Operations · Sourcing · Growth
Eastwind is specialized in supporting Western companies in Asia. We offer practical support with a focus on operations, sourcing and growth. Our strength lies in our practical approach, focused on implementation over abstract advice.
The firm
Most advice about Asia is written from a distance. Ours is not. Eastwind was started by a team who spent years in China and Southeast Asia running projects and operations for European companies, and who noticed that the implementation was often more valuable than the strategic advice.
Key impact often came from the mundane task: the factory visit that changed the decision, the price that moved in the third meeting, the consultants embedded in the client's team to support and accelerate, or the local operational support who made the business work. We built the firm around that part.
Two ways of working
Defined scope, defined outcome, led by the partner you meet at the start. For decisions that need a proper answer before money is committed.
We set up and run a function for you in the market, under our management and working as part of your organisation, so you get the capability without carrying your own entity and fixed cost.
Expertise
Everything we take on sits in one of these. If a request falls outside them we will say so and point you to someone better placed.
Setting up, running or restructuring what you already have in the region. When the situation calls for it we take operational responsibility ourselves, including at management level.
Typical engagements
Better suppliers at a lower total cost, verified in person. A supplier that has not been visited has not been qualified.
Typical engagements
Entering a market for the first time, or growing where you already sell. From whether the product fits at all through to a channel that is actually moving product.
Typical engagements
Markets
Greater China and the main Southeast Asian economies, with people on the ground in each market we take an engagement in.
Work
Examples of cases we have worked with.
Lift manufacturer
Supplier cost programme and supply chain redesign · China
Component costs had been rising for over a year and the internal cost-down effort had stalled for lack of hands. We broke the main assemblies down to component level, benchmarked the cost drivers and renegotiated with the existing suppliers on that basis. Suppliers were assessed on site to decide which to keep, consolidate or replace, and alternatives were qualified in a second country. When a new product line moved from steel to standardised aluminium doors, we mapped the chain step by step, from profile pressing through cutting, assembly and coating to delivery, built a three-year volume forecast, ran an RFI and RFQ with candidate suppliers, and set out which steps to outsource and which to keep in-house.
Outcome Fact-based prices with the current base, a consolidated supplier list with a qualified alternative for the highest-exposure components, and a costed supply chain recommendation for the new line, ready to decide on.
Nordic IT reseller
Embedded supplier compliance manager · China
A growing private-label range built on Chinese suppliers, and nobody to own supplier compliance. We placed one of our people in the role: setting the audit schedule, attending every initial audit and re-audit, approving root-cause analyses and corrective actions, running supplier training, and handling code of conduct sign-off and conflict minerals due diligence, with a quarterly report back to the client.
Outcome A supplier compliance programme that runs, owned by someone the client did not have to recruit.
Private equity buyer
Supply base due diligence · China
The target's production sat with three contract manufacturers. We established legal status, ownership and actual production capability for each, through interviews and on-site inspection rather than filings.
Outcome An independent view of the investment case and of the third-party manufacturing risk, which changed where the buyer focused before signing.
Automotive supplier
Interim management · China
Compliance problems surfaced in a pre-acquisition due diligence, but nobody could say where they sat. We ran the risk assessment, found the issues across management, finance, sales and purchasing, then stepped in as interim management and restructured the organisation over eighteen months.
Outcome Purchasing costs down a quarter, sales margin up ten points, full compliance, acquisition completed.
Global trading company
Market study and target search · Vietnam
The client wanted to enter Vietnamese food retail by acquisition. We sized the market, mapped the players, set screening criteria, approached targets directly to test their appetite, and proposed a deal structure for the shortlist.
Outcome A live negotiation with an identified target, with the client supported through it.
Contact
Tell us what challenges you are facing. A first conversation will settle whether we can support you, and in either case hopefully give you some new perspectives on the region.