Jim in India
Bottle Production

GSSI and client at Press-Okay

GSSI with client and printer

Jim at Bottle Plant

Scooter Engineer

Tom at India paper mill

Tom with printer in China

GSSI TRIP TO INDIA AND CHINA

James Letzel, GSSI CEO and President and Tom Vendetti, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing recently spent 3 weeks in Asia visiting Clients, Suppliers, Prospects and local GSSI personnel. “The goal of the trip was to strengthen relations with our current supplier base as it had been several months since our last visit,” said Vendetti. “These companies are important to our continued success and we believe that solid relations with them are the cornerstone of our future”.

In addition to visiting suppliers, Letzel and Vendetti traveled to India to meet with Star Papers Company to consult on a project for one of India’s most highly regarded paper manufacturing companies. GSSI’s fine reputation as a product / market development consultant has spread to India where they spent four days with Star Papers, learning about the mill’s sales markets, presenting a plan for market development and process improvement, as well as visiting the paper mill itself. “GSSI prides itself on giving our clients a fair and honest assessment of the potential for success. We will not take an assignment that we do not believe in. Star Papers has an excellent reputation in their domestic market and certainly has the drive and ability to export into other Asian markets. We plan on helping them achieve this goal,” said Vendetti.

Upon their return to China from India, Letzel and Vendetti moved on to Shanghai where they met with scooter manufacturers in order to finalize details of the highly anticipated US launch of the electric bike. “We were able to work with the factory to make a few improvements that we believe will be well received by the US market. Working together we added speed and torque as well as improving the battery itself. These scooters will be the best available and given $3.00 a gallon gas prices, certainly a welcome relief for price weary consumers. It has been a lengthy process getting the bike just right. In many ways, we feel a bit like the inventors of the last century who tinkered with their creations endlessly hoping for a breakthrough. Well, last week we think we made one of those breakthroughs,” reported Jim Letzel.

“I can guarantee that there will not be a more powerful electrically powered scooter on the market. I can also safely report that the Eco-Glide, our name for the product, will have the most options for buyers, the most advanced technology and finest construction of any such bike on the market today. Our factory has spent an enormous amount of time and money creating a scooter just for the US market. We think consumers are going to fall in love with the Eco-Glide’s convenience and durability,” Letzel said.

Leaving Shanghai Letzel and Vendetti traveled to the Qing Dao peninsula where they met with bottle and glass manufacturers in support of GSSI’s wine accessories business. “Initially, no one believed that a Chinese bottle could match the quality of a French or Italian wine bottle. We told our clients that is was possible but that they needed to be patient and work with us. The desire, on the part of the Chinese, is there and all that was really needed was a wine maker who saw the potential and was willing to work with us to get the results they needed. We found the client in the famed Washington state vineyard, Hedges, and after a couple of tries now have a bottle that compares quite nicely with the best Europe has to offer,” said Jim Letzel after visiting the factory. “We are making bottles that save winemakers money without sacrificing quality. The product is everything to a winemaker and we would never do anything that forced them to compromise. Our bottle had to be better than their existing one. We believe that it is.”

The other area of promise is crystal wine glasses which are favored by most wineries as the best way to taste the fruits of their labor. GSSI has partnered with the finest maker of crystal in China in order to offer our clients a cost effective alternative to European crystal which is several times more expensive. Letzel and Vendetti toured the factory and visited with the General Manager who is keen to export to America. “This factory specializes in some very unique shapes as well as the classic ones. The molds they have built are truly unique and should be of great interest to any one wanting a special glass. GSSI is proud of our association and expects to build a strong and lasting relationship with them that benefits our clients for many years to come. We understand that there is work to do convincing clients that this glass is the equal of more famous European brands but we believe, as with our experience in Bottles, that the work we put into the front end in preparing our Supplier for the Export Market will pay off over the long haul,” Vendetti commented.

The trip ended in Beijing where GSSI conducted successful meetings with individuals representing the Chinese government on a paper materials export program. GSSI is exploring the potential of employing underutilized Chinese assets to develop some specialized grades for the US market. The plan is under continued evaluation with the first export being manufactured in May for use on a US owned catalog with International distribution. Pending the success of this effort, GSSI intends to expand the plan to several more grades and aggressively pursue the US domestic market.