CAB meeting held in the UK

Footwear industry figures recently gathered at SATRA's Kettering head office to discuss key issues affecting the Asian market.

The strategic development of SATRA’s operations in China took a major step forward 17 years ago with the first meeting of the SATRA China Advisory Board (CAB). This body brought together representatives of some of the most respected companies in China. The CAB’s remit is to advise the SATRA executive on areas of policy relating to the Chinese market and to assist with the strategic development of SATRA’s operations in China. It also makes recommendations to the main SATRA board of directors as and when required. The body’s responsibility covers shoemaking and a number of other activities, including the supply of footwear components and tanning.

The CAB recently held its 33rd meeting, for which members travelled to the UK and were welcomed at SATRA’s head office in Kettering. During the meeting, updated CAB membership certificates were presented, and a SATRA QS1000 Gold certificate was presented to CAB member James Ho as an award to the laboratory operating in his Golden Chang factory.

On the agenda

SATRA chief executive John Hooker presented information on SATRA’s trading performance for 2022 and the year to date, and an update on the development of SATRA China was given by China office general manager Anthony Mak. The meeting continued with executive director Michael Bodsworth providing an update on SATRA’s planned 2023 events and activities, along with demonstrations of SATRA’s Footwear Foundations training course and the organisation’s mobile footwear scanning software. The revised SATRA Timeline software for calculating a true labour cost was also presented and then discussed.

The current business trading conditions in both China and the southeast Asia region were discussed in depth by all members of the board. In addition, tours were made of both SATRA’s Wyndham Way head office and the nearby Century House site to demonstrate SATRA’s facilities and latest developments. The visit also included a tour of a footwear factory owned by Church’s – a SATRA member company based in Northampton.

The two days spent together were very valuable and the input received from the CAB members continues to help with the development of SATRA’s strategy in southeast Asia.

The photograph above shows CAB members on the steps of SATRA’s Century House facility.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 34 of the June 2023 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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