News & Events

Singapore (November 01, 1996) -- Celebrating the first tangible evidence of its long-term commitment to China, opening ceremonies were held this week at the company's new $25 million manufacturing facility in the Singapore Suzhou Township Development, near Shanghai, one of the largest growing areas of China. The new plant brings the company's proprietary manufacturing technology to China, where rapid economic growth, modernization and improvement of health care technologies are increasing demand for higher quality medical products and more advanced medical practices.

"We have built this facility in record time, thanks to a success formula that has brought together three groups, all committed to this project," remarked Clateo Castellini while attending the ceremony. He credited the Chinese authorities in Beijing, the Jiangsu Province and Suzhou City, and the company's joint venture partner, Suzhou Pharmaceutical Group Company; the Singapore authorities with their involvement and commitment to the success of the Suzhou Industrial park; and the company's own previous experience which enabled the transfer technology in record time.

"The opening of the Suzhou plant is a very convincing illustration of what we can achieve when we work together as one company," emphasizes Castellini. "Many things contributed to our remarkable achievement in Suzhou: the transfer of innovative and superior manufacturing technology, effective training, and a lot of people working together very hard and learning very fast."

Over the past six months, 12 Chinese engineers trained at the company's technology center in Fraga, Spain. To overcome initial language barriers, a translator was hired to enable communication and to translate documents in three languages -- Chinese, English and Spanish. But to encourage continuous communication and foster an ongoing relationship between the sister plants at Fraga and Suzhou, Chinese engineers committed one hour of each day to learning Spanish.

Once the plant was built, technicians from Fraga went to Suzhou to assist with the plant debugging, and in the record time of three days, started up an entire line, producing 80,000 high quality syringes necessary for evaluation to obtain a manufacturing permit for the facility.

Becton Dickinson's history in China began at the turn of the century when thermometers and reusable steel needles were sold there. The company reinvigorated its marketing activities in 1986 and established a representative office in Beijing in July, 1994. About a year ago, Becton Dickinson Medical Devices, Co., Ltd., Suzhou was formed, the result of a joint venture agreement with the Suzhou Pharmaceutical General Company.