Wang Minqi, Chairman of Wuyang Textile Machinery Co., Ltd.: Our corporate goal is "100 years of Wuyang", at least five generations. Since it will be a hundred years, we must take a long-term view of any problem. I started thinking about my children's future succession when they were in elementary school, and I began to consciously guide them.
Wang Shui, General Manager of Wuyang Textile Machinery Digital Factory: My father's spirit of hard work, courage to fight, full of momentum and courage to innovate has always inspired me.
Wang Hanzhu, general manager of Wuyang Textile Machinery Co., Ltd.: "Firmness" and "self-improvement" are Wang Hanzhu's evaluation of her father and her code of conduct.
△ Wang Minqi (middle) Wang Shui (right) Wang Hanzhu (left) During the Spring Festival in 2023, Wang Minqi, the head of Wuyang Textile Machinery, organized an important family meeting: to discuss equity distribution, clarify the division of labor and income of children. This hidden champion enterprise in the national warp knitting industry will bid farewell to the business model of mom-and-pop shops, formally establish a holding company, clarify the distribution of property rights, and lay a solid foundation for the establishment of "100 years of Wuyang". The four children are divided equally between men and women, and the adult children are clearly divided into their respective division of labor and income indicators on the basis of free choice. In addition to equity dividends and operating income, Wang Minqi also took out his equity as a separate reward, he said: "Sooner or later, my equity will be inherited by my children, rather than leaving it to them, it is better to award them." Whoever runs the project well will be rewarded, and there will be healthy competition between each other, and the platform cannot be dismantled. ”
Wang Minqi has the reputation of "intelligent warp knitting king", he has been involved in the textile machinery industry since 1986, and has always adhered to the guidance of scientific and technological innovation, step by step, step by step, the development of warp knitting textile machinery from low-end to high-speed advanced equipment, directly comparable to the products of international advanced textile machinery enterprises such as Karl Mayer in Germany, so that domestic intelligent manufacturing equipment shines on the world stage. His Wuyang Textile Machinery from a small workshop with a single product in the past to a comprehensive national high-tech enterprise integrating R&D, manufacturing, sales and service, producing a series of warp knitting machines and high-end textiles, has Wuyang Textile Machinery, Ashley 3D warp knitting clothing, digital factory, Wuyang Vietnam and other entities, realizing the rebirth of the "transmutation", and on the road of "100 years of Wuyang" steady and far-reaching.
Children pass the "big test"
In 2022, Wang Min stayed in the Vietnam factory for more than seven months, and in addition to the epidemic reasons, he mainly wanted to inspect the management ability of his children. "The further I shrunk, the faster they grew. Wang Minqi was very satisfied with the results of the inspection, "My son and daughter passed the 'big test'. ”
Born in 1986, the eldest son Wang Shui is "the same age" as Wuyang Textile Machinery, and after graduating from Southeast University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 2009, he went to the University of New Haven in the United States to study for an MBA and returned in 2012. After joining Wuyang, Wang Shui began to focus on the construction and operation of digital factories. Wuyang Digital Factory is the first digital factory in the warp knitting industry in mainland China and a demonstration intelligent workshop in Jiangsu Province, with an innovation investment of 180 million yuan in the past 10 years. From factory infrastructure construction to equipment selection, from industry-university-research docking to new product research and development, Wang Shui led the team to innovate and develop, and achieved fruitful results one after another: the GE288A medium-velvet double-needle bed warp knitting machine he participated in the research and development was successfully industrialized, which changed the situation that domestic textile production users have long been dependent on imports; GE2296 high-speed double-needle bed warp knitting machine and GE2396 seamless warp knitting machine won the first prize of scientific and technological progress of China Textile Federation and the gold medal of excellent new products in Jiangsu Province......
At the end of 2022, after four years of research and development, the carbon fiber multi-axial warp knitting machine, the cutting pile double-layer rapier loom, and the space fabric double-layer rapier loom were launched, and customer orders have been made. Wuyang has been doing warp knitting equipment before, and this time it successfully made the unique weaving equipment of Van der Wiel, a century-old Belgian enterprise.
△Exterior view of Wuyang Textile Machinery Factory
"From the original digital workshop to the digital factory, to the current intelligent operation, to the research and development of new products, the little guy has supported a very high-end digital factory. Speaking of his son, Wang Minqi is very happy, "Wang Shui's development is going smoothly, and if we continue at this pace, I can say that Wuyang's flagship products in the next twenty or thirty years will be available." ”
"My daughter has been in charge of the old Wuyang Textile Machinery Factory in recent years. Last year, she upgraded all the old models of warp knitting equipment, drove to Hebei and Zhejiang to run the market by herself, and at the same time helped customers innovate and upgrade products. It's not easy for a girl, but she did it all. Wang Minqi's daughter, Hanzhu Wang, who has a double degree in mechanical engineering and mathematics from the State University of New York, gave up her master's and doctoral studies in 2012 to return to the family business, and she designed the operation structure of the warp knitting machine.
Wuyang warp knitting machine has created a lot of "myths": the charging sail board on the "Tiangong" series, the antenna on the Beidou satellite, the shielding net used by the troops, and the lawn made of warp knitting are all related to its equipment. "Now there are many new models and many ways to play, and we have to study different weaving structures according to the needs of customers and the needs of the market. "She has a customer who is the manufacturer of Michael Teddy Bears, and the fabric of this long-haired toy is produced by Wuyang warp knitting machines. In order to help customers expand the market, Wang Hanzhu led the R&D team to change the structure from the machine, which not only solved the problem of hair loss, but also enriched the jacquard dimension to make a double-layer three-dimensional shape, and at the same time reflected the long and short hair in the preparation process and made it into artificial animal fur. "Only by achieving customers can we achieve ourselves. Wang Hanzhu took her father's teachings to heart.
Wuyang Development Map
In 1986, it produced textile machinery accessories, in 1989, it manufactured warping machines and winders, in 1993, it developed and produced the world's first small double-knot fishing net machine, and in 1996, it developed and produced the first "mesh bag" warp knitting machine...... Wang Minqi started from textile machinery accessories, to the professional development and production of warp knitting machines, to the end of the 20th century annual sales of 120 million yuan, the enterprise has a small scale.
Twenty years ago, he went abroad for the first time and participated in the exhibition in Birmingham, England, which became an important turning point in the history of Wuyang's development. "A booth of Karl Mayer in Germany has at least 2,000 square meters, and there are at least eight machines in it, each of which uses the servo control we only use now, such as systems and touch screens, which I have never seen in China at that time. Wang Minqi went abroad with the China Textile Machinery Association, and the entrepreneurs in the same industry felt a huge gap, when China's manufacturing industry was still relatively backward, and any link in the industrial chain could not reach the international advanced level. "Knowing the gap, only then do you understand where your direction is, and you know what to do!" Wang Minqi secretly set a goal at that time: aiming at the Karl Mayer company, which leads the world's warp knitting industry, 30 years later, I will also build such a machine.
With KARL MAYER as the goal, Wang Minqi chose product differentiation competition, mainly aiming at the upgrading of warp knitting machines, and became the first batch of intelligent equipment projects in the country. After more than 30 years of accumulation, it has gradually formed several major product systems of single needle bed, double needle bed, lace machine and intelligent sectioning machine, which are sold to most provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in the country, and are exported to more than 30 countries and regions such as Canada and the European Union. Wuyang Digital Factory has formulated a number of industry standards for knitting machines, promoted the development of China's warp knitting machines in the direction of high speed, high efficiency and intelligence, and played a leading and exemplary role in improving the manufacturing level and competitiveness of textile machinery and equipment in mainland China. In recent years, the warp knitting equipment of the mainland double needle bed has rarely been imported from abroad. In 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held the national knitting industry intelligent manufacturing on-site exchange meeting to the enterprise, and promoted Wuyang Textile Machinery as a model in the country. Wuyang Textile Machinery was recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China as a single champion demonstration enterprise in the manufacturing industry of "Double Needle Bed Warp Knitting Machine".
As a result, it took only 20 years for Wang Minqi to realize his ambition and surpass in many fields. Wuyang has more than 6,000 customers, and exports account for a quarter of the total sales.
From June 8th to 14th, 2023, ITMA, which has been held every 4 years since 1951 and is known as the "world's leading textile and apparel technology exhibition", leading the global textile machinery and equipment technology innovation and a communication platform between exhibitors and top buyers, was held at the Milan International Exhibition and Convention Center in Italy. Wang Shui, general manager of Wuyang Textile Machinery Digital Factory, and Wang Hanzhu, general manager of Wuyang Textile Machinery, led a team to participate in the exhibition. The only ones in the world who brought warp knitting machines to the exhibition were KARL MAYER and Wuyang. The Wuyang booth was equipped with two machines, GE2268 CNC Trico high-speed warp knitting machine, GE2882 CNC simulation fur double needle bed warp knitting machine, fully formed 3D warp knitting clothing products, as well as multi-axis, biaxial, and double rapier sample books. During the exhibition, the Wuyang Textile Machinery booth was full of popularity, and customers and guests came to observe, consult, exchange and negotiate. Karl Meyer also sent people to visit the exhibition, and dozens of people came at once, and they watched it for about a day and a half.
From benchmarking Karl Mayer in Germany more than 20 years ago to benchmarking Van de Wiel in Belgium 5 years ago, Wang Minqi's ambition is as strong as it was then, and he continues to expand his territory on the development map of Wuyang.
Five years ago, Wang Minqi heard from the leaders of the China Textile Association that the output of carbon fiber in the mainland would exceed 100,000 tons in three years (it has now exceeded 200,000 tons). Carbon fiber is lighter and stronger than steel, aluminum, magnesium alloy, and is a very expensive raw material.
At that time, about 70% of foreign aviation materials used carbon fiber, while the proportion of domestic aviation materials carbon fiber was only 10%. Wang Minqi considered: this carbon fiber must be weaved, Wuyang's double rapier and double resistance can be weaved, so he decided to lay out in advance, develop all the content of carbon fiber weaving, and directly benchmark the relevant looms of Van der Wiel in Belgium.
VanderWiel Group has a history of more than 140 years, specializing in R&D, manufacturing, installation of carpet and velvet looms, known for its high quality, high technology in the international textile machinery industry, in a global monopoly position, a machine price of at least 5 million yuan. In the face of such a giant opponent, people in China's textile machinery industry dare not touch it. On the one hand, many people think that this is a niche product, and the market is not necessarily too big; on the other hand, all the parts, computer programs, sensors, control systems and servos of Van der Wiel's entire equipment are produced by their own company, which is fully closed-loop, and the threshold is too high, so they can only look up.
"We feel that Chinese have always been hardworking and brave, not stupider than foreigners, and what they can make, we will definitely be able to do by all means." Wang Shui was as confident as his father, and continued to use Wuyang's old method to solve the problem, that is: everything was made and explored by himself, and then one by one, the spare parts were all cooperated with Wuyang's existing suppliers and tackled key problems, all from scratch, which took nearly four years. Wuyang has also given full guarantee in terms of funds, and the innovation investment in the digital factory has never stopped, and in the past three years, all the company's profits have been invested in the research and development of new products in the digital factory. At the end of 2022, the carbon fiber multiaxial warp knitting machine was successfully developed, and Wuyang was jubilant, and soon had customers.
△Wuyang Textile Machinery Production Workshop
"Needless to say, aerospace, from more than 10% to 70%, there are a large number of structural parts that need to be replaced by carbon fiber; rail transit will speed up to 500 kilometers in the future, if you don't use lighter materials, the cost of speed is very high, so the use of carbon fiber will be more and more; including missile launch systems, drones, etc., all need to use carbon fiber. "Wang Shui has now adjusted the focus of his work to the application and expansion of new products. "I went to France in April 2023 to participate in the world's largest carbon fiber composite exhibition, there was a sports car at the exhibition, the entire body, body, tailframe, interior, etc. are all carbon fiber materials, and the market for this piece is also very large. ”
On the development map of Wuyang, there are two more important pieces. One is the Wuyang 3D warp knitted clothing taken over by Wang Minqi's 24-year-old second son, and the other is Wuyang Group (Vietnam) Co., Ltd.
The full-forming intelligent clothing warp knitting machine developed by Wuyang Textile Machinery completely subverts the traditional production process of yarn through warping, weaving, cutting, sewing and other processes to make clothing. The full-forming warp knitting machine can reduce energy consumption by more than 30% and increase production efficiency by 60%. At present, Wuyang Clothing has cooperated with ZARA and lululemon (Canada), "This piece has sales of about 50 million yuan this year, and it will double next year." Wang Minqi said, "The second son's one-time molding clothing will be the fastest growing project in Wuyang at present, the largest in the future and the most profitable." ”
Wuyang Group (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. is a comprehensive enterprise integrating production, sales and service invested and built in Vietnam by Wuyang in response to the national "One Belt, One Road" strategy, taking the road of international group operation, and is currently managed by Wang Minqi himself. The flannel dyed fabric and velvet blanket project invested by the company has an annual output of 3,000 tons of dyed and printed fabrics of various specifications and 7 million medium and high-end velvet blankets of various types, with an output value of 40 million US dollars. To go to Vietnam for the layout, Wang Minqi can be described as killing two birds with one stone: on the one hand, for the sake of Wuyang warp knitting to become a century-old enterprise, looking at the world, multi-point layout, extending the industrial chain, on the other hand, it is also to drive downstream enterprises to go out.
Passing on the torch from generation to generation
"Our corporate goal is 'five oceans in one hundred years', at least five generations. Since it will be a hundred years, we must take a long-term view of any problem. Wang Minqi believes that many problems are correct when viewed now, but not necessarily correct from a long-term perspective; in the process of implementing long-term decision-making, it may seem that there is a mistake at a certain point in time, but the goal is long-term, and it is not necessarily a failure. You can't rush for quick success, you can't just think about yourself, you have to pass it on from generation to generation.
To do a good job, people are the most important. Speaking of inheritance, Wang Minqi said with a smile that he was more "selfish". "After I did the machinery, I have a special affinity for the machinery, and since the children were young, I slowly and imperceptibly let them know a little about the products we make and understand the company. My son and daughter all chose to major in mechanical engineering, and after completing their studies, they are willing to come back to follow their father to do this hard traditional industry, and I am still very pleased. Wang Minqi revealed that his youngest son is only in the fourth grade, and he came to the office on the first day of the summer vacation to learn to place orders on the computer, "I started to think about the future succession of the children when they were in primary school, and began to consciously guide them." ”
Wang Minqi believes that traditional industries need continuous technological innovation, constantly surpass themselves, and achieve customers, but enterprises can not be greedy for intelligent manufacturing, and have the strength to do it in three years, if the strength is not enough, it can also be done in five or ten years, as long as it has been on the road, there is no difference between large and small.
Many companies define their opponents as those to be defeated, but Wang Minqi insists on differentiated competition. "You are strong, you always have someone who is not strong, I am not strong to do it, it is easier for me to succeed, and after I succeed, the opponent wants to do it in turn, and it is very difficult. "The market is infinite, do your best, you don't need to 'show your teeth and claws', you will naturally be respected by others." "Over the years, Wuyang and KARL MAYER have never had a battle of words, patents, or product customers.
The words and deeds of the parents lead the children to go hand in hand.
△ Wang Minqi and Wang Shui discuss the product process
Wang Shui said that his father's spirit of hard work, courage to fight, full of momentum and courage to innovate has always inspired him. "Be prepared for danger in times of peace, no matter whether the market environment is good or bad, especially in good circumstances, we are constantly stockpiling our technology and reserving our new products, so over the years, the market has been up and down, and the outside companies are good and bad, but we have been able to maintain healthy development, which has a lot to do with it. ”
"Firmness" and "self-improvement" are Wang Hanzhu's evaluation of her father, and they are also her code of conduct. "KARL MAYER is a 100-year-old company, and they have been working for a long time since they started with the accumulation of technology, just like we have been working in various fields and then doing all kinds of different tests. Why do we do something that doesn't necessarily work? Because it's testing, it's accumulating. Don't give up easily, be self-reliant, and take technology, products, and markets into your own hands. ”
As the main innovator and leader of high-end, green and intelligent warp knitting equipment and products, Wuyang has entered the fast track of development after inheritance. Watching the children gear up one by one, Wang Minqi repeatedly emphasized to his children his theory of "turtles crawling slowly": survival is the first priority, live healthily and be a little turtle. Along the way, looking back at a pile of "white bones", I don't know how many companies have "died". There are many entrepreneurial bosses who are out of business, and there is a chance to live a healthy life.
Source | Changzhou General Chamber of Commerce