Chia Cheng Builds New Headquarters in Taiwan and Plans to Launch Own Brand in China
2012/07/05 | By Quincy LiangChia Cheng World Industrial Co., a leading supplier of total solutions for washroom and bathroom hardware and accessories, will inaugurate a new company headquarters in Taiwan at the end of this year.
The new facility will include an office building, production lines, and large logistics center. It will double the company's production and inventory capacity and boost its assembly capacity 10-fold, greatly reducing the time needed for delivery of orders.
Becoming an Integrator
Founded in 1965, Chia Cheng has developed into one of Taiwan's top makers of metal washroom accessories, bathroom fittings, and public facilities and establishments. Lai says that following its long period of stable development, his company is now able to play the role of an “integrator” by supplying a comprehensive range of products while holding on to only its core manufacturing technologies. The firm has a factory in China that is responsible for casting and electroplating, while its Taiwan plant handles stainless-steel stamping and mold/die development.
The company currently employs 150 people in China and 80 in Taiwan, but once the new facility is completed this latter figure will also rise to 150.
With consummate production capabilities and abundant metalworking know-how, Chia Cheng is well known as an OEM and ODM supplier of a variety of high-caliber bathroom fittings and washroom accessories made of stainless steel, brass, and zinc. Lai says that sales channels for public washroom and bathroom hardware are very narrow, allowing a few big vendors to control the markets in each country. This is why the firm has focused on the OEM and ODM mode of production and sales to those big vendors, instead of developing its own brand.
Cutthroat price competition from Chinese rivals has not affected the company's business much, Lai says; indeed, the rapid rise in materials and labor costs in China has made its Taiwanese operations more competitive than ever. In addition, the high quality of materials supplied on the island fully complies with the company's upmarket positioning.
“ARTICLE” Brand in China
“In recent years,” Lai comments, “we've been seeing that the quality of Taiwan-made washroom and bathroom hardware and accessories is appreciably higher than that of our Chinese counterparts, while the price difference is getting smaller and smaller. As a result, we've been receiving more and more orders from Chinese customers.”
Chia Cheng will start marketing products under its own “ARTICLE” brand in China in 2014, first setting up a flagship store to display products to potential customers and designers. “We'll first choose a second-class city for our flagship store,” Lai reports, “and then we will consolidate our distribution channels. Step by step, we hope to develop sales in the different regions of China.”
Lai notes happily that his company has become a supplier to a big Japanese conglomerate, and that the strict requirements of that customer have helped Chia Cheng upgrade its manufacturing technology, product-quality concepts, and production equipment. The company has invested massively in the latest computerized numerical control (CNC) machines and welding robots to meet the strict demands of the Japanese customer.
To continue strengthening its global competitiveness, Lai insists, his company will keep expanding its product range to encompass all products needed in the market. The number of its suppliers in Taiwan and China, already more than 100, will also keep growing.
Lai sees a bright future for Chia Cheng because, he explains, after dozens of years of vigorous development, Taiwan's hardware industry enjoys mature manufacturing technology, a comprehensive range of products, and the ability to make all kinds of molds and dies.