CNBC's Becky Quick, who is traveling with Warren Buffett on a whirlwind tour of Asia, filed this video report from a new factory built in China by a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary in just six months. She also reveals why it has yellow floors.
In the clip, you'll also see video of Buffett and Becky arriving in South Korea earlier today.
(You can see Becky's video report from a dinner honoring Mr. Buffett in the WBW post Warm Welcome in China.)
Carl Quintanilla: Squawk Box has been covering Warren Buffett in China and in South Korea exclusively. Our own Becky Quick making the trip. Mr. Buffett is visiting one of his factories in South Korea today. This morning, he said stocks look strong in that country but the U.S. dollar does not. He's also warning the subprime fallout will deepen over the next two years.
Before arriving in South Korea, Mr. Buffett was in Dalian, China, at another of his factories, and Becky picks up the story from there.
Becky: This is Iscar's new plant in Dalian, China. It's the first plant that Iscar (an Israeli industrial took maker owned by Berkshire Hathaway) has ever put up in China. And right now, I know, it still looks relatively empty in here. All these machines behind us, though, are brand new, state of the art machines. High technology all the way around.
And by the way, this plant was put up in just six months time. Six months. Warren Buffett says that is a record time. In fact, he says there's not another country where this plant could have been put up in just six months time.
Now a year from now, this is going to be packed. There will be machines everywhere, computers everywhere, robots everywhere that can actually move around. There are a few robots here now, but they're telling me that much fancier robots will be here in a year's time.
At that point, this place will be able to knock out a couple hundred million dollars worth of product a year. This is a rapid expansion.
Mr. Buffett was saying on his way here, he was looking down the streets. All the way through Dalian, there are new factories, just like this one that are going up everywhere. In fact, a lot of those factories are going to be this factory's customers.
Anyway, he says when you look around China it shows you how much things have changed. And his biggest point is that Americans really need to see what is happening in countries outside of America, especially right here in China.
We're going to have a lot more about what's been going on here, not only in China but in other parts of Asia. We're going to be traveling on to another part in South Korea, where the Iscar plant that's been there for over nine years has been showing rapid, rapid growth. We'll bring you that part of the story as well tomorrow. We'll have more on Squawk Box.
Carl: Yes, we will, like right now. We wanted to know why those floors were yellow. Here's a little bit more with Becky and Mr. Buffett.
Becky: The factory floors here are all painted yellow. You can see this. This is a signature of Iscar. They make sure they paint the factory floors yellow so that dirt can't hide. That's one way, they say, everything stays clean and it's a very important point. They say it's one thing that distinguishes Iscar's factories from other factories all over the world.
Carl: Interesting stuff from Beck. More coming as we gear up for Monday's big exclusive "Inside China" with Mr. Buffett.
Becky will continue to report on her experiences On the Road with Warren Buffett both on CNBC's Squawk Box (6a-9a ET weekdays) and here on Warren Buffett Watch.
Questions? Comments? Email me at buffettwatch@cnbc.com
