What impact has the financial crisis had on your organizations?
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The financial crisis has been going on for almost two years now, and its impact on Europe, the United States, and Japan is evident; however, it is not clear to what extent the domestic industry has been affected. Here, everyone might as well talk about the situation at their own workplace. Please speak honestly and only share the facts; avoid rumors or subjective opinions. Let me start by telling you what I know. I work at a factory that manufactures polypropylene chemical equipment. All of our products are sold domestically, with chemical plants being our main customers. Apart from the few months at the end of last year when many orders had to be canceled due to the financial crisis, we haven’t seen much impact at other times. Orders have been better than usual this year. But one of our closely related clients was significantly affected. The company is a small Japanese-owned fine chemical factory that produces pharmaceutical intermediates, with all of its products exported. At present, due to a lack of orders, the company is essentially shut down; all workers have been given time off, with only a few managers remaining to work. However, there aren’t no orders at all; it’s just that due to the small number of orders, they adopt a strategy of combining these few orders together for production in order to save costs. Yet all the companies that are quite famous locally and that everyone wants to work for have suspended work for their employees, which shows just how severe the impact of the crisis is. Please, fellow sailors, share the situations you have encountered.
The financial crisis had little impact on us last year. This industry has a lag period; since there were many projects launched in the chemical industry in the previous two years, they couldn’t simply stop halfway through those projects. But this year is different; many projects that were set to start have been postponed indefinitely, and deals that were agreed upon have also been put on hold for now. In the first three months of this year, there were only a few minor projects, but things have improved recently with some larger projects coming in. I hope we can overcome this crisis soon and move toward a brighter future!
State-owned joint-stock refineries are facing severe inventory backlogs; they have only a few days of production capacity left and are at risk of shutting down at any time.
:L: L, they’re all more or less the same! Severe, really severe!
We only have 1/5 of what we used to have on average per month; it seems this crisis has a significant impact
We are a design firm, and since last year, we have had much less work. But after the New Year, more people came to our company for discussions; firstly, it’s because our company has strong capabilities and a good reputation. Then again, the crisis gradually passed.
The bonus is reduced by 30%. We didn’t even get the prize money we won for our technological achievements last year – how serious is that? Moreover, the company strictly controls the number of new hires; in other words: save, save again!
It mainly has a significant impact on some foreign-funded enterprises, causing a considerable reduction in their assets. There is indeed an impact, but it depends on the region – the crisis is clearly evident in cities such as Shanghai and Suzhou, while it also affects some smaller cities, though the impact there isn’t as pronounced
Our bonuses have been cut by 70%, but our salaries remain unchanged.
We are an established state-owned enterprise; in 2006, our single-crystal furnaces were very popular, which allowed us to pay off all the debts we had accumulated earlier. But less than two years later, a rare financial crisis struck in the second half of 2008, and exports of solar cells to downstream markets came to a near halt. The impact on this industry, for which 95% of production is intended for export, is easy to imagine. We are its upstream supplier, so we are affected quite directly: orders have dropped sharply, and production came to a near halt in the second half of the year. However, the overall direction of the industry is fine; I hope we can get through this!
The impact is quite severe: there is an accumulation of inventory, wages have fluctuated by 40%, staff turnover is high, and the unit price of products has also dropped by 20%
Our factory hasn’t paid out bonuses for 3 months
The number of orders from my original company has significantly decreased; some designs that were already finalized or in production have had their orders canceled. It doesn’t have much impact on me at the moment
A 50% pay cut, with wages also delayed. Electricity companies.
Half of the year has passed, and multiple projects have been suspended, which has a significant impact
State-owned chemical enterprises maintained stable production in 2008, with some product backlog by the end of the year, but they were generally profitable. There were no layoffs throughout the year, nor any prolonged shutdowns. In 2009, production was intensified, resulting in high output and severe inventory buildup. It is planned to suspend operations for a two-month major maintenance period in the second half of the year; bonuses will be reduced by 40%, while salaries will remain unchanged.
I work in design; I used to be at a company funded by Taiwanese investors, and orders started to decrease from the second half of last year. When there was nothing to do in the factory, they pressured people to prepare for sending a large number of staff from various departments to the production site; in December, I resigned in frustration. I also want to change jobs; after working for 5 years, I’d like to take a good break (Taiwanese-owned companies are extremely exhausting). I rested at home for 1 and a half months. I went out to look for a job; I found one within half a month. The salary was higher than before, the work was easy, and there were plenty of orders (it’s a company in China). During my job search here, I realized that the impact of the financial crisis on the country wasn’t as severe as I had thought, but it was still significant. However, the financial crisis mainly affected positions with low levels of technical complexity, having little impact on jobs that require a high degree of expertise. Foreign companies are affected far more than domestic ones. It has been found that technical job positions in the domestic market are relatively easy to find; as long as one possesses a certain skill, it is generally possible to locate a suitable employer. Meanwhile, there is an obvious surplus of labor in non-technical positions. Although my level isn’t high, I’m still relieved because it shows hope for future work. Here, I wish all the experienced users on this forum a smooth passage through this crisis as well:D
Our current production tasks are still mainly based on orders received last year (the equipment produced by our company is quite complex, and the production cycle is long); for now, no significant impact can be seen. However, at every meeting, leaders say that the effects of the financial crisis will become apparent in the second half of the year. It seems that such signs are already emerging, as there aren’t many new orders coming in for 2009, and it appears that there won’t be much work to do in the second half of the year...
Things are okay here; our salaries haven’t been reduced. It’s just that the bonus is a bit smaller
There’s hardly any significant impact; our company is not engaged in foreign trade or export business, and since we are located in northern Jiangsu, we have been less affected.