Industry Activities
In the beginning stage, the company produced small nuts and its nuts were exported through a trading firm. After 1987, the company started to manufacture self-tapping screws and drywall screws for export purpose. The quality of its products was widely recognized; one time, another Taiwanese fastener manufacturer introduced it to a Japanese firm. The Japanese firm approved it as a supplier in 1990 after repeatedly checking its management system, production process and quality control capability. After its entry to the Japanese market in 1990, its main product has been switched to high quality construction fasteners.
Joint Product Development and the Ability to Withstand the Test of Time
Mr. Sun pointed out that everyone knows that Japanese firms and clients have very high standards on product quality. 15% of the company’s products are exported to Japan. In addition, it works with Japanese construction material suppliers and hardware firms to jointly develop fasteners to meet the relevant requirements or specifications. Moreover, it has a direct cooperative relation with a Japanese manufacturer. Therefore, the company makes sure its products meet the relevant requirements.
Speaking of how the company handles business with Japanese clients, Mr. Robert Shiao, sales department vice manager, said that one time, one of our Japanese clients suddenly called us to tell us one of the company’s fasteners broke at its stem portion after being driven into the wood; the company immediately sent a person to Japan to handle the problem; the person found out the reason for the rupture was the heat treatment not properly carried out for the fastener; the company immediately decided to take back the entire lot of fasteners and then re-fabricate them. “Though we suffered a big loss, our timely action won our client’s trust and such trust lasts till now,” he added.
In 1995, the Kobe earthquake registered 7.3 on the Richter scale rocked and detrimentally devastated Kansai of Japan. The quake brought about an experience that Mr. Sun can never forget. In Kansai, most of the houses and apartments were made of wood and hence led to more casualties because they could not withstand the strong quake. Therefore, the Japanese government asked a professor of Tokyo Imperial University to do a research on quake-proof screws and also asked a Japanese firm to develop such fasteners. The Japanese firm teamed up with Jau Yeou Industry to jointly develop such quake-proof screws. Then, the research and development personnel of Jau Yeou carried out lab tests repeatedly according to the professor’s research paper and by using a new, stronger material developed by China Steel Corp. In the mean time, Jau Yeou communicated with the Japanese firm repeatedly and carried out several modifications. Finally, after a year of effort, the development of such quake-proof screws was completed. The quake-proof screws have been certified by the relevant government agency of Japan. Up till now, the sales of the quake-proof screws still remain quite high. Mr. Sun said with a smile, “the development of the fasteners represented the actualization of our goal; such achievement has been recognized and this pride can not be replaced by anything else.”
Jau Yeou Welcomes Challenges and Has Established Long-term Business Relations with Its Japanese Clients
After EU imposed anti-dumping taxes on carbon steel fasteners made in China, unsold fasteners made in China have been exported to the US and Japan. Because these fasteners are cheaper, they have driven down the fastener prices in the US and Japan. In response to this issue, Mr. Sun said that cheaper fasteners exported from China have a very big impact on Taiwan; however, with regard to fasteners of high standards, Japanese buyers still buy fasteners made in Japan; with regard to fasteners of not-so-high standards, Japanese buyers buy them from Taiwan; nevertheless, competition in price has been quite severe.
Because labor cost in Japan has been on the rise, many domestic fastener manufacturers in Japan have sought out for Taiwanese fastener manufacturers for joint product development. Mr. Sun pointed out that Jau Yeou would like to work with Japanese fastener manufacturers for joint product development; because Japanese fastener manufacturers have their own management system and requirements, Jau Yeou may bring up the quality of products through these management system and requirements and establish a mutually beneficial relation; also, Jau Yeou have its own operating principle which focuses on quality instead of quantity; in addition, Jau Yeou have established solid, cooperative business relations with Japanese clients in the past 20 years.
Last, regarding things that should be aware of in dealing with Japanese clients, Mr. Sun said because port charges of Japanese harbors are quite high, orders in small quantity should be put together to become a full container; regarding quality, the principle of “do the best at first time to assure of the product qualities and increase our work efficiency” should be observed; when a problem occurs, all employees should solve it through teamwork so as to build up stable relations with Japanese clients.
