ZEISS Greater China President: Zeiss’s development in line with Shanghai FTZ

In October 2013, Shanghai Customs piloted a new regulatory mode called “First Entering and then Declaring to the Customs” to advance the clearance facilitation of entry-exit goods in the zone. As a result, the application formalities for prototypes developed by ZEISS Group have been shortened from the original five working days to just one, not only saving a large amount of time, but also avoiding the high costs of storage at airports’ warehouses supervised by the customs authorities.

Months later, in May 2014, the FTZ launched a pilot program for centralized operation and management of foreign exchange funds of headquarters of multinational companies. As one of the beneficiaries, Zeiss is allowed to open domestic and overseas master accounts for foreign exchange funds so as to have centralized management of domestic and overseas membership companies. It can also make centralized collections and payments of funds, as well as net settlements. “This is substantial. This is only because we are in the pilot FTZ that we had this possibility!” said Mr. Foerst with excitement.

While launching the pilot policies, the FTZ surely listens to the needs of the enterprises. According to Mr. Foerst, “The most important support we get is open dialogue. Basically we have the possibility to discuss with the FTZ of what our needs are as a company, and then, having quick feedback and changes in policies can be required. This is happening today and I do believe this is going to continue in the future.” While dealing with the Chinese, he has found that the people here are not as rigid as their stereotypical image. On the contrary, there is a big openness to learn, understand and improve, and this is something Mr. Foerst has always enjoyed about working here in the FTZ and in the company. “Once the problem is discovered, people will always try to find a solution and do better. Even if they sometimes face the risk of failure, they will try to learn from the failure and then start again. This largely reflects China, especially the innovative spirit and flexibility of Shanghai.”