Massoud & Bros. Succeeds With Fortuitous Entrepreneurship in Taiwan

Intrigued by Chinese culture, Antone I. Massoud, a Jordanian, came to Taiwan in 1970 as a student to study of Chinese language & history and, due to a series of unrelated events, has planted his roots on this isle, his adopted-home, by establishing Massoud & Bros. Co. (MBC) in 1976.

Luckily, the construction boom in the Middle East during the mid-1970s created a ripe opportunity for MBC and the company's business scope therefore diversified from only exporting sundries and building materials to manufacturing a small range of door and window hardware items.

In the early 1980s, MBC further enlarged its production lines to massively turn out door and window hardware parts and accessories. To maintain competent businesses while retaining proper control over the quality and production costs of such a sophisticated operation, the company has formulated strong ties with a number of qualified contract manufacturers in Taiwan and has created a very unique, integrated, cost-effective production and supply operation. This operation combines MBC's engineering capability, QA procedures, and sales/marketing expertise with the resources available at each factory within the satellite sub-contract manufacturing group.

Nowadays, within the sub-contract group of manufacturers under the MBC umbrella, almost every production and finishing process is available to the needs of the products. Its efficient manufacturing operation has enabled the company to stay on a course of steadily increasing sales, despite fierce competition often resulting from copycatting, market saturation within Taiwan and countries in Southeast Asia.

In 2001 MBC added a new dimension to its competitive strength with the opening of a China manufacturing plant, which was built on a land lot of 59,000 square meters (approximately 635,000 square feet) in Guangdong Province. At this plant, the company manufactures a broader range of products that are unsuitable for production in Taiwan because of prevailing cost factors.

Seeing the growing market demand, MBC branch operation in Taichung County, central Taiwan, was relocated to a much larger plant facility in nearby Nantou City's industrial park in September 2005. This move is part of an expansion plan, which would help MBC produce more high-end hardware items in flexible volume within its wholly-owned Taiwan operation.

MBC sticks to its corporate philosophy of meeting customers' requirements and exceeding expectations, so it insists on providing efficient services to all of its customers, whether the supplied products are manufactured in Taiwan and/or in China.

The company boasts of having a team of highly trained quality-control inspectors whose main task is to ensure the consistent quality of its products. From the design stage through prototyping, tooling and production, its QC team adheres to customers' specifications, or else to its own in-house standards.

The company's in-house equipment and facilities are set up to handle all technical and engineering drawings, which in turn allow the company to assess the prototype units and perform normal testing on the off-tool samples for customers' approval, prior to mass production.

Supported by a strong team of engineers and its accumulated expertise, MBC is well equipped to handle virtually every technical issue during the design and development stages of new products, in accordance with the customers' specifications or internationally-recognized standards. This R&D team is the backbone of MBC's strength.

To manage the diverse manufacturing and QC work at its sub-contract vendors, MBC maintains a branch operation in central Taiwan, which coordinates and monitors various procedures related to the quality requirements and delivery schedules. The same system of operation is also adopted within its manufacturing plant in China, which aims at making sure that its products meet MBC's high standards. The China-based facility attained ISO 9001: 2000 accreditation in January 2004.

With experience of more than three decades, MBC supplies a wide range of hardware that accommodates the window and door systems of different market territories in over 50 countries worldwide. Generally speaking, the company's products are divided into nine categories, including wheels & rollers, locks, cylinders & accessories, sliding window & door hardware, window hardware, entrance door & storefront hardware, storm & screen door hardware, cabinet hardware, fasteners, and the miscellaneous.

With the relentless pursuit of deeper understanding and appreciation of each client's requirements, MBC is able to forge and maintain long-term and mutually beneficial business relationship with its customers. The company is set to generate revenues of US$22.5 million for 2007 and is confident of its capacity to keep business growing in the future.