Business travel accounted for 19% of global travel and tourism spending in 2022, down just 1% from 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statista. As the world has opened up to travel post-pandemic, the benefits of traveling around the paintings are numerous: in-person meetings help build stronger relationships and communications and deepen understanding between cultures within a company. And the wisdom gained can be retrieved and implemented into the company’s day-to-day operations.
Here, 3 local painters talk about what they learned on painting trips and how it helped them paint at home: Kitrina Prino, Quality Manager at BioKyowa, talks about her travels to Japan, Procter
Kitrina Prino
BioKyowa Quality Manager
Japan
Kitrina Prino, BioKyowa’s quality manager at Cap Girardeau, traveled abroad for the first time in July 2023, to Tokyo for a week-long quality assembly with BioKyowa’s parent company, Japan-based KHB. As an amino acid company, BioKyowa’s Cape Girardeau plant is the company’s only production site in the United States; Also present at the convention were representatives of the organization’s other sister factories in Thailand, China and Japan.
In addition to being her first time abroad, this trip also marked Prinos first time flying in an airplane a flight that was a little longer than 13 hours; before this trip, she says she had rarely left Missouri.
“I never diversified my activities. I am very revered here in Missouri. I love it here; “I was very afraid to move on to Tokyo,” Prino said. “But I inspire everyone to take those leaps and move on to exploring. Go to see new places. I would do it a hundred times.
There, Prino says he discovered that many employees in Japan have a tough work ethic; He says they turned off the lights at the construction site at 8 p. m. m. Every night, the staff has to go home. In addition, he has learned to speak effectively: patience and understanding are two virtues that he has applied to his paintings since he started. he’s been to Japan.
“I talk very quickly to a very southern accomplice: they don’t understand some of what I’m saying, but they’ve been very patient with me, trying to convey what I needed and what they needed,” Prino said. That’s definitely all I’ve learned: how to speak better, how to be more patient and perceive the differences between cultures.
Prino traveled with one of his colleagues from Japan; In addition to working, they were also able to delight in the culture of his stay. Prino’s favorite component was visiting shrines and temples: at one of them, they were able to attend a classic Japanese wedding, which Prino says is rare; She says she felt “humiliated” to be there to witness it.
The clean-up of the city of 13. 96 million people has affected Prino; There are no public trash cans or clutter anywhere, he says. His colleague explained that this was because city dwellers were using reusable cutlery, plates and cups, rather than take-out pieces, as in the United States. Prino says there is also an absence of siren sounds. The food is different, too: Prino says everything is new and the quantities are much smaller: A “big” drink at Starbucks is like a “small” drink in America.
Prino says traveling for work is beneficial because it allows employees to better understand how the work they do fits with the work others are doing within the companys different locations.
“[Traveling] allows others to see that we’re all on another path, but we all have other motivations, and seeing those other cultures, their experiences, where they’re headed, actually helps us open our eyes to a bigger picture. . Prino said.
arnold brewer
Procter
France
As Director of Integrated Work Systems for Family Care at Cape Girardeau en Procter
To see how Procter sites
There, Brewer and his colleagues compared the differences between what French sites do from the Cape Girardeau site and how they can apply what works well for French sites in Cape Town. Brewer said he learned how “ingrained” the field is. be in French culture.
“In P
In France, Brewer looked at each sites Compelling Business Needs (CBN) to see what drives the employees to achieve world-class results. He found the Blois site had a unique, strong statement that tied to elements that are a part of the city, such as including an image of the Jacques-Gabriel Bridge the city is known for with the goals and mission statement for the site. This helped create a culture of local pride for employees, which translated to their work.
Based on this idea, Brewer revised the Cape Girardeau CBN to include more elements from the southeast Missouri region. Implemented the new CBN at the recent engagement event, where Procter employees
Brewer visited P’s site
“When it comes to other people in the U. S. or other people in France, you can see that there are a lot of similarities there, and it’s about perceiving other people and what are the things that make them need to reach. “Size?” said Brewer. You just have to perceive that as a leader.
Sara Page
Cap America senior vice president of overseas operations
Bangladesh, China and Vietnam
Sarah Page, Cap America senior vice president of overseas operations, loves travel: She studied abroad in Great Britain while in college and has continued traveling while working at Cap America in Fredericktown, Missouri.
Once or twice a year, Page goes on two-week trips to expand and maintain relationships with Cap America’s foreign components in China, Vietnam and Bangladesh. He also travels to find other factories to work with and has visited Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, Nicaragua and Mexico as part of this initiative.
Page says that while communication generation works well, it’s vital to be physically at services with your partners face-to-face, as well as having dinner together and getting to know your partners.
While in the country, Page and his team of colleagues stop at factories to check compliance, meet new team members, and receive information about new machines the factory is implementing. He also meets with factory executives to talk about issues such as tariffs, pricing. , production times, new decoration techniques, and new fabrics used in U. S. foreign markets.
Page says the rest of the people in China, Bangladesh, and Vietnam are an engaged workforce, as evidenced by the fact that the region he travels to is the world’s leading production region.
“At the end of the day, we all work to make money. And this is not unusual in all of our cultures. And we can collaborate with those people,” Page said. They need quality, they need paints, they need to do everything they can to increase productivity, and in turn, we need to sell as much as we can. »
In addition to his paintings in China, Page has visited the Great Wall of China, the Olympic Village in Beijing, and the Tsingtao Brewery Museum in Qingdao, China. One of her favorite countries she has traveled to is Bangladesh; She says she enjoyed visiting the temples and learning more about Buddhist culture there.
Page says it’s appealing to see how other parts of the world influence each other. Through its profits, Cap America contributes to local schools in Fredericktown and Marquand, Missouri, where many of the youth of its approximately 400 employees attend. They are also active in the Salvation Army and Camp Hope, a veterans’ organization in Farmington, Missouri.
“Through those overseas connections, it helps us take what we’re capable of accomplishing and spread it in our communities,” Page said. “Cape America is an important component of Madison County, and it’s because we’re able to do in this type of business we’ve been able to help other people in our own communities; those foreign components basically help Madison residents. It’s a mutual connection. It’s great.
Page says traveling to paint has helped her become more organized, which she says is a necessity when they spend long days traveling from country to country with an iPad, computer, or phone. the other. She says traveling helps other people thrive.
Travel is something that in order to really, truly understand the way the world works, you have to do it, Page said.
Governor and Lieutenant Governor Promote Missouri on International Trade Missions
With more than 700 foreign corporations in Missouri, according to “Welcome to Central America: The U. S. Midwest. offers affordable labor, low taxes, and friendly faces” from Investment Monitor, Governor Mike Parson and Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe are running to strengthen relationships with business leaders already in Missouri and inspire business leaders whose corporations are not currently located in Missouri to help them make an investment in the state through foreign industry missions.
The purpose of industrial missions, according to Parson’s office, is to “establish relationships with key foreign figures to publicize Missouri’s industrial capacity. “
In November 2023, Kehoe traveled to Germany for a trade mission, where he met with executives from Boeing, Merck and BASF, as well as Lufthansa Airlines, to discuss expanding the number of flights between Germany and Missouri, according to the story Kehoe Represents Missouri in His First-Ever Trade Mission Overseas from Missourinet.
Parson traveled on a trade mission to Japan in October 2023. His visit marked the first time in 20 years a Missouri governor has visited Japan on a trade mission, according to the story I-70 improvement project part of Parsons business talks in Japan from Fox 2 Now.
The article stated that Missouri’s largest trading partners were Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, and Belgium; In 2022, Missouri exported $455 million worth of goods to Japan, adding processed foods, chemicals, and electronics. In Japan, Parson met with Hitachi, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nidec, Panasonic, Toyoda Gosei (TG Missouri), and ZEN-NOH.
Missouri has historic ties to Japan, and we look forward to strengthening this vital international relationship through our Trade Mission, Parson said in a news release. Leading Japanese companies are already operating in our state, contributing to our economic growth and creating jobs for Missourians. We are excited to promote Missouri as a prime business location and to encourage continued investment and mutual success.
In March 2023, Parson traveled to Sweden and Germany on a trade mission. In 2022, Missouri exported $29 million of goods to Sweden, including electrical equipment and fabricated metal products, and $680 million of goods to Germany, including chemicals and pharmaceutical products. While in Sweden, Parson met with executives from DeLeval, a global leader in milking equipment for dairy farms, which has a presence in Missouri, in addition to participating in a multi-sector and ag-tech roundtable. In Germany, he met with executives from Merck KGaA, Heraeus and Lufthansa Airlines.
Parson undertook its first industrial project in 2019 in France, Germany and Switzerland; Later that year, he was also involved in an industrial project in Australia. In March 2022, he travelled to the United Kingdom and Ireland on an industrial project, followed by an industrial project in Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Greece in November 2022. .
Trade missions are funded through the Hawthorn Foundation, which in turn is funded through Missouri companies. For more information, visit hawthornfoundation. org.
No upcoming industrial missions have been announced lately.
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