Huashengchang's international expansion

The interview was postponed by one day because a client came to visit temporarily, and Chairman Yuan Jianmin needed to receive him personally. Although the Huashengchang Machinery Industry he founded is already an enterprise with an annual income of more than 300 million yuan and a considerable position in the measuring instrument industry, Yuan Jianmin still maintains the habit of directly negotiating and making decisions with customers when starting a business. With direct contact, you can understand the market demand and have a correct judgment of the market at the first time." He emphasized in particular.

"Face directly to your customers"

When Yuan Jianmin founded the company in 1991, his company, like most Chinese export companies at that time, also processed materials from Hong Kong and other places, and cooperated with foreign trade intermediaries. Export. However, Yuan Jianmin, who was unwilling to be only a foundry, won the right to export by himself in 1995, and started to build his own foreign trade team to directly contact with customers.

Since then, Huashengchang's overseas market expansion has gradually accelerated. Although he is an engineer, Yuan Jianmin's attention and sensitivity to the market are not inferior to others. He insisted on facing the client directly, "In 1998, I couldn't speak English, so I couldn't talk to the client. But both I and the client insisted on talking directly without translation. It will be fine later. This will help you grasp and judge. It's very helpful."

In the 1990s, with the launch of China's new round of economic reform, export and foreign trade became the engine of economic growth in coastal areas, and a large number of processing plants and foreign trade intermediaries sprang up. Manufacturing plants get large orders with low labor costs. Traders from Hong Kong and other places rely on market and information advantages to gain a place in the foreign trade business chain.

The division of labor between manufacturing and trade has its specialization rationality, but in Yuan Jianmin's view, this separation will also pay a price: manufacturers stay at the bottom of the industry chain, unable to access first-hand information on market demand, unable and unreliable Motivation to do further research and development work; traders do not have the backing of entities, and the cooperation with customers often stays at the level of providing the lowest price, and it is difficult to establish a stable cooperative relationship.

If the two can be organically combined, "manufacturers can continuously develop new products according to the needs of customers and the needs of the market; and customers will gain a base of 'production + research and development' as a backing for their market This will meet the needs of both parties." When asked about his biggest experience in the international market for more than a decade, he said, "Of course, this entity needs to do a lot of things. It needs to build a team, it needs to have research and development, and it needs to have quality. , need to have scale and production capacity. This can often form a long-term cooperation model."

"We never refuse small orders"

Under the guidance of this idea, Huashengchang has successfully cooperated with overseas customers. Very stable, with more than ten years of old customers accounting for the majority. Due to the advantages of manpower and other aspects, when Chinese manufacturers take overseas orders, they often like to take large orders, and even disdain taking small orders. But Huashengchang has another set of criteria - "We also do large orders, but at a reasonable price. But we never refuse small orders, which is a very important point for our business." Yuan Jianmin said.

Compared to its peers, Huashengchang, which does not reject small orders, may be slower to develop. However, it was a blessing in disguise. In 2008, the global economic crisis and the sharp reduction in large orders made the peers who only took large orders felt the pain of ups and downs, but Huashengchang survived the crisis with a more reasonable customer structure.

The market development philosophy of "not rejecting small customers" has enabled Yuan Jianmin to cultivate a large number of loyal old customers who focus on technical content. In his words, "Customers will also develop. Today may be small, but tomorrow may develop relatively large. If you start small, you will have a good relationship with customers. We have been with customers for more than ten years. Friends." "Old friends" all over the world, not only bring more stable orders, but also more valuable value - first-hand business intelligence - "The market information is very sensitive, and you can make decisions and make market decisions. It is very beneficial."

For example, in the Russian and Indian markets, due to the stable cooperation with customers for more than ten years, we have a solid understanding and firm confidence in the local market. Since 2009, Huashengchang has been in Set up local sales and after-sales service branches. It not only improves the quality of service for old customers, but also takes advantage of the situation to take a new step in the internationalization of the enterprise.

"Arrange R&D personnel to meet customers directly"

Choose to cultivate stable customers who focus on technical content, another benefit brought to Huashengchang is the promotion of enterprise product research and development. Many export enterprises in the manufacturing industry are faced with the problem of difficult industrial upgrading. One of the most important points is that they cannot establish an effective product research and development system that connects with the market. First of all, because companies are mainly based on cheap OEMs, it is difficult to obtain profit margins sufficient to support R&D investment; secondly, customers have low positioning of manufacturers, which also leaves OEMs without motivation and opportunities for R&D innovation.

Because of its clear positioning and effective selection and training of customers, Huashengchang has successfully realized a virtuous circle of product development and market development. Because they choose customers who pay attention to technical content, they are more professional and less sensitive to price, so the products can obtain better profit margins, which is enough to support higher R&D investment; and customers have higher requirements for technology R&D. , stimulated the motivation of enterprises to carry out scientific research and technological research.

Hua Shengchang chose this development model thanks to Yuan Jianmin's unique strategic vision. As an engineer, he is well aware of the key role of R&D in the long-term development of an enterprise. In his company, R&D design occupies the most central position: "R&D personnel are directly led and trained by me; they enjoy the highest treatment and rewards; the company resolutely protects the intellectual property rights of independent research and development; all customers come, we will arrange R&D personnel and customers. It is very important to meet and communicate directly to let R&D personnel know the latest market conditions. Therefore, R&D personnel will feel their responsibility and value, which is very important."

Years of cultivation have yielded initial results. Huashengchang is a leader in the industry in thermal imaging technology, laser ranging, and multimeters. In some fields, international giants in the industry also draw on its technology for development.

"We can no longer give them the profit of R&D"

The success in technology R&D has added confidence to the company's overseas market expansion. Huashengchang's overseas business is divided into ODM design and foundry mainly in the European and American markets, and independent brands mainly in emerging markets.

In the European and American markets with strong players, Huashengchang chooses to cooperate with big brands. Due to the ability to be recognized by customers, in many cases, R&D and design are done by Huashengchang, and European and American brands are directly OEM sales. However, for many Chinese companies, even if they make efforts in R&D and design, they often cannot get the profits from R&D in the face of strong European and American brands. However, Yuan Jianmin, who is very confident in his R&D strength, said firmly, "We are the researcher on behalf of us. This is a very important position. We can no longer give them the profit from R&D."

In emerging markets such as India and Russia In the market, Huashengchang is not only satisfied with "making wedding clothes for others". In addition to serving old customers, another major mission of his local sales branch is to promote his own brand "CEM". In Yuan Jianmin's eyes, promoting independent brands overseas is not as simple as "selling things", but "there must be sales, after-sales, services, corrections, and inventory, and you can help customers solve problems in time. Maintain your brand."

He gave a very simple example: "You can't be in the European and American markets, there is a problem there, you ask someone to send the goods back, and after a month, your goods still can't be sold. Give it to others. How do you make your own brand like this? It will only smash your own brand."

Being an independent brand, especially an independent brand overseas, the initial investment is huge, and the output is often disproportionate. Yuan Jianmin's countermeasure is to "walk on two legs": "OEM and independent brands should be done together. The product and market are divided. The European and American markets are mainly OEM, and emerging markets are independent; It produces for its ODMs, and promotes its own brands in areas that customers are not involved in. In this process, companies can flexibly grasp the proportion of each part of the investment, so as to avoid 'putting all eggs in one basket'.”

“Stupid birds fly first and work a little harder than others"

When the reporter came to Hua Shengchang's office as scheduled, Yuan Jianmin was in a meeting with his R&D staff. In a later interview, he told reporters that although he had passed his destiny, he was still on the front line of research and development, working with young research and development personnel to tackle key problems. He said it was "stupid birds fly first, work a little harder than others". Ten years ago, his positioning was to compare with Taiwan and South Korea, and now he is a stronger company to catch up with Europe and the United States, "We have the advantage of people: human resources and R&D teams are not inferior to Europe and the United States, and the level of effort in doing things even exceeds that of Europe and the United States."

But it is undeniable that Chinese manufacturing companies will not be able to catch up with their counterparts in developed countries overnight. Although Europe, America, Japan and other countries do not have advantages in terms of labor costs, they still have huge advantages in manufacturing technology and process management.

When asked about the confusion faced by companies in international competition, Yuan Jianmin's first thought was the lack of manufacturing capabilities, "In the measuring instrument industry, manufacturing accuracy is extremely critical, and people take you as the standard. But now the stability of the workforce is far from enough, and our production process needs to be optimized. This results in product quality that is always lacking compared with the first-class level in Europe and the United States." Therefore, Yuan Jianmin is also trying to change, through Manipulators, automatic welding, and automatic detection methods try to reduce the negative impact caused by human factors.

On the other hand, Yuan Jianmin believes that there is still a certain gap between Chinese companies in terms of branding in the international market. Marketing and media cooperation are immature, but now is the critical moment to lay the foundation. The theme. The price of China's products is already low, which is our advantage. In addition, it is now particularly necessary to accumulate advantages in research and development."

Although after the global economic crisis in 2008, the international public praised "Made in China" There are many voices, and there are also public opinions in China that exports can no longer drive China's economic growth. But Yuan Jianmin doesn't take it seriously. In his opinion, Chinese enterprises must be internationalized, and export and foreign trade enterprises are still the frontrunners, and they are also the most likely to start their own brands in the international market first.