Visit to GBF

Tuesday, Plant Tour

The morning started early, 4:00am. Because of John's mobility issues and
we did not know the layout of the Shanghai Railway station, we left the
hotel at 04:30 for our 6:08 train. John wanted to make sure if it was a lot of walking, he had time to make it. We made it alright, the Shanghai Railway station turned out to be a 7
minute cab ride and even with the trek to the train lounge, we were waiting at
the gate by 5:00am. We were there so early, the lights were not on in the
lounge. Yawn.

We wanted to get a coffee at the station, but none of the coffee shops were open. I did get John a nescafe from one of the smaller vendors, while I stayed with water.

The train trip was uneventful, except our seats were not next to each other, so after the 2nd stop as the train filled up we had to move. One note, we order green tea on the train. Yummy. It was great green tea, much better than we get in the states billed as premium tea. Full green leaves that we were able to use 3 times before losing flavor.

We arrived in Hangzhou at 8:06, our host Sunny and her sister Eva met us at the exit. After a quick stop for fruit from a local vendor for breakfast (Lychees, oranges, and bananas), we headed out to the plant in Dongyang county in the city of Hengdian. Hengdian the home of the famous Hengdian World Studios, the Hollywood of China. We did a quick drive by tour of the Studios lots, which is surprising close to the plant. The studios are impressive.

Then on to the plant where we met Mr. Hu, the Chairman of GBF and Eric, the international sales director. After shooting pictures of the product display, we headed out to lunch. This was the best meal we've every had in China, including last years trip. We had baked fish, a sauteed leafy green, similar to water spinach, but not, a whole chicken soup (including feet), squid sauteed with chilis and a green aspargus like vegetable, fried rice, lettuce wraps, and a bun served with a chicken, vegetable mix. Yumm...

After lunch, we went back to the plant to discuss our plans to promote GBF products in the states and get to know each other better. The our discussions focused on the standarization and certification of basalt fiber worldwide.

I requested and did get to see the plant, which was very clean and quiet. You hear a lot of negative press about plants in China. At this plant, the workers are fed well, the plant is clean and safe. I could not take pictures for trade secret reasons, but I was very impressed with the process. The plant uses electricity instead of gas for process of the rock. Most of the process is automated so workers are not at risk handling the high temperature equipment. Here is a picture of the plant lunch room serving a nice meal with chicken, rice and vegetables.

After our discussions with Mr. Hu, Eric and Sunny, where we discussed the actions we wanted to take to promote/offer basalt fibers in the US, we prepared to leave. Sunny and Mr. Hu, graciously arranged for our driver to take us to our hotel in Cixi City about a 3 ½ hour trip away. We greatly appreciated this generosity. Here it the leadership of GBF and us as we prepare to leave.

We said good-bye, and Sunny had Eva and the driver on to our hotel, the Hangzhou Bay Resort in Cixi City.

A very good day for us.

more later.. Leticia