Laird: From five staff to a market leader

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 15:37

As a global market leader in the design and supply of electromagnetic interference shielding and wireless antenna solutions, Laird Technologies' business has expanded widely across Asia, North America and Europe.

Laird: From five staff to a market leader

The company, which employs more than 14,000 members of staff, is headquartered in London and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its business revenue in 2008 was 650 million GBP pounds.

The company's Chinese subsidiary, Laird Technologies (Beijing) Co Ltd was first established in July 2001 as a tiny factory with only five employees. The new business initially opened in the Yongchang North Road of the Beijing Economic Development Area (BDA), and was moved to the Rongchang East Road in August 2002 when Laird Beijing became one of the Xingwang Park members.

As a result of the BDA's support and the hard work of its team in developing new products and applying up-to-date management techniques, the company enjoyed rapid expansion, soon moving to larger premises within the BDA business park. This move saw the company start to produce products on a larger scale and also saw its factory floor expand to 27,500 sq m.

As a result of this expansion, the company became the world's largest manufacturer of cell phone antenna and also the site of Laird Technologies biggest R&D center. Millions of antenna products are now manufactured every week in Beijing.

The business has now expanded to producing antenna, mechanical driven solutions (hinges and camera shutters) and plastic modeling and components. It also provides a range of services, including designing, making prototypes, project supervision and mass production. Its clients include many of the world's leading cell phone suppliers, such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, Huawei, ZTE, OPPO, Palm, and Sagem.

It has recently increased its production capacity and put a second factory in the BDA into operation. The new facility will focus on the production of plastic injection modeling.

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The corporate culture of Laird Technologies (Beijing) is now composed of two parts: "basic principles" and "core values". The former served as the guide for its development in Beijing and the latter represents its central beliefs. The two elements have been combined to encourage mutual respect and cooperation between eastern and western cultures.

The company's employees come from many different parts of the world, such as Sweden, South Korea, India, Malaysia, UK and China. Despite their varied roots, all of them profess to being satisfied with living and working in the BDA, frequently citing its beautiful environment, proximity to the world's leading enterprises and welcoming corporate culture as huge "plus" factors.

The company is also committed to providing an inspirational working environment for all of its employees and to supporting them through a series of career development opportunities. Much of its success is also down to its setting within the BDA where, say senior managers, the safe and pleasant working and living environment has motivated many to work harder and live a more fulfilled life.

The company has also placed considerable emphasis on developing its corporate culture as part of its commitment to becoming a truly world-class company.

Its corporate culture development initiatives aims to allow employees from all countries to find common ground whilst maintaining their own cultural identities. It also seeks to define a common goal for all employees in terms of working towards the company's continued development and maintaining its rapid progress.

The company was first attracted to the BDA by the considerable advantages offered by its location. The favorable policies and incentives provided by the BDA's administration clinched the deal and saw Laird benefit hugely from the support and co-operation of the local team.

Commenting on the relationship with the BDA management team, a spokesman for Laird said: "The commitment to serving this industry and providing quality infrastructure and facilities makes the BDA a perfect choice for investment. The professional services provided by the BDA's highly responsive management commission far exceeded our expectations."

Many of these advantages came about as BDA is a national-level development zone in China's capital city and is entitled to introduce a number of preferential policies and services. The close cooperative relations between the BDA and the relevant government departments has helped provide professional, efficient and tailored services to all of the companies located in the zone.

The completion of Subway Line 5 and the ever-improving Beijing public transportation system has greatly shortened the commute and distance between the BDA and downtown Beijing and is set to see the area continue to thrive.