npk products' Managing Director Thomas van Daal uses his Hong Kong office as the Dutch-based company's "eyes and ears" in Asia
	The Hamax seat is another inspired creation from the award-winning Dutch industrial design consultancy
	Innovative designs like this Heineken beer dispenser have helped consultancy npk products build its business globally

Time is of the essence for Dutch company npk products when it comes to meeting production demand. And a calculated move to open an office in Hong Kong during the post-Sars economic downturn turned out to be prescient. Two years later, the company moved to larger offices, including a warehouse for storing samples and stock.

The award-winning Dutch industrial design consultancy, based in Leiden, has made its name through innovative design, including the single-slot and two-slot postbox for TNT Post. The company expanded eight years ago to npk products, in order to supply products and components to clients.

In 2004, the company decided to set up a base in Hong Kong to coordinate and supervise production in the Chinese mainland. Its Hong Kong office outsources the production of plastic parts and moulds to various factories, mostly in the Pearl River Delta region. "Setting up an office in Hong Kong has allowed us to work directly with factories in China and to be more hands-on," said Managing Director Thomas van Daal. "Instead of having to go through agents like we used to, we now have easy access into the factories. As such we have been able to control production directly, and, most important, we're now able to ensure that the quality is at a level we're looking for."

Cost efficient production

That makes for a more efficient production process for the company, which exports mostly to Europe, including Norway, France, Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. "Being in the factories saves us a lot of time at every step. Instead of a process taking one week, it is cut to a matter of one hour. So if you have five steps that normally would have taken five weeks, it now takes only five hours," he said.

Mr van Daal added that the company's Hong Kong office also acts as a filter. "It's our eyes and ears. Our Hong Kong staff can flag something that is not right, instead of having a flawed sample being sent all the way to the Netherlands and back."

The company, which designs and produces consumer and professional products, chose the Pearl River Delta region as its manufacturing base because "prices there are competitive and fast with reasonable quality." That in turn allows npk to produce new products at a higher volume and quality.

Mr van Daal said setting up an office in Hong Kong was a bold step for npk that has paid off. "It takes time to get used to doing business in Hong Kong and China, but once you overcome it, it opens up a lot of possibilities."

Related links
npk products 
npk industrial design