Established in 1985, Ningbo Jinhui Fastener Co., Ltd. is a large-scaled company that specializes in producing standard and special high-strength nuts. At present, the company is made up of two professional manufacturers: Ningbo Jinjin Fastener Co., Ltd. and Ningbo Jinhui High-Strength Fastener Co., Ltd. The company is ISO9001 certified and has joined the system of "international dedicate piece wholesale center".


Strictly adhered to standards of GB, DIN, ANSI (ASTM), BS, JIS, ISO and AS, Jinhui's products are widely used in railroad, highway and bridge, boiler steel structure, industrial plant, gymnasium, hangar, electro-mechanical equipment, structure and heavy-duty automobile, big farming machine, etc. Currently, the annual production capacity of the company has been over 6,000 tons. Its products not only take up a large percentage in the domestic share, but also enjoy ready markets in south-east Asia, Europe and Taiwan.


CFI: As far as I know, Jinhui, as a leading company of high-strength fasteners, has been the appointed fitting company for construction steel structure project of China Construction Metal Structure Association, providing fittings for hundreds of major projects in China and offering various automotive fasteners to many leading heavy-duty automotive manufacturers from home and abroad. Before today’s success, how many stages have Jinhui experienced?


Lu: Jinhui was originally a collective enterprise named Hengjie Yinxian High-Strength Fastener Factory when it was founded. In 1990, it transferred to the type of private-owned enterprise. By far, Jinhui has experienced three significant stages:
1. The successful transfer in 1993 supplied the fresh energy and momentum to Jinhui.
2. Our sales jumped quickly in 1994, when our main product was high-strength nut. As it was of high property class, it was welcomed by many national major projects and leading heavy-duty automotive manufacturers. For example, Shanghai Yangpu Bridge, Nanpu Bridge, Xupu Bridge, Fengdu Yangzi River Bridge, Shanghai Magnetic Suspension Railway Project, Shanghai Theater, Guangdong People Gymnasium, Orient Television Tower, Beijing Dongying Swimming
Centre, etc.
3. Since 1995, we began to develop automotive parts, which are mainly used for the key parts such as car engines, hubcaps and frame joints. This is one of major decisions for our rapid development. At present, we excel in the truck sector, namely, hubcap nuts of heavy-duty trucks.


CFI: There are a large number of high-strength fastener manufacturers in China, such as Ningbo Ningli High-Strength Fastener, Shaoxing High-Strength Fastener, Shanghai Biaowu High-Tensile Fasteners, etc. Compared with them, what's your distinguished feature?


Lu: Our distinguished feature is nuts. In particular, we offer fittings for major projects and heavy industry. Moreover, we are good at automotive parts, which accounts for 60% of our total output, and we will keep making automotive parts. We follow such a special route of high-strength: diesel engine assemblies—high-strength fasteners—high-strength nuts—automotive parts—truck assemblies—wheel nuts.


CFI: Along with the popularity of automotive industry, there are more and more automotive fitting factories in the country. What's your advantage in this competition?


Lu: We compete with others by a single product. I think anything has a course, so does the factory positioning. From the start, we thought our bolts and nuts were good. But after considering, we made up our mind to produce high-strength nuts. Currently, over 95% of our products are nuts and the ranges extend to M56. From then on, we decided to do specialization. We must do well in the available products, as if they are newly developed. Our nuts are used for the front wheels of heavy-duty trucks. Although they look common, there exists slight difference from other common products.
Our short-term goal is to make a full range of hubcap products of heavy-duty trucks. Once this line is stable, it is much easier for the extension of other lines. For example, if the truck line is completed, we can develop the automotive line. It is expected to complete the ranges of hubcap products of automobiles. We would like to see no mistakes are made even though repeating the simplest thing for over thousands of times.


CFI: If the customers order some challengeable products that Jinhui cannot produce for the moment, will Jinhui buy them from other manufacturers?


Lu: Basically, we do not buy the difficult ones from elsewhere, at least, for a short term, as we discover that several problems exist when we buy from others:
1. Problems in material. Quality cannot be guaranteed in terms of materials and our testing devices are not complete enough. If we produce by ourselves, we can guarantee stable quality, as the raw materials are bought from Huai Steel and Hang Steel.
2. Problems in technique. It affects us a lot if the incoming nuts are not from the same furnace as that of heat treatment.
3. Delivery time will be affected.
Recently, we have entered the South American market and we notice that local customers require strange nuts, most of which are applied to the engineering machinery maintenance and do not have common usage. For these special products, we utilize the available equipment to carry out mould development, in order to improve company’s R&D capacity instead of depending on other manufacturers. We have to give up the unworkable ones as giving up is for the sake of a better future.


CFI: Any new products come out recently?


Lu: 11 items are developed this year. Most of them are nut assemblies, applying in the tyres of trucks. These 11 items are in the same series, so they share the same function technically. Our company often develops new products along with our long-term customers. During the cooperation, we almost get involved in the product development. For example, sometimes customers say the tolerance should be like this. I tell them that it does not work and it should be like that. We often correct their mistakes in this way. After the mistakes are pointed out, the customers find us much more reliable and credible, instead. Generally, it takes long time for us to talk with our customers, while takes short time to do other procedures. The longer the negotiation lasts, the easier the operation will be, as the technical problems have been solved before production. As a result, we do not have problems when manufacturing. We make a sample as per customers' drawings at first. Problems are solved once they are found. Therefore, the goods are seldom rejected by customers and our customer satisfaction rate reaches 98%.


CFI: Did Jinhui have any difficulties in the course of development? What should Jinhui improve?


Lu: Sure we have. These days, the biggest difficulty is lacking labor forces. To solve this problem, we are considering introducing more advanced equipment. We should improve our mechanization level and speed during production flow. For fastener manufacturing, I think it is nonsense to talk about improvement without mentioning new machines.


CFI: What will you do to overcome these obstacles?


Lu: We'll improve productivity by using machines instead of manpower. We will adopt machines for the mass production in 3 to 5 years, so that much manual work can be cut. Now we have both new and old machines working at the same time. Later, we will gradually eliminate the old ones and acquire the new ones. Moreover, we will make full use of the existing resources, increase the efficiency of land utilization, and control the costs.


CFI: Could you please talk about Jinhui's trend in the future?


Lu: I hope the future for Jinhui will be developed in a way of Walmart's flat style. The labs and testing devices will be well-equipped and the company will have high expectation on the quality of staff. For a buyer, he will do work as a technical guide more than just purchasing. At present, our sales in domestic market grow steadily, while our selling in international market is a new area that we explore this year, taking up 30% of our total sales. Our target is: Foreign trade accounts for 70%, domestic sales 30%.


CFI: You were major in international trade when you studied in UK and it is just a few years since you got involved in fastener industry. When communicating with customers, did you encounter any troublesome technical problems?


Lu: Yes. At the very beginning, somewhat inadaptable, but after a period of time, I learned quite a few fastener technical common senses from books and practices. Now, instead, I am very interested in technical guide. The happiest course of it is finding customers' mistakes. Every day I still keep reading technical books, with a hope of improving my own technical levels.


CFI: What are your outlooks for Jinhui? What's your plan after having enough money?


Lu: To be a responsible company, make contributions to my homeland, support the poor students; assist education, as education is the foundation of a country which offers great intellectual supports to a country's revitalization.


Translated by Alice
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