My name is Zhuang Beikan. I am a post-70s from a small village in Chaoshan area. I am the founder of Shenzhen Chengrong Company. From a small processing plant with less than ten people, it has now become one of the top three factories for ultrafiltration membranes and ultrafiltration water purification equipment. Many major domestic and foreign brands have OEM production in Chengrong Factory. For more than 10 years, we have grown together with our partners.
It is worth being proud of that there are 15 shareholders who are loyal to Chengrong's values. They are in various business departments of Chengrong Factory, including technical experts in various processes, experts in the front line of marketing, and experts in functional departments; we have a full supply chain that is not outsourced, which is rare in the industry; especially in the technology and quality of ultrafiltration membranes, we maintain the leading level of the industry. In 2023, we will successfully develop ultrafiltration membranes that can remove residual chlorine, which should be the only one in the world. After a long 16-year entrepreneurial journey, there are bitterness and achievements, which makes me feel very gratified.
I remember graduating from junior high school in 1993. Shenzhen was so hot at that time. I was full of ambitions to make a living. In fact, I didn't know anything. I was a young man and didn't want to study anymore, so I went to Kengzi, Shenzhen, to work in a garment factory in Shatin because my sister was a supervisor in the factory. After working very hard for a year, the Hong Kong boss saw that I was smart and worked as hard as others, so he promoted me to be a team leader.
Looking back now, that time was the happiest and carefree. After getting my salary, I gave it to my sister in full. From food to clothes, everything was done by my sister. I didn't care about money or money. When my sister got married a few years later, I cried. What should I do in the future? Who will help me buy clothes and take care of me? Later I found that I thought too much. My sister still loved and cared for me.
Seeing that I had made progress, my sister specially helped me to enroll in an accounting training class at Kengzi Adult School and told me to study hard. I listened to whatever my sister said. In fact, I also knew that I only graduated from junior high school, and there was nothing to be proud of. I could only work harder and harder. I remember I got 95 points in the graduation examination, first in the class. My sister was very happy, and I was very happy too. My self-confidence suddenly increased a lot. Later, I went to adult high school.
In 1997, my brother-in-law opened a hardware processing factory and asked me to work there. Since then, I have had an indissoluble bond with hardware. Chengrong Factory still has a hardware mold department and a stamping department. In my brother-in-law's factory, I am not only a purchaser, a financial officer, a deliveryman, but also a mold master, a machine adjustment master, and a general worker. I often repair molds until 2 a.m. and go to work as usual at 8 a.m.
Working in my brother-in-law's factory is very hard, but very fulfilling. First, I help my sister with work, and second, I can learn a lot of new things. Soon, 7 years have passed. These are the most fulfilling 7 years of my life. During this period, I got married and had children, learned to drive, and most importantly, I learned various production skills for hardware products.
People always have to grow up. Even the closest relatives will have a time to part. The moment we came into the world, fate seemed to have been arranged. The happy and fulfilling working life came to an abrupt end in 2005.
In 2005, while working in my brother-in-law's factory, I met a good friend who asked me to start a business together. I refused many times because I had never thought about doing it myself. Later, I asked my sister and brother-in-law for their opinions, and they thought it would be a good idea to go out and give it a try. From then on, I started my first entrepreneurial journey in my life...
Unexpectedly, I surrendered after only working for about a year, and I was "clean-handed" and owed more than 30,000 yuan. I was unwilling to give up, so I borrowed some money from my sister, bought two punching machines, and started my second business. I worked for more than a year without much enthusiasm. In 2007, a friend found me and said that there was a big order of about 300,000 yuan per month. For me, this was an irresistible temptation.
Because there was no capital, I found a good friend to invest, rented a 1,000-square-meter iron sheet factory, and purchased equipment. This was the prototype of Chengrong Factory when it was founded. I often look at the photos of that year, and I can't let go of the vicissitudes of this entrepreneurial journey.
The most unforgettable thing is that after the Spring Festival in 2008, we rented a factory and purchased equipment, but my friend's customers had no orders. The friend who invested also wanted to withdraw his investment due to operational problems in his own project. This was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue, and it made matters worse. I also felt guilty because I asked him to invest. Now the factory has no orders and no hope. I felt sorry for him.
At that time, my only thought was that I couldn't let this friend lose money. I took on all his investment money by myself, just as a loan for three years. He agreed. But my family strongly opposed it at that time, thinking that I had no money and no orders, and I shouldn't take over this factory. Doing so would be a dead end.
I took it on. If I really couldn't hold on, I would work to pay back the money, otherwise I would be uneasy for the rest of my life. My parents and lover saw how determined I was and respected my decision. I also sold the house built by my parents in my hometown. That was the most difficult time. My son dropped out of kindergarten because he had no money to pay tuition. The landlord of the rental house came to my house to collect rent. He searched all his pockets, but he was short of three yuan. He searched through all the boxes and cabinets, but he couldn't get the money. He borrowed the rent for the factory from one of the shareholders of the landlord's company, and then paid the rent. This was thanks to the local factory manager at the time, who came forward to guarantee the loan. At that time, I really experienced the pain of "not having a penny in my pocket"...
When it rains, it rains. In 2008, the strongest typhoon landed in Shenzhen. How could the iron sheet factory withstand it? The office, warehouse, and rolling shutter were severely damaged. When I stood outside, the rain and tears were intertwined, and I was shouting in my heart, God, why do you treat me like this? If you want to, let the storm come more violently! This is the only time I shed tears in the 16 years since I started my business.
Because the business volume is not enough, no matter what kind of stamping parts are taken, they are made, including stamping parts for pipeline ultrafiltration water purifiers. In the process of doing this order, I met Mr. Yuan, the current shareholder. He makes hardware molds and I do hardware stamping. We are complementary in business. He is also easy-going, so we get along very well. In 2009, I brought him to Chengrong Factory to start a business together. With Mr. Yuan's joining, the business situation has made a qualitative leap.
When the factory situation improved slightly and I was a little relieved, my father was suddenly involved in a traffic accident the day before the Spring Festival in 2011. It made me realize that the greatest happiness in life is to have a family with no worries about food and clothing, and to live in harmony and health. That afternoon, my father was hit by a car when he was crossing the road. When he was sent to the hospital, he was paralyzed and immediately received a critical illness notice. On New Year's Eve, I went home to get daily necessities. My mother asked me why my eyes were red. I said it was the wind. My wife knew that I was crying. Seeing the table full of dishes at home, no one touched their chopsticks, and no one ate anything. I couldn't control my tears anymore...
My father was hospitalized for nearly 2 months. All the affairs of the factory were handled by Mr. Yuan. My father recovered very well. When he was discharged from the hospital, his hands were just numb. The medical appraisal said that he could not be rated as anything because the elderly would have numb hands. So there was no compensation. The insurance company only paid the relevant expenses in the hospital. I didn't worry about it.
Maybe it was because of my father's accident this time. No matter how I persuaded my mother, she just wanted to go back to her hometown. With the help of my classmates, I borrowed money to build a house for my parents. At the end of 2012, my parents returned to their hometown. Since then, I have insisted on going back to the countryside every weekend to accompany my parents for two days. I think we should work hard to do what we should do.
In 2011, a customer who made pipeline ultrafiltration said he wanted to sell his factory, so we decided to buy his factory. Although we had no money at that time, we didn't know where the confidence and courage came from, and we did it as soon as we said. When Mr. Yuan went to him, his factory had been sold to someone else. The factory was sold, and people were needed. We did ideological work for half a year before calling the boss to join us in partnership. Since then, we have started to make the overall shell of pipeline ultrafiltration. Mr. Yuan has been engaged in technology all the way. He changed manual welding to automatic welding, and made major changes in the stamping method. Even some equipment is our own customized special equipment.
At that time, our competitive advantage was great, the order volume soared, and the impact on the industry was also great. We have continued this innovative spirit to this day, and "innovation as the soul" has also been written into the company's values. Our production technology completely overturned the manufacturing process of water purifier shells and became the object of imitation in the industry. Since then, we have been imitated all the way, including business model and corporate culture.
As customer needs extend, we added new factories and installed a new assembly line to produce a complete set of ultrafiltration pipes. However, we found that the product quality of the ultrafiltration membrane supplier was extremely unstable, so we made up our minds to install another ultrafiltration membrane production line. Then we invested in an ultrafiltration membrane factory with poor performance and appointed Mr. Song to manage it on behalf of the company. I had only one requirement: regardless of cost, ensure quality. After a year of hard work, I was surprised by the quality improvement of the membrane factory. The stability and performance indicators of the membrane fibers exceeded those of all suppliers. I didn't expect that God would let me meet noble people, and it was arranged in the dark.
The market competition in the ultrafiltration industry is extremely fierce. I always insist that the quality must be the top 1% in the industry. This is the bottom line. Chengrong is what it is today because of the quality protection. Along the way, it was widely rumored in the industry that our "management fees are too high, it is too wasteful, and we can't last long." But the facts have proved that as long as we have a righteous mind, make good products, do a good job in quality, and serve customers well, we will definitely be recognized by customers and the market. Now there are many domestic and foreign first-line brands in Chengrong OEM production, and cooperate with Shenzhen University in membrane research and development.
The most difficult thing to overcome for ultrafiltration membranes is attenuation. A first-line brand asked us that the attenuation after filtering 200 tons of water should not exceed 30%-40%. The result we gave was 7%-15%. The customer didn't dare to believe it, and tested it himself and got the same data results. Ask us how we did it?
We have been maintaining the research and development of ultrafiltration membranes and introducing high-end talents. The raw material formula has been optimized and iterated countless times, and basically no one in the industry is willing to do it. Compared with domestic competitors, Chengrong's ultrafiltration membrane is 40% tougher, has 40% more flow, and has no odor. In 2023, we will successfully develop an ultrafiltration membrane that can remove residual chlorine, which is something that no other factory in the world can do.
With the development of the factory, on the basis of household water purification equipment, a workshop for engineering water treatment equipment was added. In this way, from design, production to complete sets, no outsourcing, no small moves on invisible details, no fooling around, and truly being proud of honesty! In ultrafiltration water plant equipment, we have also accumulated rich experience and have formed a mature, unique, and second-incomparable solution.
The Chengrong management team has been in the factory for an average of 8 years, and 80% of the employees have been there for more than 6 years, and many have been there for more than 10 years. In the pipeline ultrafiltration industry, compared with product quality, the entire supply chain, and management system construction, it has entered the top three ultrafiltration membranes and ultrafiltration water purification equipment. It is a full-industry chain factory with R&D and production, molds and hardware, and water purification equipment. It has 3 invention patents, 8 software copyrights, 53 new technology patents, and 25 appearance patents. Invest more than 3 million in R&D funds each year to improve process technology, structural appearance, product performance, etc. How many companies in the industry do this? Probably not.
I have been in business for more than 10 years. Although I entered the ultrafiltration industry by chance, the more I persist, the more I feel that it is not easy for a person to stick to doing one thing well in his life. He must be able to resist temptation and loneliness. When I am confused and anxious, I will firmly believe that as long as I do the things in front of me seriously and steadily, what should come will come and what should be there will be there.
Chengrong Ultrafiltration, it is hard to resist after trying it
Chengrong Ultrafiltration, everyone who has used it is convinced
Chengrong Ultrafiltration, customers never have any concerns
