Green rubber green development
Interview with Mr. Zheng Zhenghong, General Manager of Ningbo Xutai Rubber Industry Co., Ltd.
General Manager Zheng Zhenghong
This year's government work report proposed "Made in China 2025", which greatly promoted green manufacturing and accelerated the green sublimation of manufacturing. The China Rubber Association's "Research on the Development Strategy of a Powerful Country in China's Rubber Industry" report also puts forward strategic goals and action roadmaps and timetables for the next 10 years. This has cleared the way for the future development of the rubber industry at home and abroad, and pointed out the direction.
After more than 30 years of development, Ningbo Rubber Industry has formed a series of industrial chains with the theme of rubber products, rubber raw material trading, rubber auto parts and rubber machinery, and a number of remarkable enterprises have emerged. Xutai Rubber is one of them. In 2007, Mr. Zheng Zhenghong, who was at the helm of the company, started from scratch with solid experience and solid accumulation in foreign companies. In just seven years, Xutai Rubber's annual output value reached more than 70 million, becoming a dark horse in the Ningbo rubber industry. Its main products are O-rings, star-rings, U-rings, Y-rings, V-rings, flat washers, rubber strips, rubber balls, retaining rings, skeleton oil seals, polyurethane oil seals, grid rings, rubber miscellaneous parts Such rubber seals are sold at home and abroad, and are frequently used in industrial electronics, chemical industry, culture, education, medical care, daily household and other fields, and have achieved high reputation and influence in the industry and outside. In 2012, Xutai passed the ISO / TS16949: 2009 quality management system.
Talked about green rubber and green manufacturing. In the interview, Mr. Zheng Zhenghong pointed out that five years ago, I proposed to be an energy-saving enterprise and use a small amount of energy to make suitable output. Speaking of energy saving, Mr. Zheng bluntly said: "I am very whimsical." Mr. Zheng's "whimsical" refers to the green transformation of mechanical equipment other than product manufacturing, which is reflected in the concept of green rubber manufacturing. Humanistic care.
Xutai Company Factory
The guest in the "reception room" of this issue is Mr. Zheng Zhenghong, General Manager of Xutai Rubber Industry Co., Ltd. Let us walk into Ningbo, Xutai Rubber together, let's hear what Mr. Zheng Zhenghong said -
Journal: How has Xutai developed in the past six months?
Zheng Zhenghong: This year's situation is not good. From the current situation, the expected sales task may not be achieved. Xutai has been growing. According to the plan, there will be a 20% growth this year, and the output value is expected to reach 80 million. However, it is difficult to achieve the expected growth target this year.
Journal: Difficulties or stress this year, what do you feel come from?
Zheng Zhenghong: It's still the market, sell this one. Of course, in the past few years, the company has been running at full capacity, and this year it is a bit empty, and the company has also taken advantage of this to carry out internal rectification and upgrading. From last year to this year, we invested 1 million external consultant companies for nine months of management training. All the cadres above the middle level of the factory participated. At the same time, Mr. Wu Keqian, a well-known domestic rubber expert, was hired to conduct professional green rubber safety training for employees, which has greatly improved overall.
Journal: Does Xutai maintain its annual growth target at 20%?
Zheng Zhenghong: Xutai has developed rapidly in the first two years after its establishment, but it has been influenced by the external environment for only a 20% growth in the next few years. This is also our development goal set in the next few years. When Xutai was first established, due to its small base, it grew rapidly. The output value in the first year was 6-7 million, and it doubled to 15 million in the second year, and reached 28 million in the third year. % Growth until last year.
Journal: The 2008 financial crisis had a great impact on private enterprises, but Xutai has developed rapidly in those years. What is the reason behind it?
Zheng Zhenghong: The reason is that before Xutai, I have been in this industry for many years. The rapid growth of Xutai is the result of long-term accumulation.
Some of Xutai's products
I thought back then, in 1989, when I started in a Taiwan-funded enterprise, from the operator to the class leader, team leader, and class leader. There is a very special phenomenon in Taiwanese enterprises, which may be cultural differences. It is difficult for mainland employees to enter the core. For example, when it comes to buying and selling shares, they do not consider mainland employees. Another example is when you make a decision, you can make suggestions, but he will not even consider or discuss. I think this is also one of the reasons why many small Taiwan-funded enterprises cannot really operate locally and develop locally.
Journal: Is this also the reason why you started your own business and came out to do it by yourself? Is there a reason?
Zheng Zhenghong: Yes. Because I also do manufacturing, quality control, and mold, including research and development, except for accounting, which are basically involved. In fact, I didn't expect to be the boss myself at the earliest time. I wanted to follow the boss to fight and complete the boss's career. I think this is my value. However, as I grew older, I gradually discovered that there were many differences in ideas and ideas.
Journal: Which year did you come from a Taiwan-funded enterprise?
Zheng Zhenghong: He left the original enterprise on August 2, 2004. Then a friend of mine wanted me to help him. I was also in Shenzhen. I said yes. Like Ma Yun said, I hope to be clear-cut and hope to help others. Then I will do my best and help others. My friend has been dating me for more than ten years and wants to start a rubber company. He gave me a sum of money, so I took the money to help him find a factory, register a company, recruit people, make a business plan, etc., until a company was completely established. My friend and I both agree on this mode of cooperation, but there is no clear-cut cooperation contract, which lays a hidden danger for our future cooperation.
Neat and clean Xutai production workshop
It is said that this enterprise has been starting from zero market and zero employees since its establishment. When I was in zero business, I was paid a salary of 1,000 yuan per month. Until 2006, I achieved monthly sales of 800,000 and 80 employees. The company began to take shape, so I proposed to my friends to formally determine the cooperation and discuss the share of each other's shares, but they were rejected. My friends hope not to talk about cooperation, first to achieve greater performance, and then talk about sharing results. But from a personal point of view, I think this is not a long-term plan. Not only is my own interests difficult to protect, but the same is true of the subordinates I brought out with one hand, so I submitted my resignation.
Journal: A friend certainly does not want you to leave.
Zheng Zhenghong: Yes, he kept it again and again. But I am a responsible person, and I have proposed a half-year transition time. In the past six months, I was also thinking about the way to go. Until the spring of the second year, the information brought by my friends who first visited Ningbo made me decide to go north to Ningbo to start from the beginning. By the last month of 2006, things in Ningbo had already started, and I was still the last post at Shenzhen Station.
Xutai production site
I can remember that I came to Ningbo on March 19, 2007, and started from scratch with a few like-minded friends. I cherish and enjoy this opportunity and process of starting a business. After staying in a hotel for two days, on the third day I asked everyone to move to a factory building that was just rented or a reinforced concrete shell. Several people sat on wooden boards and drank the cheapest The beer meeting held a three-year plan for the company, when there were only 8 people.
Journal: This year's government work report proposed "Made in China 2025" and proposed the implementation of green manufacturing to promote the big manufacturing country to move towards a strong manufacturing country, and the rubber industry is also one of them. How do you understand "green manufacturing"?
Zheng Zhenghong: First of all, reduce the defective rate of products in production, and strictly control the procurement of raw materials. Our raw materials are imported from Taiwan and Japan; secondly, the formula needs green design, energy saving and emission reduction will reduce the internal consumption to a minimum; secondly, the concept of employees should be green, and only in this way can we produce green products. Five years ago, I proposed to be an energy-saving enterprise, using the least energy to produce the largest and most suitable output. In the industry, we first introduced frozen trimming, although it is not cheaper than manual trimming, but I think this process is very environmentally friendly, using nitrogen, no pollution, at the same time can reduce the use of glue, reduce the amount of raw materials, and Improve mechanization. In the past few years, I have successively replaced old equipment, and the working environment and process have been effectively improved and improved. All waste gas must be discharged through activated carbon to be responsible to the society. It is very intuitive to enter the factory building now and you can feel clean and tidy. The light in the workshop is bright, ventilated and comfortable without smell. All the processing must pass the equipment to do the sulfur change test, and the data come out through the computer. The traditional empirical production will gradually be replaced by a high-tech and highly mechanized professional process. We initially started ERP training before we started production, and we had numbers from the first batch of products. We have an industrial host connected to the whole plant equipment. The screen is located at the entrance of the workshop. The operation process and time of all equipment are recorded with data. We work 24 hours at a glance.
Journal: Does this have anything to do with your experience working in Taiwan-funded enterprises?
Zheng Zhenghong: Yes, I wanted to do this when I was in a Taiwan-funded enterprise, but some leaders were denied after hearing my thoughts. You should not mention this case. If you can come up with it, we would have come up with it already. Too. These ideas have always been in my mind, there was no platform at that time. Now that you have this platform, you must implement it. I am very interested in equipment improvement. I have upgraded and upgraded all the equipment that can be transformed in the workshop, which not only improves production efficiency, but also greatly improves the working environment of workers. For example, the surface grinders in Ningbo used to be sharpened, and then let an employee watch there. This is a mechanical repetitive action. Why should someone stay there? Why can't the machine go where the people are. But I didn't understand mechatronics, so I found two professional masters and started to improve the equipment. After half a month of renovation, the mechanization of production has been greatly improved. Now that the data is set, the worker can leave, and all operations are completed when he returns.
Journal: Such a high degree of mechanization.
Zheng Zhenghong: Right. The future direction is that the enterprise must employ fewer people. The workers in the future must work relaxedly, and the work environment must have high requirements. The workers in the future must all want to sit in the air-conditioned room and wear white shirts to operate the screen.
Journal: The key is to improve the mechanization of equipment.
Zheng Zhenghong: Right. I also have many plans. For example, the current hydraulic press must have an operator. The machine is very hot and there is no way. I was thinking that this mechanical action can't be done by machinery? Lengthen the distance, pass the conveyor belt in the middle, pass the fast air cylinder, the person sits here, blowing air, the material is placed on the worktable to operate A manipulator above the key comes down to grab the material. I am very whimsical, thinking every day. In the future, one person can operate three machines. No one has done this equipment yet. In addition, I also like reading books, because I can recognize many problems through history, which is very helpful for managing enterprises.
Journal: The equipment renovation has been continued for several years. Do you feel that the number of employees has decreased?
Zheng Zhenghong: The number of employees has dropped a lot. There are currently 250 employees on staff, and 242 are working today. In terms of per capita output value, first-line workers can achieve 50,000, but only 30,000 three years ago. Three years ago, there were 220 employees. At that time, the annual output value was about 40 million, but now it can be 60-70 million. The salary of front-line employees is now more than 4000 yuan. So I said that mechanization will definitely replace people, but this will not happen overnight, and it will take several generations of efforts.
Journal: What plans does Xutai have next?
Zheng Zhenghong: First of all, practice internal skills. Xutai's competitor is not Xutai himself. When the economy is low, you can practice your internal skills, and the momentum will be greater when the economy improves.
Journal: What is the current situation of Ningbo rubber industry?
Zheng Zhenghong: Supply exceeds demand. Many small rubber factories that waste production, waste resources, waste land, and waste electrical energy will have weaker resistance to risks once the external market changes. When I first came to Ningbo, there were more than 500 rubber companies, big and small. The market is differentiated, and different companies are positioned differently and face different markets. We are positioned as a mid-to-high-end, high-standard, standardized machinery automation, environmental protection and energy-saving enterprise.
Now we have more than 200 large-scale enterprises in the rubber chamber of commerce. It is conservatively estimated that Ningbo should have five or six hundred rubber factories now, but many of them are very small. So now in the Ningbo rubber industry, the things that are done will get better and better, and the ones that are not good may even be closed.
Journal: What is your goal or Xutai's vision blueprint?
Zheng Zhenghong: In the future of Xutai, I may not pursue the expansion of production scale, but the enhancement of research and development capabilities, quality control capabilities, and the establishment of market brands. What I am after is to have a good job every day. Let these people who follow me have nothing to worry about, share the company's future achievements with them, and even let them own shares. Although the proportion is not large, it is enough to keep them from working and the family can support it. This is my concern at that time. Today, the company is doing this, whose credit is everyone's credit. (The above is the full text of the interview article of 2015.09.P14 of Ringier Industrial Resources' "Rubber International Business Situation")
