Walking into the Hengsha Industrial Zone located in Shuikou Street, Huicheng District, bottles of shower gel in the workshop of Opal Company are filled, packaged and loaded on the assembly line, and will soon enter thousands of households; On each production line, there are a variety of products, which makes people dizzy.
When it comes to Opal shampoo and shower gel, many "old Huizhou" are familiar. Starting from a bottle of shower gel, Opal Cosmetics Group Co., Ltd. has been deeply cultivated in Huizhou for nearly 30 years, from the initial 6,000 square meters factory to the current 170,000 square meters of garden-style modern workshop, with a daily production capacity of 300 tons and a daily production capacity of 800,000 pieces per bottle, and the "Opal" trademark has long been recognized as "China's well-known trademark".
In addition to shower gel, Opal also produces shampoo, hair care, skin care and gift sets, etc., the products are exported to the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Philippines and other countries, its own brand products "Opal One Minute Baking Oil" and "Opal Classic Shower Gel" are also well received by customers. At present, Opal is increasing capital and expanding production in Huizhou, planning to invest 450 million yuan to build a new cosmetics intelligent manufacturing factory.
Continued investment in intelligent production technology, daily output now exceeds 300 tons
Opal is headquartered in Hong Kong, China, in 1994, many Hong Kong-funded enterprises came to invest in Huizhou, and Opal also took advantage of this spring breeze to settle in Huizhou. In the past 30 years of development, thanks to Huizhou's good business environment and policies to benefit enterprises, Opal has taken root in Huizhou and continues to develop and grow.
"We are deeply impressed by the pragmatic spirit of the Huizhou government department in being down-to-earth and doing hard work, and it is also the main reason for our long-term stable development in Huizhou." Shu Junzhong, executive director and CEO of Opal Cosmetics Group Co., Ltd., said that in the early stage of its establishment, Opal invested 30 million Hong Kong dollars to build a factory in Huizhou, and has developed so far, it has a garden-style modern factory, with an output value of 710 million yuan and a tax payment of more than 50 million yuan in 2022.
Over the years, Opal has kept up with market demand. In order to realize process reengineering and build a smart factory, since 2016, Opal has carried out a series of reforms and innovations in the application of IT technology for production site management. The company independently developed the "configuration workshop feeding scanning system", which has created a number of technological innovation points in the industry. Once launched, the system is of great significance to improve production efficiency, optimize management processes, and reduce human error. "After years of continuous investment in smart production technology, Opal has now increased its production efficiency by more than 15%, with a daily output of more than 300 tons." Shu Junzhong said.
With the blessing of innovative research, new products emerge one after another
Dilution, stirring, adjusting recipes... The air in Opal's R&D center is filled with fresh floral and fruity aromas. Here, hundreds of R&D personnel are busy combining and matching formulas every day. This is also a microcosm of Opal's active research and innovation to meet the public's requirements for increasing quality of toiletries, and constantly inject "black technology" into products.
At present, Opal has accumulated a large number of formula data, including more than 20,000 formulas in the database, which can quickly match and meet the consumption preferences and needs of different customers; The production batch is very stable and has flexible capacity, which can meet the production needs of different batches of different customers at the same time.
Opal staff debugging the recipe. Photo by Huizhou Daily reporter Ha Peng
The reporter saw in the interview that in the company's instrument testing laboratory, all kinds of high-tech equipment are available, and the R & D personnel conduct functional tests on products through operating equipment. "This machine detects the sun protection index, this machine detects the irritation of cosmetics to the eyes..." the company's R & D personnel introduced while working.
It is with excellent R&D capabilities and formula reserves that in recent years, new products developed by Opal have emerged one after another. In 2016, the company launched the world's first liquid crystal system shampoo, overcoming the technical bottleneck of the original shampoo using carbo and pearlescent sheet thickening, which was widely praised by consumers.
Opal staff debugging the recipe. Photo by Huizhou Daily reporter Ha Peng
In order to make the products more appetizing to consumers, Opal has put a lot of effort into promoting the layout of digital construction, deeply cultivating its own brands, and actively exploring more possibilities, such as taking the lead in opening a private customization model and creating a new model of data-driven brand marketing.
In the exhibition hall of Opal, a "little fat dun" robot attracted everyone's attention. "Her name is Ao Xiaobao, but she is very powerful, we must bring her when we go out to publicize and participate in exhibitions." The staff of Opal introduced that with the continuous development of Internet technology and the company's digital construction, the company has long innovated and tried the "Internet + manufacturing" industrial model: private customized production, and Aoxiaobao is the "big heroine" who realizes private customized production.
At present, the "Ao Xiaobao" independently developed by Opal has been updated to the fifth generation after 7 years of technical improvement. In the future, the company will continue to optimize the "private customized production" method and promote it to the market, so that ordinary consumers can also use customized high-end daily cosmetics.
Technology innovation is inseparable from talent support, Opal has more than 100 R & D personnel. Up to now, the company has applied for a total of 240 patents, including 53 authorized invention patents, 33 utility model patents and 19 design patents. In 2014, the trademark "Opal" was recognized as "China's well-known trademark"; In 2015, the company was identified as "National High-tech Enterprise"; In 2020, the company established the "Guangdong Province Science and Technology Expert Workstation"; In October 2022, the company was recognized as "China Intellectual Property Model Enterprise" by the State Intellectual Property Office.
Constantly try to expand new technologies, new formats and new models
With the gradual development and growth of the enterprise, in November 2004, Opal Group invested 70 million Hong Kong dollars to establish a subsidiary company, Huizhou Zhaoting Cosmetics Co., Ltd., located in Licheng Industrial Zone, Huicheng District. The company covers an area of 132,000 square meters, with a construction area of more than 70,000 square meters.
Relatively dislocated with the development direction of Opal, Zhaoting's products are mainly customized gift boxes, mainly for spray and perfume and other organic solvent cosmetics, soap, bath salt cosmetics processing and manufacturing, as well as body care, hair care products filling and gift packaging, products are mainly sold to foreign markets.
Opal product display.
New demands call for new products. In recent years, relying on the company's R&D strength and intelligent manufacturing capabilities, Zhaoting has independently developed a new brand - Kebeisi to provide customers with scalp and hair care solutions, and create a high-end brand image and products for scientific washing. "From the establishment to the present, Kebesi has built the team, brand, channel, etc. step by step from scratch, this experience is very valuable to us, and it also helps us to constantly try and expand new technologies, new formats and new models under the fierce market competition." Shu Junzhong said.
Opal product display.
Zhaoting insists on doing a good job in every product, serving every consumer, and maintaining brand value. At the same time, the company always maintains good market adaptability and R & D innovation ability, innovates according to consumer needs, opens up more market opportunities, enhances the market share of the brand, and ultimately realizes the preservation and appreciation of brand equity.
Regarding the next development plan, Shu Junzhong introduced that Opal Group plans to invest 450 million yuan to build an intelligent factory, which will accelerate industrial development with an efficient and accurate production mode, greatly improve production efficiency, and provide guarantee for the competitiveness of enterprises. In addition, the CS brand direct supply platform was established to enable Opal Group's brands to reach consumers directly, so that consumers can enjoy a faster and more convenient shopping experience. "I believe that in the future, the company will continue to take technological innovation as the driving force, lead the development of the industry, and bring more high-quality products to consumers."
Huizhou Daily reporter You Xuanyu Chen Chunhui