For years, Robert AndersonSchoepe has been squeezing pennies out of America's best-selling toilet valve. He has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor-saving machinery, streamlined the production lines at his two California plants and shifted his most labor-intensive work to a factory in Tijuana.
But the president of Fluidmaster Inc. is running out of ways to cut costs at his San Juan Capistrano-based business. And now his biggest customers -- companies such as American Standard Cos., Kohler Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc. -- are moving into China.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday October 27, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 45 words Type of Material: Correction
Toilet parts makers -- An article in Tuesday's Business section about plans by Fluidmaster Inc. and Bemis Manufacturing Co. to set up a joint venture in China said the companies hoped to acquire a production facility that employed 12,000 people. The facility employs 1,200 people.
As they venture across the Pacific, AndersonSchoepe is ready to take the leap himself, preparing to set up a jointventure production facility in China with another leading U.S. manufacturer of toilet parts.
During his first trip to China three years ago, AndersonSchoepe was bowled over by the round-the-clock construction transforming Shanghai, Beijing and other big cities.
"When we see that, it's opportunity," said the 51-year-old chief executive, whose late father, Adolf Schoepe, founded Fluidmaster in 1957. "Every one of those apartments has at least one or two toilets in them."
China, once viewed as a low-cost producer of furniture and faucets for export, is experiencing a housing boom of its own.
Foreign companies, spurred by Beijing's easing this year of investment restrictions, are jumping into the $50-billion-a-year home improvement market. B&Q of Britain, the largest foreign-based home improvement retailer in China, has more than 40 stores. In August, U.S. market leader Home Depot got the government's go-ahead to open stores in China.
To enter that promising market, AndersonSchoepe decided, Fluidmaster needed to acquire an existing facility with customers and local market knowledge.
But the three largest domestic companies were manufacturing seats and valves, and he had no interest in mastering a new area of sanitary product expertise. So he teamed with Bemis Manufacturing Co., the world's leading maker of toilet seats, to produce and market their wares throughout Asia.
In an interview last week at Fluidmaster's corporate headquarters, AndersonSchoepe and Norman Giertz, 50, president of Bemis' proprietary products group, said they might eventually export from China to the United States or other parts of the world.
