The Chinese metal abrasive industry is certainly gearing up. There are a number of Chinese companies in this field which have taken their business to an international level, looking at the different markets around the globe. MFN was pleased to receive permission to talk to Mr. Han Qingji, President of ZIBO Taa Metal Products Co., Ltd., one of China's largest manufacturers in this industry.

(?) MFN: Could you tell us something about your business?

(!) H. Q.: Firstly, let me thank you for giving me this opportunity to express our aspirations. The former of ZIBO Taa Metal Products Co., ltd is Zhoucun Steel Grit Factory founded in 1974. For over thirty years, we worked on steel grit and steel shot etc metallic abrasive. Since 1997, our company has been developing quickly.

(?) MFN: As far as we know, it only took about nine years for your sales amount to increase from two million RMB to one hundred million RMB per year. What’s the secret behind it?

(!) H. Q.: During recent years, we have developed very quickly, mainly due to the following three points that we always keep on promoting.

Firstly, Innovation. When we began to carve out a niche for ourselves, we were confronted with many difficulties such as lack of funds, no technology and no market. In such an environment, how is it possible to develop? We had no choice but to innovate, we had to open up unbeaten tracks. Technology innovation, equipment innovation and technics innovation allowed us to move into the lead in the field. We also pushed management innovation and formed a reasonable management system, which attracts excellent talent. These years development makes us be aware that innovation is the wheel of development.
Secondly, Quality. We attach primary importance to the improvement of quality. We think how far we could go in this field, which mainly depends on quality. In recent years, we have continued to invest in improvement of quality, for example, importing advanced production equipment, inspection equipment and engaging technical expertise etc, which is why we could remain a  leader in the Chinese market. Now we are steadily gaining on the international leaders. We have enough confidence to supply good metal abrasive and guarantee satisfaction to customers.
Thirdly, Technology Service. We pay much attention to supplying technology service to customer. In the sales process, we learn clearly the customer’s requirement and the actual local usage, then supply reasonable blasting and peening technology alternatives for the customer. In the using process, we continue to attend to the working site. According to customer’s use, we often advise customers how to increase efficiency, how to reduce the cost. Certainly, we also learn much valuable technology experience. The valuable circulation of experience exchange helps us supply more valuable service to customers.

(?) MFN: You are a man with a magnetic personality, your staff seem to like you very much. Could you talk about your attitude towards your business?

(!) H. Q.: I value one phrase “Only the Paranoid Survive” from the former CEO of Internet. My attitude to our business is sheer persistence. We were successful in the Chinese market not only because we were quick - witted but also because we persevered and our team is one delighted team.

(?) MFN: With the tough competition, how do you keep your leading position?

(!) H. Q.: With the present market situation at home, the competition is very keen. He who possesses greater analytical and learning capability than his competitor will move into the lead. We are always promoting the love of learning and building learning organizations.We  always pay attention to customers and keep our customers happy. Customer satisfaction is the base of our existence.

(?) MFN: Can you describe the future of the metal abrasive industry? What role do you play?

(!) H. Q.: Metal abrasive came into being and geared up with modern industrial development. It was applied to the grinding wheel and granite cutting at an early stage in China. Later, it was applied to surface treatment and shot peening etc. We think the metal abrasive outlook is capacious and the application will expand with the development of modern equipment. The capacity of this field is tremendous. At the same time, the customers’ requirement for quality and technical service will be higher and higher with the modern industrial development. In order to satisfy customers, the suppliers need not only to improve the quality day after day but also improve the technical service.
We take the leading Chinese metal abrasive development as our own work. It is our responsibility to lead the Chinese metal abrasive to criterion, in order and multi-winning development.

(?) MFN: Just now, you mentioned quality controls and management. There is another thing I want to ask you about. How does your company guarantee the quality and keep on improving the quality?

(!) H. Q.: We take “guarding against problems ahead of time” as our working principle. The workers produce and inspect the products strictly according to the stipulated working procedure. Now we introduce some advanced inspection equipment such as direct-reader spectrograph, imported from the German company Quantron, to analyse chemical composition when melting. We also imported the ERVIN Fatigued Life Test for testing the metallic abrasive’s fatigue life. Certainly, the metal abrasive is produced by person so the quality must be guaranteed by man. We have learnt this clearly. So we always keep training workers strictly and improving their responsibility and strengthening their quality ideas.

(?) MFN: How do you look upon the responsibility to society?

(!) H. Q.: As one enterprise citizen, we always consider the responsibility to society as most important. It is obvious that we offer a lot of employment opportunities for local people. We are always improving working conditions and supplying suitable development stages to each employee. It is well known that there is much dust and noise in the casting enterprise. So we invested three million RMB to improve the working environment. On the other side, we also take an active part in charity and help the people in need.

(?) MFN: Your government requirement for the environment is higher and higher. How do you meet this requirement?

(!) H. Q.: Ever since we begin to establish factories we have been trying to solve the environment problem. Before we import new production equipment, we firstly import the environmental equipment. In the short run, our benefit will be decreased, but in the long run we get the local people’s respect and local government’s support. Environmental ideals is the important base of enterprise development.

We at MFN would like to thank Mr. Han Qingji for this interview.

For Information:
ZIBO TAA METAL PRODUCTS CO.,LTD.
No.2 Industrial Development Zone
Mengshui Zhoucun District Zibo city
Shandong, China
Tel. +86.533.6880353 +86.533.6880415
Fax +86.533.6889358 +86.533.6888897
E-mail: sales@taa.net.cn, www.taa.net.cn