Fuyao

Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 福耀玻璃工业集团股份有限公司) is a manufacturing company in the People's Republic of China, engaged in the production of float glass, automobile glass and construction glass. It is one of the largest auto glass producers in the world,[1] with customers including large international automobile manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, Subaru and Volkswagen Group. It was established in 1987 as a joint venture company and is headquartered in Fuqing, Fujian. It was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1993 and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2015.[2][3]

For the TV series, see Legend of Fuyao.
Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., Ltd.
Public
Traded asSSE: 600660 (A share) SEHK: 3606 (H share)
IndustryGlass manufacturing
Founded1987
FounderCao Dewang
Headquarters
Fuqing
,
China
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Cao Dewang (chairman)
ProductsAutomotive glass
20.2 bn RMB (2.8 bn USD) in 2018
Number of employees
26,000
Websitefuyaogroup.com

History

Cao Dewang founded Fuyao in Fuqing, Fujian Province 1987 with several business partners.[4] He had previous experience having taken over management of a glass factory owned by a local government. While there were few major buyers of automobiles at first, his company targeted the market of replacement glass for large numbers of imported vehicles into China.[5] The name derives from the first character in the name of the city of Fuqing (福 fú) and the Chinese word meaning "shine" (耀 yào).

The company formed a joint venture with Saint-Gobain in 1996 with the French firm's 51 percent stake valued at $15.3 million. Three years later, Cao bought the stake back for $30 million.[6]

Fuyao became an original equipment manufacturer to General Motors in June 2006.[6] Later that year, it signed an agreement with Goldman Sachs to sell 111 million new shares, to raise about ¥890 million ($137 million). In March 2007, Fuyao landed a contract supplying Bentley. That year, foreign sales contributed ¥5.17 billion, or almost $795 million, almost 28 percent of its sales that year. By that time, it was the fifth-largest maker of automotive glass in the world, with an estimated three percent market share, and held 60 percent market share of the automotive glass market in China.[4][4]

Fuyao Glass America Inc.

In 2013, Fuyao began looking at establishing a factory presence in the United States, considering several sites in Ohio and Michigan before deciding on the former General Motors Moraine Assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio.[7] Its initial commitment to the factory, which was made public in January 2014, was to buy 1.4 million square feet of the plant from Industrial Realty Group and invest $240 million into an auto glass production facility, which would create 800 jobs.[7] In 2014, it bought a float glass plant in Mount Zion, Illinois. In 2016, it announced an additional $131 million investment to add additional after-market glass lines at the plant, bringing it to 24 production lines. In exchange it received $6.6 million in incentives from JobsOhio. By then, the company planned to produce enough auto glass for 4 million to 5 million automobiles a year,[8] taking advantage of contraction in the U.S. auto market during the Great Recession.[9] By the time the plant entered full-scale production in October 2016, the company had invested $1 billion in the U.S. subsidiary, with long-term plans to grow to 5,000 employees in the United States.[10] As of early 2020, Fuyao has opened additional operating facilities in Greenville, South Carolina and Detroit, Michigan.[11]

Controversies

The plant saw some obstacles during the first two years of operation within the United States, including concerns about safety, inability to turn a profit, and politicizing employee concerns regarding the unionization of the Moraine Assembly plant's labor force. Additionally, conflicts arose from clashes in cultural norms and customs between the Chinese and American employees within the Moraine assembly.

Shortly after the Moraine Assembly officially opened, the facility was cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for several critical safety violations, including the failure to provide protective equipment, the lack of HAZMAT training, and the failure to properly cover moving machinery. The infractions violated the Occupational Safety and Health Act (United States) of 1970, which prevents employers from knowingly exposing employees to hazardous work conditions.[12] OSHA cited Fuyao for a total of thirteen different safety violations and fined the manufacturing firm approximately $725,000.[12] were met with a $7 million investment by Fuyao towards improving safety features throughout the Moraine Assembly.[13] Additionally, Fuyao has since formed an environmental safety team within the Moraine assembly that provides in-depth training to the plant employees in both English and Mandarin Chinese.[13]

Since the majority of the labor force at Fuyao Glass America's Moraine Assembly plant had previously worked at the General Motors Moraine Assembly that was located on the same property, many workers wished to reform their connections with a major American labor union. A large portion of the plant's workforce organized and launched a campaign to form a union through the United Auto Workers, but company management promoted anti-union policies, hired anti-union organization contractors LRI to dissuade voters, and threatened union organizers with termination.[14] A vote was held on the grounds of the Moraine plant, with anti-union voters defeating pro-union voters by a margin of 886 to 441.[15][16][17]

Following management's victory, several prominent pro-union employees and plant executives began to face workplace repercussions ranging from losses in hours to termination. Three pro-union employees, who had been terminated for reasons considered questionable by American cultural workplace standards, filed cases with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the company, which settled the case in 2018 by agreeing to cover back pay and interest totaling $120,000.[18] Complaints made to the NLRB included allegations of unfair labor practices. In addition, The settlement referenced the cases of four former employees, with allegations that included terminating workers, interrogating, harassing, and disciplining employees, refusing to hire employees with prior union ties, and constant changing of the company's terms and conditions of employment.[18][19] The company was fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration with regard to the safety concerns and addressed the processes in question. In 2018, after losing tens of millions of dollars per year, the plant turned its first annual profit.

After the settlement was granted to the plaintiff employees, Fuyao Glass America President Dave Burrows and Vice President John Gauthier were terminated, with Fuyao's executive management citing the need to improve company efficiency.[20] Burrows and Gauthier filed suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that both executives were removed of both contract and employment without cause, prior notice, or explanation.[20] The suit also alleges that national origin was a defining factor that Fuyao considered when firing both corporate executives. As of 2020, Burrows has been replaced with Chinese national Sunny Yiqun Sun.

An Academy Award winning documentary about the plant, American Factory, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019, featuring themes of cultural conflict, production challenges and management opposition to unionization.[21]

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References

Citations
  1. "As clear as glass". maersk.com. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  2. Khouri, Christina (2014-11-04). "Fuyao Glass breaks for HK IPO". GlobalCapital. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  3. Ho, Prudence (2015-03-15). "Fuyao Glass Raises US$951 Million in Hong Kong IPO". Wall Street Journal. Hong Kong. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
  4. Ling 2008, pp. 1-3.
  5. Ling 2008, pp. 7-10.
  6. Ling 2008, pp. 4-6.
  7. "Moraine no longer home to former GM Assembly Plant; Site now officially home of Fuyao Glass America Inc". Englewood Independent. 5/15, 2014. Retrieved 4/17/2020.
  8. Navera, Tristan (2016-10-07). "Fuyao Glass America Inc., a Timeline". Dayton Business Journal. Dayton, Ohio. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  9. Navera, Tristan (2016-06-23). "Fuyao aims to be the 'backbone of the North American glass industry". Dayton Business Journal. Dayton, Ohio. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  10. Navera, Tristan (2016-10-07). "Fuyao's new target: 5,000 U.S. jobs". Dayton Business Journal. Dayton, Ohio. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  11. Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer. "Fuyao to build $16M processing center, create 70 jobs". daytondailynews. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  12. "Fuyao Glass America Inc. Faces $724,380 in Federal Penalties After U.S. Department of Labor Finds Multiple Hazards at Ohio Plant | Occupational Safety and Health Administration". www.osha.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  13. www.bizjournals.com https://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/news/2017/03/21/fuyao-puts-7m-into-safety-updates-to-solve-osha.html. Retrieved 2020-04-12. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. "Fuyao Glass America: A clash of US and China work cultures EJINSIGHT - ejinsight.com". EJINSIGHT. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  15. Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer. "Fuyao employees reject UAW bid by wide margin". daytondailynews. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  16. Scheiber, Noam (2017-11-09). "Chinese-Owned Factory in Ohio Fights Off Unionization Plan". New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  17. Bognar, Steven and Reichert, Julia (directors) (2019-01-25). American Factory (Documentary). United States: Reichert, Jeff and Parker Benello, Julie (producers).
  18. Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer. "BREAKING: Fuyao fined for firing workers, newly revealed records show". daytondailynews. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  19. "FUYAO GLASS AMERICA, INC | National Labor Relations Board". www.nlrb.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  20. Gokavi, Mark; Thomas Gnau, Staff Writer. "Former Fuyao exec sues over termination; Fuyao calls suit 'meritless'". daytondailynews. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  21. Liu, Yujing (2019-09-01). "Why Fuyao – focus of Obama's American Factory – is under pressure". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2019-09-23.

Books
  • Ling, Zhu (2008), Building Wealth in China: 36 True Stories of Chinese Millionaires, New York City: Random House, Inc., ISBN 978-0-307-59162-3
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