[reproduced - China Business News: China Manufacturing Network member company reports] Hualian Machinery: offset labor costs with equipment updates

In the context of rising manpower costs and the fact that manufacturing companies cannot afford it, the trend of reducing the number of employees for downstream customers through the constant updating of packaging equipment is gradually approaching.

Jiang Qi, general manager of Hualian Machinery Group Co., Ltd., located in Wenzhou, told the “China Business” reporter that the rising labor costs and difficulty in recruiting not only highlighted in the production companies, but also provided the same equipment supply companies with such pressure and potential for transformation and upgrading. Imperative. In an interview with the Hualian Machinery factory, the reporter learned that: in the processing plant, machinery and equipment have become more and more perfect, and workers have become increasingly scarce. It turns out that the practice of Hualian Machinery is to use machinery instead of labor, but at a lower cost.

Only diversify the industry

Hualian Machinery has a market share of 60% in the domestic sealing machine market and has a high level of voice in the industry.

"There are many kinds of packaging machinery products. Our company started as a sealing machine. As early as 1989, we developed China's first continuous sealing machine." Jiang Qi told reporters that the company is currently the main packaging machinery equipment, products There are more than 200 series of 16 major series, and at the same time, it is the drafter of the national standard for "plastic bag hot-press sealing machine".

It is understood that the packaging industry is actually very broad, with plastic product packaging, paper product packaging and packaging materials, as well as packaging machinery and equipment, and packaging machinery and equipment accounted for only 5% of the packaging industry. “Our strategy is very clear. We have only been doing this packaging machinery for more than 20 years since its establishment until now. 'We don't do diversified industries and diversify the industry' is our philosophy.” Jiang Qi said, “I Will not do real estate, do not go to glasses and other industries, will only do more rich products in this industry."

In Hualian Machinery's factory, the reporter saw its production of vacuum packaging machines, continuous sealing machines, heavy bag packaging machines, sealing strapping machines, heat shrink packaging machines and smart packaging series and other products. In addition to simple sealing machines, strapping machines and packaging machine stand-alone products, more are large-scale packaging line equipment.

“We are now focusing on intelligent packaging systems, which are unmanned and intelligent packaging production line systems.” Jiang Qi emphasized that “the packaging is generally divided into front and rear lanes, taking dairy products as an example, and canning That is, the front-end packaging, and multi-tank box is the back road, Hualian's main production and manufacturing companies to provide the following product packaging production line equipment."

“Now we are also exploring the possibility of replacing machines in our process with machines.” Jiang Qi explained, “For example, from finishing to the assembly of sheet metal, we are all doing it ourselves. It is not realistic to assemble this piece to realize machined and intelligent assembly, but parts and components are acceptable, and our parts and components are 95% self-sufficient. Now we use intelligence instead of mechanization, like some of the original semi-automatic punches. Replaced with high-end, numerical control, as far as possible to achieve automation."

At present, Hualian Machinery has a market share of 60% in the domestic sealing machine market, and has a high voice in the industry. It is precisely because of the market's recognition that Jiang Qi also realized that creating brand from the Chinese manufacturing process to China will be a matter of no delay.

"When I first started exporting, I didn't have any say on the brand. That is, when customers came to order, we took the order and produced it. To put it plainly, it was the OEM, and some customers would be more picky. They asked for a logo here. As for how to do it, we can only meet him as much as possible." Jiang Qi told reporters that there has been a noticeable change in recent years. With the increase in export volume, customers will use their equipment and they will contact the agent. Named to such a design and style, agents intentionally or unintentionally will tell them that this is the production of China Hualian Machinery. For a long time, many customers will know and remember Hualian Machinery.

It is in such a market environment that Jiang Qi feels that the time has come to build a brand. As a result, in the process of negotiations with customers, he gradually began to take the lead, especially in some channels to do a certain area. When the general agent, it will require the other party must use Hualian's brand, and Hualian's custom products and equipment also have Hualian brand logo.

Of course, Jiang Qi also deeply understands the truth: For products, quality is always in the first place. Therefore, "We will not easily develop a new market without adequate assurance or product quality, because if we leave a bad reputation for our customers, we must take several times of efforts to change the image." Jiang Qi said.

Filter orders first to provide custom services

"According to different customer groups, we have to provide different products. It can be said that most of the products are customized," Jiang Qi said.

Not only does the demand for packaging machinery varies from industry to industry, but even different manufacturers in the same industry have differentiated demands. Hualian Machinery's more than 200 products are designed to satisfy customers' different needs.

"According to different customer bases, we want to provide different products. It can be said that most of the products are customized." Jiang Qi said that all intelligent things are customized, because there is no one production line is exactly the same. “On a production line, the robots are packing, and after they are installed, they may put some random gifts and inspection sheets according to the customer's needs. Then, after a check weighing machine, if the weight is not the same, they will be removed immediately. It will be sealed and strapped, and some will require gold checks. For example, some food companies cannot contain any metal components inside, and they need to have a machine to inspect metal and remove products containing metal components."

In fact, the entire machinery industry is currently faced with the phenomenon of ultra-thin profit margins for stand-alone products. Basically, all of them focus on volume. Custom and automated products are relatively better, so manufacturing companies are walking on two legs.

"Now the packaging machinery belongs to general-purpose machinery, not special-purpose ones. The general-purpose industry faces more, the market demand will be relatively large, but the market demand is large, this kind of custom products in general-purpose machinery, Will be very tired, because each client has some personality requirements." Jiang Qi explained to reporters, "If I do the standard machine, after the development of the product, it will be done to solidify this standardization, then follow-up Follow-up R&D personnel do not need to be so much. The final implementation and installation staff are not so much, because the products are operating at a very standard level."

However, for customized products, the delivery of these products will be very large. It can be said that the benefits of customized products are high and the investment is high. It is not only the investment of funds but also the input of various resources such as manpower. The call of various resources is a test of the plant's comprehensive capabilities. Jiang Qi told reporters that they have the same packaging equipment for the pharmaceutical industry, the dairy industry, and the food industry.

Even in the custom product business with higher profits, it is not always better. “We have been doing intelligent devices for over a decade. We used to receive orders from customers. We are now receiving orders from customers. We need to conduct comprehensive assessments of orders and related industries, and decide whether to accept them based on our own production capabilities. I will customize it for you, not for every product,” Jiang Qi said.

From standardization to customization, the services to customers also have to change accordingly. Jiang Qi said that in the early days they had done more stand-alone machines, such as sealing machines and vacuum machines. All the customers needed was a single machine. At that time, they had to do channels to send products to the end consumer market through agents. However, when it comes to smart devices, it requires manufacturers to directly make terminals and directly contact customers. Only by combining channels and terminals can it be done. In his view, providing customized services not only requires enterprises to manufacture and manufacture equipment in accordance with the needs of end customers, but also to integrate with channel providers to provide after-sale services through them.

Expert review Hualian Machinery's Three Pragmatics

The author believes that Hualian is commendable for pragmatically resolving the three entanglement that many companies will encounter:

First, it is purely manual or machine automation. In the exploration, Hualian did not completely automate the machine or purely hand-crafted and assembled from finishing to sheet metal. However, like some of the original semi-automatic presses, they were replaced with high-end, numerically controlled, and as far as possible automated.

Second, whether to continue OEM or branding. Hualian’s approach is to ensure gradual quality brand operation in the first place. For example, when some channel distributors want to make distributors in a certain area, they will require the other party to use the brand of Hualian; and without sufficient assurance, they will not easily develop new markets. This approach is very practical and avoids the risk of aggressive branding.

Third, whether it is standardized components or private customization. In the face of orders sent by customers, Hualian will now selectively take orders to see if there is any reproducibility after this order, and how large the market in this industry is, and whether it is worth digging. After solving the problem of survival, it is not satisfied with the status quo. It will move to the stage of “how to develop and grow, how to live more dignity”. Hualian has reached this stage.