customer

visits to Midea.

In 2011, total sales revenue of Midea CAC was

USD$12.5 billion, with 20% coming from overseas markets,

thanks to our distributors throughout the world. The truth is,

visiting Midea

CAC is one of

the most efficient

methods to pro-

mote the Midea

brand and build a

feeling of com-

fort with custom-

ers. Therefore,

Midea CAC wel-

comes each and

every guest to

visit at any time. IACS From Australia (left), and Sitem from Thailand (right)


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NEWSLINE

The Miraco JV Dealers’ Incentive

Trip to China By Daniel Zhang

T his year, Miraco JV announced its annual Dealers’

Incentive Trip to China, an opportunity for residential air-

conditioning dealers and local working staff to experience

China firsthand. A specific purpose of this trip is also to

change the prejudice towards the “Made in China” stamp, as

it is often equated with low quality products. In addition,

this trip also aims to strengthen dealer and staff knowledge

about Midea Group and build their confidence in Midea’s

development of household appliances products for the

Egypt market.

The entire visit lasted from November 2nd to No-

vember 10th, and was carefully planned and organized by a

local tourist agency. A total of 96 visitors from Egypt visited

four cities in China including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shunde,

and Hong Kong, all cities which contain rich, regional cul-

tures and economic features.

In Shunde, where Midea HQ is located, visitors took a

tour of the Midea product showroom, as well as the Shunde

factories and the microwave oven exhibition room. Every-

one was astonished at the high quality of Midea’s household

product portfolio and world-class production line. After the

showroom, the visitors also took a walk through Midea’s

expansive historical museum (only matched by the product

showroom’s equally massive scale), to learn more about the

company’s rich past: over the previous 40 years, Midea has

grown from a

small workshop to

a multinational

company, which

proves the out-

standing abilities

of the company

management dur-

ing those years. In

light of what eve-

ryone had seen of

Midea’s past and

present during

their time in Chi-

na, the guests

from Egypt felt

more confident

than ever, that

with Midea’s

strength and knowledge, they could compete against anyone

in Egypt’s white household appliances market.

To cap off their visit with what will likely be a lasting

memory for them, the dealers from Egypt joined together in

a football match with the staff from Miraco and TID, paving

the way for their future business together.

The Egyptian guests with their Midea hosts, after some fun.


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NEWSLINE

Midea-ACW Dealer Conference in Egypt

By Tony Miao

O n November 18th, Midea CAC and Air Condi-

tioner World (ACW), a Midea distributor in Ukraine, orga-

nized a dealer conference in Sharm El Sheihk in Egypt. In

total, 25 dealers from the ACW side attended the conference,

core dealers from all around Ukraine who are engaging in the

Midea commercial air conditioning business. In addition, an

ACW group involved in Midea residential air conditioning, 40

dealers in total, visited Midea Headquarters on the same day.

Air Conditioner World (ACW) is one of the biggest air

conditioner distributors in Ukraine, with wide channels in the

business range of air conditioner and ventilation products.

ACW and Midea have had long history of cooperation since

2000, as the first Ukrainian company to have collaborated

with Midea for all kinds of air conditioner products.

At the beginning of the conference, Kid Yany, a sales

manager from Midea CAC, gave a warm welcome speech to

all attendees. Tony Miao, a marketing manager also from

Midea CAC, helped to explain the technical information and

Midea’s market support policy. Afterwards, Segey Kirieive

from ACW gave a presentation about the Midea CAC prod-

uct lineup. All attendees were very pleased with Midea’s

product quality and the support service from Midea and

ACW. The products discussed included Midea’s DC inverter

VRF, the air cooled modular chiller, and the 4th generation

network control manager, also known as the Intelligent Man-

ager of Midea (IMM).

Electric Heater Sales See An Increase

in the United States By Min Chen

2 012 has seen a general slowdown in small domestic

appliance (SDA) sales, but one SDA category that has been

the exception this year is electric heaters. To date, Midea’s

export of heaters to the US market totaled USD$324 mil-

lion, an impressive year-on-year growth of 21.3%.

Electric heaters have traditionally been one of the

most important exporting product categories. Exports to the

European Union countries have been in decline since the

onset of the so-called “Euro Crisis”, but this increase in the

US market is a comforting sign.

Analysis from industry specialists have indicated that the in-

creased sales of electric heaters in the US market were, on

one hand, due to the notable improvement of the product

quality, and also thanks to upgraded product features which

made these products more attractive to customers. This in-

crease may only be temporary, as it has been pointed out that

international trade barriers would likely increase in the near

future. This has already has been seen in the rise of trade

protectionism in the US, which endangers the current in-

crease in electric heater exports to the region.


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FEATURE

Chinese Swimming Association Surfaces at

Midea HQ (cont.) By Mandy Wang

E arly in the morning on No-

vember 5th, a small group of Midea

staff traveled to the airport to receive a

group of visitors, and shuttle them to

the Midea headquarters for a rare kind

of visit. It was an occasion that most

everyone in Midea knew of in advance,

and the collective anticipation around

the building made the atmosphere pos-

itively electric.

To the absolute delight of every-

one here, a group of 19 from the Chi-

nese Swimming Association (CSA),

including Olympic stars Hua Li, Sun

Yang, Wu Minxia, Ye Shiwen, and

Chen Ruolin, arrived at Midea’s head-

quarters that day, primarily to partici-

pate in a special and significant signing

ceremony. Paul Hongbo Fang, Chairman of Midea Group,

met with the team and had a friendly talk with Hua Li about

future cooperation between Midea and the CSA. This was

Chairman Fang, having an enjoyable discussion with the head of the CSA.

Dozens of Midea employees are seen here, visibly excited about

their chance to see the swimming champions up close during the

signing ceremony. The CSA team members, visiting Midea’s Product Showroom.


12

followed by a tour of the product showroom, for the team to

learn more about Midea’s latest products.

Midea and the CSA have been partners since 2007, and

over the past six years, they have been enjoying smooth and

easy cooperation together. There is no doubt that Midea and

the CSA will continue this partnership for a long time to

come, as well as its sponsorship with Fédération Internatio-

nale de Natation (FINA), the administering body for interna-

tional swimming competition.

In the coming month, the 11th FINA World Swimming

Championship will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, and as one of

the sponsors for this FINA event, Midea’s logo will be

prominent throughout the arena, and on display

for the world to see.

To read previous news about cooperation between

Midea and FINA, you can check out the AD-

VANCES July-August 2011 issue on the Global

Midea website, at http://global.midea.com.

FEATURE

Chinese Swimming Association Surfaces at

Midea HQ (cont.) By Mandy Wang

The CSA team, posing with Chairman Fang and the executive management team of Midea.


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Grand Opening of the Carrier Midea India

Manufacturing Facility By Shine Li

T he Carrier Midea India (CMI) manufacturing

facility was officially opened by Mr. Xiangjian He, Founder

of Midea, and Mr.

Geraud Darnis,

President of UTC

CCS, on 31 Octo-

ber, 2012. The

new manufactur-

ing facility is situ-

ated at Bawal,

Haryana, about

60km from CMI’s

headquarter in

Gurgaon. Span-

ning approximate-

ly 150,000 sq. ft.,

the plant is one of

India’s largest

manufacturing

facilities for air

conditioners, with

an initial annual

flat volume production capacity of 700,000, which will

soon be expanded to 1,000,000 units. With an investment

of 5 billion Rupees over a five to six year period, CMI will

further strengthen its position in the residential air condi-

tioning and white

goods market in

India.

The ribbon-

cutting ceremony

was followed by

the unveiling of a

plaque by He

and Darnis, to

commemorate

the occasion.

Also present

from Midea were

Paul Hongbo

Fang, Chairman

of Midea Group,

Andy Gu, Vice

President of

Midea Group,

and Coobie

Zhang, General Manager of Midea’s International Division

(TID). The Carrier side was represented by Mr. Ross B.

Xiangjian He, Founder of Midea Group, and Geraud Darnis, President and CEO of UTC CCS, cutting the ceremonial ribbon together.

He and Darnis, together after the ribbon cutting ceremony. Darnis and Fang, taking time to share some thoughts.

FEATURE


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Manufacturing Facility (cont.) By Shine Li

Shuster, Mr. Mark George, Mr. Rick Sanfrey,

Ms. Elke Kulas, Ms Catherine Yang, Mr.

Zubin Irani, and Mr. Gaurang Pandya. The

Executive Committee from CMI was also

present, headed by Krishan Sachdev, Man-

aging Director of CMI. The guests took a

tour of the factory and remarked on the sig-

nificant progress at the facility: the factory

was commissioned in a short span of only

eight months.

CMI will manufacture, distribute

and service Carrier brand residential air con-

ditioners, Midea brand residential & light

commercial air conditioners, as well as

Midea brand home appliances. Both brands

will be available through a strong nationwide

channel network.

The new facility is comprised of 2

CDU AC assembly lines with R22/R410a capability, a Win-

dow AC line, a Hi-wall IDU line and a Cassette IDU line.

The factory will also have 2 coil lines including a new high

capacity coil line. CMI will have adequate in-house capacity

for coil requirements.

This plant is a significant milestone for CMI. Since

beginning construction in February 2012, the plant has al-

ready become fully operational in a short timeframe of just

CMI and Midea executives waiting to answer questions at the press conference.

Krishan Sachdev, Managing Director of CMI, giving a presentation.

Local media posing questions during the press conference.

FEATURE


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Manufacturing Facility (cont.) By Shine Li

eight months. With state-of-the-art technology, it targets

increased localization of world-class technology for the

Indian consumer. The facility also aims to provide an em-

ployee-focused working environment for more than the

1,000 people that the factory will employ once it reaches

full capacity.

“The Carrier Midea facility marks a new beginning

that will help us expand our footprint in the country. With

two brands - Carrier and Midea – [CMI] will be a strong

player in the consumer durable market and also delight our

Coobie Zhang, General Manager of Midea TID, is giving a presentation.

Andy Gu, Vice President of Midea Group, is presenting at the press conference.

FEATURE

customers with best-in-class products and services. We are

very excited to introduce Midea in India,” remarked

Sachdev.

CMI values sustainable business operations. The

Carrier Midea factory is an environmentally responsible

facility; it uses 100% recycled water, rain water harvesting,

evaporative air-cooling in production areas, and maximum

use of natural lighting on the shop floor to save energy.

During the manufacturing processes, the focus will be on

improving efficiencies in energy, waste, water, and carbon

emissions. In addition to implementing energy-saving prac-

tices in the facility, efforts will also focus on minimizing

resource consumption throughout the entire supply chain,

including procurements and logistics.


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Midea Floor-Standing KF Series Wins Best

Originality Design Award

TECH SPOTLIGHT

By Crystal Lun

R ecently, the State Intellectual Property Office of

China (SIPO) released the results of The 7th China Patent

Appearance Design Contest: Midea’s floor-standing KF se-

ries air conditioner, standing out from over six hundred oth-

er submissions, won the Best Originality Design, the only air

conditioner to win this award.

The KF series floor-standing AC is the first ever to

apply a dual “cross fan” design, linear air inlet and outlet

mode, which results in a very low operating noise level. The

KF series uses a V-LED concealed display and touch con-

trol, which creates an exceptionally modern and convenient

experience. The front face adopts a concealed design when

the unit is in standby, with the two front panels coming to-

gether to conceal all controls and outlets; when active, the

panels gracefully slide apart for access to controls and allow-

ing airflow.

(To read more about the State Intellectual Property Office of Chi-

na (SIPO), visit their website at: http://english.sipo.gov.cn)

3D Airflow technology

Intelligent front panels au-tomatically part for users

Precise temperature control by simple touching

High-efficiency design

app:ds:State

app:ds:Intellectual

app:ds:Property

app:ds:Office

app:ds:SIPO

app:ds:State

app:ds:Intellectual

app:ds:Property

app:ds:Office

http://english.sipo.gov.cn/


17

PEOPLE

On To Greener Pastures

By Matthew Smith & Mandy Wang

B ack in the May 2011 issue of ADVANCES, our publication

sat down for an interview (“Enjoy Every Reward”) with a unique

Midea employee, Michael Roycraft. Up until just recently, Mike had

been the head language instructor for the company headquarters, which

perhaps made him one of the most well-known people in the company.

A year and a half later, we are having another interview with Mike,

as the circumstances of his employment in the company have changed

just recently…

ADVANCES: Thank for taking the time to sit down with

us again! So… we’ve heard a bit about the big change

through the grapevine here, but I think we need to get the

official story from you.

Mike: Haha, yeah, it’s hard to keep a secret around here,

isn’t it? Well, you heard right: as of last month, I am no

longer involved in language instruction at Midea; I am now

working in the TID (International Division) Sales depart-

ment for the North America market.

ADV: Wow - that’s quite different from your old role here.

How did this change come to pass?

Mike: Well, I enjoyed guiding people in their language stud-

ies, and the social aspect of my previous work here was re-

warding too, but I had pretty much exhausted the challenge

involved with that job and there’s just a tremendous amount of opportunity to grow and learn new things at Midea,

simply because of its size and scale. Working in sales is

already presenting plenty of new challenges for me, and yet

as a Canadian, I have familiarity with the North American

market, which provides me with an advantage in this role,

too.

ADV: Do you miss anything about your old job?

Mike: Well, I definitely didn’t have as much pressure in my

old job, and I also had more free time before, but being

busier is not necessarily a bad thing when you’re really en-

gaged in your work.

ADV: What’s the most challenging aspect of your new job?


18

PEOPLE

Mike: Ah… haha, that would have to be communicating

with our production people. I can usually get away with

speaking English with most people here in the headquarters,

but when I have to pick up the phone and start talking with

someone from our production facilities, it’s pretty much all

in Chinese. My ability in this respect has improved a lot over

the past few years, but this job constantly reminds me that I

still have a lot to learn, especially in this respect!

ADV: How about the most enjoyable part of working in

sales?

Mike: Oh, that would probably be hosting visits from our

customers in North America. I enjoy showing them a good

time around here, especially if it’s their first time to China,

and introducing the culture to them. They’re always amazed

by what they’re seeing here, and with our common cultural

background, it’s easier to explain everything to them.

ADV: What’s your feeling about Midea’s constant push to

become a more global company? Do you have any sugges-

tions?

Mike: Well, I’ve become pretty good friends with a guy here

in the Finance Dept. here, Alex, who’s on exchange from

our Brazil office for the year. My impression from my previ-

ous role, my short time in my new role, and from what I can

see with Alex in his department, I would say that Midea

might try to bring in more foreigners, even just on an ex-

change program from its overseas offices. For a company

with such a broad, global scope in business like Midea does,

I feel that the people in the headquarters don’t get enough

exposure to the world outside of China which we regularly

do business with. I think it makes a difference for our Chi-

nese colleagues to have that daily, face-to-face exposure with

foreigners, in terms of practicing language, and being more

aware of cultural differences.

ADV: That sounds like a really good point, and I’m sure

there are probably plenty of foreign employees in our over-

On To Greener Pastures (cont.)



19

PEOPLE

seas offices who would likewise be interested in learning

more about the Chinese culture and language of the parent

company.

Mike: Yeah, that’s right; I think it would benefit Midea just as

much to help its foreign employees understand more about

the company culture and the style of business here, too. The

process for this company to become more global really will

involve a two-way flow of information and understanding.

ADV: Thanks so much for your time, once again… and

when you make your next professional move here, promise to

sit down and talk with us again – deal?

Mike: Haha, well… we’ll see…

As a bonus section to this issue’s interview, we talked to a few employees

who used to study under Mike, and asked them for their thoughts about

Mike’s move to Sales…

Samantha Liu: Mike is nice and fun. His stories always make

me laugh to tears. We had a really good time studying with

Mike. Hope he will enjoy the new position and have a great

future!

Andy Zhu: Mike was my teacher and is still my good friend.

He is always passionate about his work. He could always get

everyone involved so that we had good interaction. In his

class, he encouraged us to express our opinions freely, which

improved our oral English greatly. In addition, Mike was

always well-prepared to help us. Even though Mike will not

be our instructor anymore, I feel glad for him for switching

to sales. He is contributing to Midea’s overseas business. I

believe he will carry his passion in this new job. Wish him

the best!

Zhiqiang Xia: Mike is very nice. He always looks happy and

passionate about his work and his life. As an instructor, he

had his unique way of educating and becoming friends with

us! If I would have a few words to describe him, I would

say: passionate, goal-oriented and optimistic!

On To Greener Pastures (cont.)

Samantha Liu, Department of Information Technology

Andy Zhu, Department of Strategy & Planning

Zhiqiang Xia, Department of Administration & Human Resources



20

M idea Carrier Brazil was invited by ABRH-AM, a

human resources organization, to present a success story in a

special field: “Fund for Workers” (otherwise known as

“FAT”) is an unemployment insurance scheme which has

been developed for retaining and developing human re-

sources more effectively. This fund was the feature topic dur-

ing the 6th SHARE HR conference, an event oriented to-

wards human resources professionals in Manaus, Brazil. The

case was presented by the

HR Manager of Manaus

plant of Midea Carrier

Brazil JV, Flávio Zimmer-

mann.

The case illustrated

Midea’s concern for its

employees, describing

how in early 2012, adver-

sity in the HVAC market

created severe uncertainty

for manufacturers in the

industry. Rather than

merely cutting its work-

force, Midea Carrier Bra-

zil took a novel approach

by sending 156 employees to the FAT program instead of

dismissing them outright. In detail, unemployment insurance

funds were used to pay part of the salaries of the employees,

and for their part, the company contributed the remaining

salary and provided subsidized vocational training courses for

employees whose employment contracts were suspended.

The Board of ABRH praised the initiative of Midea

Carrier JV, saying that they saw this program as a tremen-

dous success; FAT was designed to create a win-win situa-

tion for the working people and the company, as an attrac-

tive alternative to merely reducing costs through layoffs.

ABRH stated that Midea Carrier Brazil JV had set a sterling

example of engaging in best practices for industry in Ma-

naus.

In the final analysis, this

initiative looks to have

achieved its goal: 60% of

employees who would nor-

mally be laid off but were

instead entered into the

FAT program later re-

turned to normal status in

positions of greater respon-

sibility and filled 40% of

new job openings with the

inauguration of the new

factory. “With the FAT

program, the Midea Carrier

also promotes professional

development through training, further improving the rate of

retention for employees who have already gained valuable

knowledge of company culture, values and familiarity with

the company's strategic goals,” remarked Zimmermann.

MIDEA in the COMMUNITY

Midea Carrier Brazil Praised for FAT in the 6th

SHARE HR conference in Manaus By James Yu

HR specialists at the 6th annual SHARE conference

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