Early Morning in Stuttgart, Germany

I was in Stuttgart Germany in 1993 on a visit to SKF Headquarters.

We have secured a contract to supply ITM a textile spinning test machine. Salleh and Jamaldin from ITM were on training at SKF. I was there to discuss shipping arrangements.

We stayed at a 3 star hotel in Stuttgart which cost nearly double than KL 4 star hotel.

It was in cold winter and I could not sleep well.

What intrigued me was that at 5.00 a.m. local time I could see the office building across the hotel brightly lit up. I could see people moving about and already started working. It's really in the early hours of the morning.

Later when I asked the SKF executives they told me that people start work early on hours of their choice. It's "flexi" time. Those who started early can leave for home early.

It was in Stuttgart, known as the motown (motor town) of Germany for its automobile industry that I saw so many BMW and Mercedes taxis. The executive car here is Audi.