EDC communications manager returns from Taiwan

Spira learns about difference in industries

She's ba-a-ck!

Caroline Spira, manager of communications and research for the Grant County Economic Development Council, recently returned from Taiwan.

The month-long trip was part of the Moses Lake Noon Rotary Club's group study exchange in which young, non-rotarian professionals head to other countries to get exposure to different cultures and their ways of doing business.

"It was a wonderful opportunity that the Moses Lake Rotary Club sponsored me for that program," Spira said. "The generosity and hospitality of the people at the rotary clubs in Taiwan was also amazing. It was a wonderful service group, and I'm indebted to them for an eye-opening experience."

While in Taiwan, Spira said she delivered a presentation on the entire rotary district, which ranges from central British Columbia to central Washington state, to at least 25 rotary clubs.

Spira said that each member in her group spoke about something special, relating to their field. She spoke about agriculture in the district, and about the GCEDC and what it does.

The others in her group spoke about tourism, law enforcement, and natural resources.

"We had a very extensive schedule that started at 8 a.m. and sometimes went through 10 p.m.," Spira said. "Doing presentations to rotary clubs was only a small part of it. The press schedule included visiting schools, from elementary to high school to universities; hospitals, industries and points of interest — cultural, tourism."

Spira said the biggest lesson she learned concerning her work at the GCEDC was the way Taiwanese large industries are expanding, mostly to mainland China to take advantage of lower labor costs.

"It was a very good eye-opener to the different ways industries operate around the world," she said, adding that she had been impressed with the way local industries like Genie Industries and Titan work when given a tour of their facilities.

"When I was in Taiwan, I got to see some industries where it operated totally differently," she explained. "Line work. Thirty-five people on one single operating line. Repetitive work. The safety requirements are different, but also the management vision is different, the way that they view how to do business."

Spira said that many of the industries her group went to gave presentations on their business plans, and most said that they were forecasting 30 percent increases in production as a goal.

"They tracked it very specifically," Spira said. "Very different, but they also operate very differently. That was a massive amount of experience."

The trip also helped Spira spread awareness of the area she was representing.

"It gave me the opportunity to talk about Moses Lake and Grant County in a nation that didn't even know where central Washington was," she said.