The fourth month in the company has again passed like water and here is another article about the progress of the construction of our new company in Budějovice. In April we received very good news, BMW customer nominated us for another project and now we know that from October 2026 we will produce 2 seat projects for BMW customer. One project is for delivery to Dingolfing in Germany and the other to Oxford in the UK. Both projects are quite complex, also considering that one of the main components of the seats - the seat foam - will be manufactured here under one roof, together with the assembly of the complete seats. So we have a lot of work ahead of us to be able to deliver perfect quality seats to the customer in 2 years in JIS mode.

In April, a customer from BMW visited us in Budějovice for the first time and we presented the current status of both projects.

HR news

April was a month of interviews and recruitments for me. Thanks to this newsletter, we have managed to fill some of the positions and new colleagues will be joining in the coming days and weeks.

Apart from recruitment, I am now busy with the groundbreaking ceremony for our new hall, which we are planning together with the developer of the building for stakeholders during May and which should be attended by over 70 people - internal NOBO employees from China, suppliers, BMW customer, local politicians, etc.

In the coming days and weeks, the new hall will get its first real outline in the form of reinforced concrete columns. In September this year, we should have access to the roofed building, where we will gradually move the technology needed for foam production and seat assembly. Some of the technology will be imported from China and dozens of colleagues will arrive with them to install the technology. For me, from an HR point of view, this means taking care of all the administration - visas, transport, accommodation etc..

And since I am also in charge of the canteen, I am currently conducting a careful survey of caterers in the South Bohemian region. Thanks to the willingness of my HR colleagues from local companies, I have already visited a large number of company restaurants and had the opportunity to literally look under the hood of company chefs. In all the companies where I have worked so far, corporate catering has been quite a hot topic, so I do not want to underestimate this and I try to choose a supplier who will be able to satisfy our employees with perfect meals.

CEO Robert Masek's trip to China

And because our company blog is becoming more and more read, we decided that other colleagues from NOBO ČB will gradually join it. The first excerpt was written directly by the CEO of the company Robert Maškawho went to China for 2 weeks as part of the adaptation process and wrote a short article about the trip:

NOBO - My first trip to China

As part of the adaptation process, I took a trip to China where Nobo comes from. The destination was Baoding city with a subsequent transfer to Shenyang city.

Baoding is located approximately 120 km southwest of Beijing, while Seh-yang can be found in northeast China approximately 250 km from the border with North Korea.

The company's HQ, including a testing laboratory and production plant, is located in Baoding. Approximately 30 minutes away is another Xushui manufacturing plant that I had the opportunity to visit. The plant was clean, organized and the colleagues were very helpful to explain every single detail of the production process. I saw the production of the seats and their components, including the foam part production process, as well as the production of the interior roof panels.

The plant in Shenyang , where part of the project team is based, is also a new plant that expects to start serial production in 2027. We therefore had several common topics to discuss given the ongoing establishment of the Czech branch of NOBO.

ENTERTAINMENT

People

Everywhere I went people were respectful and friendly. Of course, for some I was an interesting attraction, especially for the local children, whose parents sometimes admonished their offspring not to stare at me so much.

Food Dining - Wine and Beer

The food is of course different, but delicious and full of intense flavours and combinations that will make you fall in love with the local dishes. I didn't find anything that wasn't good and I recommend trying everything that appeals to you.

The dining culture in China is specific. In a restaurant, not everyone has a plate with their own food, but everyone can taste everything on the table. Several types of meat, vegetables, rice, etc. are combined. The unavailability of cutlery, which you won't come across practically anywhere, is another way to try out a way of eating in the same spirit as the locals.

If someone offers you Chinese wine, know that it is not always the traditional concept of wine as we know it in Europe. You can get a wheat spirit that has an alcohol content of around 40 %.

Of course, there was also beer, and on every such occasion I was automatically apologised to and asked to indulge on the assumption that as a representative of an unquestionable beer superpower I would not be too fond of the local beverage. However, I did not take a negative attitude towards the local beer and concentrated more on exploring the local gastronomy.

ON THE ROAD

Time on the road

The journey "there" took almost 24 hours from the front door of my house to the hotel in Baoding. Due to the time difference which is +6 hours it is a good idea to start your journey so that you can manage to be there in the afternoon local time. I arrived at 6:45pm so resting for the next day was not a big problem. The drive back was a bit longer also due to the delay. And arriving around midnight with no chance to sleep overnight caused jet lag like crazy.

Which way?

On the way to China, my transfer destination was Qatar. One of the interesting things is that you have a "botanical garden" built near the terminal with waterfalls etc, which can make the wait before your next trip more interesting. However, the main thing was yet to come. Flying from Prague to Beijing via Qatar is a long but worse journey. However, the plane has to cross the Himalayas.

At sunrise, when the dawn's rays bathe the snow-covered peaks of the highest places in the world, you can see a truly unforgettable experience. And regardless of your sleep deprivation, it's definitely worth it!

Journey by train

Forget about the Czech train prehistory. Here you travel fast and far. The journey between Baoding and Shenyang was approximately 900 km long, which the high-speed train managed to cover in 5.5 hours. In places, the speed was close to 300 km/h and everywhere on time. I recommend to try it!

Monuments and the city

If you are interested in ancient cultural heritage or want to see modern architecture and skyscrapers, you certainly have a choice. Personally, I visited the Imperial Palace in Shenyang which was built in 1625 and while walking around the city at night, there were often laser shows on the buildings, the smallest of which were about 25 stories high.

In the elevator

Floor number 0 doesn't exist. It's not a major complication, you just have to check a few times in the first moment to see if the button is really hidden somewhere.

Online online and online again

Forget about cash and, in fact, anything that should generate paper. The currently very popular We chat app is a tool that everyone uses for basically everything you can think of. Communication, shopping, booking a taxi, buying a train ticket, but most importantly online payment. Standard credit cards are not accepted and everything is handled through this mobile app (or other variants). If you can already pay "cash" somewhere, you probably won't get a refund as no one normally uses cash.

Transport

In domestic geographic locations, the horn is usually used as part of retaliation. Aggressive feedback for a more or less serious transgression against the written and often unwritten laws of the "traffic jungle".

Compared to China's big cities, our jungle is more like a jungle full of symbiosis and harmony. Pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, cars move in all directions and despite this I registered only one minor traffic accident.

And the horn in China? It can mean absolutely anything. A challenge and motivation to drive fast or even slow, a signal to turn, reverse, overtake, a symbol of respectful thanks, a possible greeting. Or it can be used just in case, to let it be known that you are here too!

David Havelec

HR Manager in Nobo Automotive Czech Republic

3 May 2024