2024-04-14 01:04:45
Qiaoxin, the largest forged aluminum rim factory in Taiwan and the second largest in the world, specializes in supplying mid-to-high-end car manufacturers such as Porsche and Ferrari. It has been in business for 18 years and will finally go public this year. Let’s see how Taiwan’s hidden champion breaks through?
“The problems encountered by each company are different, but my idea is that if the pass is difficult, it must be passed.” The person who said this was the 73-year-old chairman of Qiaoxin, the world’s second largest forged wheel factory. Huang Congrong (see picture below).
Qiaoxin from Yunlin, Taiwan, has conquered more than 30 high-end car manufacturers and 42 luxury brands around the world, including Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi, and is called the world’s hidden champion; and the “difficulty” he calls it is In recent years, it has experienced ups and downs such as the departure of former general manager Shi Chengze, the plummeting stock price and the disruption caused by the epidemic. After 18 years of inception, it will finally be launched in May this year.
After all the hardships, there are achievements. Compared with 2020, when the epidemic first broke out, Qiaoxin’s revenue was only a relatively low point of 5.44 billion yuan. In 2023, its revenue reached a record high of 7.78 billion yuan.
Time goes back to 5 years ago. At that time, Qiaoxin’s revenue and profits had been declining for three consecutive years, and few people were optimistic regarding the market. The house leaked and it rained all night. It turned out that Huang Congrong relied on frequent visits to European and American customers to win many new orders. In 2019, Qiaoxin had the highest order volume in its history of more than 200 million US dollars. It was originally expected to be launched in 2020 and 2021. goods to reverse the operating decline.
No one expected that the epidemic broke out the next year, car factories suspended operations one following another, and shipments were delayed, causing Qiaoxin’s revenue, which was already at a trough, to fall further.
“It was a miserable period. We spent regarding 1 billion yuan on freight a year. Originally, it only cost 300 to 400 million yuan a year.” Recalling the epidemic, Huang Congrong mightn’t help but lament that the rising transportation costs seriously eroded profits. In 2020 and 2021, In 2017, Qiaoxin’s following-tax net earnings per share (EPS) were less than 2 yuan. “The customer has to load the car, and we can’t leave him without wheels…” he said helplessly.
However, he also knows that absorbing costs on his own is not a long-term solution, so when the situation is relatively stable in the second half of 2021, he will start negotiating with customers to share the freight through video. “There is no express provision in the contract for this matter. Usually one customer has to spend It will take 3 months to a year to negotiate.”
“Although forged aluminum rims are not standard, they are optional, but the process difficulty and quality requirements are higher, and the same shape is more than twice as expensive as casting.” Looking at the tires with ingenious aluminum rims behind him, Huang Congrong’s eyes were filled with joy It’s pride. He also revealed that in addition to trying to make customers understand the general environmental factors, because the threshold for forging technology is already high, Qiaoxin is usually the exclusive supplier of specific brands and car models, so customers will often consider partnerships and bear the responsibility together.
Lin Mingjie, manager of the Douliu branch of Changhua Commercial Bank, a financial company that has long provided Qiaoxin financing, observed that at first some companies were unwilling to agree to share the transportation costs, but Huang Congrong persuaded them by promising that manufacturers would give priority to cooperation when they were out of stock in the future, which proved sideways. Improved crisis management capabilities.
However, being able to keep customers in hand is still due to Qiaoxin’s technical capabilities. “Car factories will depreciate every year, and profits will be diluted. Processes and efficiency must be continuously improved to maintain competitiveness.” Huang Congrong explained the key point in one sentence.
During the epidemic, Qiaoxin did not stop its research and development. In 2020, it opened an automated factory in Pingtung. In the same year, it also passed the certification for smelting recycled aluminum and began shipping forged wheels made of recycled aluminum.
(Author: Xu Caiwei; the full text is not complete, please see “Today’s Weekly》;Source of the first picture:Qiaoxin）
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