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What to Expect When Working with Foreign Suppliers

OKP has been my introduction to working with a foreign supplier.  We stock this moldable plastic at Fiber Optic Center to make it readily available to users in North America.  Should be easy, right?

With all the talk these days about quick delivery service, same day delivery, delivery by drone, even ‘anticipatory’ shipping, you would think the world was a very connected place.  But I’ve found that not only deliveries, but just regular communications half way around the world still proceed at a ‘human’ pace.  It doesn’t matter if my email arrives in Osaka, Japan, 30 seconds after I hit the Send button if it arrives there at 1AM.  My response will come while I am at home, fast asleep.  I will get it the next day I am at work.

Completing the hand shake on the email doesn’t necessary insure an effective exchange of information.  I try to be very clear with my English and write in simple sentences.  I’m not sure I’m always understood, and I’m sure I don’t always understand the answers I get.  So it usually takes a few emails to accomplish what I set out to do.  However, I’m writing English and if I had to write in Japanese, we wouldn’t accomplish anything.  I am grateful for the English my Japanese counterparts speak.  I simply note once again, for all the speed of the internet, the effective speed of our communications returns to the human realm.

Sometimes things are delayed by not just a day, but days.   This happens during the holidays, which of course proceed in both countries, oblivious of what the other is doing.  Recently it was Golden Week in Japan.  I let the week go by and asked my question again. I was told Japan was still on national holiday.  I think Golden Week sounds like a great holiday.  Can I tell my customers in North America it is Golden Week in Japan?

About the Author
Randall Elgin Randall Elgin, Business Development, Specialty Products, Technical Sales Randall started her career at Fiber Optic Center (FOC) in February 2010 as a technical specialist in encapsulation materials for optical applications. Since then she has worked with new materials, optical and otherwise, that enable high tech applications in the photonics industry. She regularly attends the photonics exhibitions in the US and Europe. Randall joined FOC from Nusil, where she spent 5 years working on the encapsulation issues for Solid State Lighting. Prior to that she spent 3 years at Lightspan in Wareham, MA, learning about and supporting emerging optical applications. Before Lightspan, she was an electrical engineer for 17 years at Sippican Ocean Systems in Marion, MA. Randall graduated from Boston University in 1984 with a Masters in Electrical Engineering. She and her husband reside outside New Bedford where they built a super energy efficient home, enjoy rural living and take in the New Bedford and Boston classical music scenes.
About Fiber Optic Center, Inc.
Fiber Optic Center, Inc., (FOC), is an international leader in distributing fiber optic components, equipment and supplies and has been helping customers make the best cable assemblies in the world for over two decades. Several areas of specialization and expertise, in which they are the industry leader, make them the preferred choice for many of the world’s fiber professionals. In these key technology areas, FOC is "at least as technical as the manufacturer" about the products they sell. Striving to "make the business part easy," they offer outstanding and personal customer service, low or no minimum purchase order values, and from-stock delivery on industry-leading products and technology. FOC is the industry connection to the most innovative optical products, technologies and technical experts who integrate their manufacturing knowledge and vast experience into customers' worldwide operations. @FiberOpticCntr

For further information contact:
Fiber Optic Center, Inc., 23 Centre Street, New Bedford, MA 02740-6322
Toll Free in US: 800-IS-FIBER or 800-473-4237 . Direct 508-992-6464. Email: sales@focenter.com or fiberopticcenter@focenter.com

For media contact:
Kathleen Skelton, Director of Strategic Marketing, C: 617-803-3014 . E: kskelton@focenter.com