Four Days, Two Cities, Five Plants

Typical scenario. Assembled from recurring project patterns, not a single client record. No client name or itinerary is disclosed.

Background

Industrial components, buyer travelling from Europe with a technical colleague. Deliverable: visit route plus accompaniment. Timeframe: four days on the ground.

The problem

The buyer had proposed three cities in four days to “cover more ground”. Two of the three cities had plants relevant to the category; the third had one, and it was two hours from the airport.

Scope

Build a route maximising decision-relevant meetings, hold a backup for each half-day, accompany with interpreting, and issue same-day notes. Flights and hotels excluded.

What we did

The third city was dropped after comparing travel hours against meeting hours. Five plants in two cities replaced six in three, with one afternoon kept free.

The free afternoon was used: a plant that had been “confirmed” moved its meeting by a day, and the backup slot absorbed it rather than collapsing the rest of the route.

Each meeting followed the same close: what was agreed, what was still open, who owned the next action and by when. Notes went out the same evening.

What we found

A route is not a list of visits. It is a schedule with slack in the places where a change is most likely.

Deliverables

Route with travel hours per leg, backup per half-day, same-day notes for five meetings, and a consolidated follow-up list.

Result

Five plants visited in four days; one schedule change absorbed without losing a meeting.

Basis note: five plants in four days is realistic in a single industrial belt; the same count across three cities is not.

Limitations

• No buyer, plant or city combination is identified.
• Route feasibility depends on the specific cluster; some categories are spread across provinces and cannot be compressed.

Next step

Send the goal, cities and dates. Business travel in China covers route design and accompaniment.