Ferro-Carbon Enterprise Diversifies by Tapping Tiling Tool Know-how

To cope with the increased global demand for all sorts of gadgets that enhance the convenience of daily life, Ferro-Carbon Enterprise Co., Taiwan's leading manufacturer of industrial tiling tools, has been striving to diversify into other sectors by tapping its abundant pool of manufacturing experience-aiming to create various practical products. Positioning itself as a living-environment architect or a specialist who designs items for any space for human habitation, the company is eager to start developing a line of multi-functional products aimed to help end-users raise the level of living comfort and convenience.

Ferro-Carbon was created by Steve Chen, president of the company, two decades ago. A graduate of mechanical designing at the Provincial Taipei Institute of Technology, Chen majored in mechanical design and has accumulated over two decades of design and manufacturing experience in the tiling-tool arena. Through strenuous efforts on constant innovation and adherence to design concept, Chen and his team have developed a variety of product series that allow safer and easier operation by users, greatly meeting the consumer market demands. This, coupled with the implementation of sound corporate management system, has enabled the firm to enjoy more systematic and efficient operations, thus making it grow rapidly amid the increasingly intensive competition in the industry.

The main product line at Ferro-Carbon includes tile cutters, tungsten-carbide wheels, universal drill guide sets and diamond holesaw, grout saws and tile files, hole cutters and tiling tools, tile nipper/pliers, mixers and caulking guns, notch trowels, brick trowels, floats, scrapers, carpet tools, suction cups, cleaning buckets, PVC (polyvinyl carbonate) trims and cutters, knee pads, and pliers and scissors.

At present, the company's best selling product is the universal drill guide set with diamond bits. The product is especially designed for use in drilling rigs to drill porcelain tiles, china, clinkers and marble. Optional cooling system for extending the diamond bits' service life is provided. This universal guide set with the cooling system helps to make work easier for masons.

The company says building a highly practical feature into a product has paid off-as the firm has found a Japanese distributor as its exclusive sales agent soon after the introduction of the universal guide with integrated cooling system.

Transformation

Starting up business as a manufacturer of tungsten-carbide parts for foreign buyers two decades ago, Ferro-Carbon soon evolved into an assembler in the tiling-tool field. Entering into its third decade of operations, the company sees diversification of product line as a savvy way to design, develop a series of products that feature sophistication and yet genius of simplicity. The firm is confident of its capacity to fulfill such grand goal as it has gained years of experience in building tiling tools. The most noteworthy aspect is that Ferro-Carbon is ready to tap perhaps the most challenging process of product design and development-changing one's perspective to find new opportunities.

For instance, the company has created a smaller-sized suction cup for household use that is based on its larger counterpart designed for industrial use. With special design fitting specific application, this household suction cup can be installed on kitchen, bathroom and living room surfaces without damage to even delicate finishes.

Ferro-Carbon has been continuously improving the design of the household suction cup after it began developing the item three years ago. The newest-developed household suction cup has a working load of 10 kilograms, an amazing feat due to its ingenious double-lock mechanism. This suction has been patented in China and Taiwan for its double-lock mechanism, with the one in Japan still pending.

So far the company has already developed 1,000-strong items in the arena of tiling-tool and household suction cup. All the products are very different from those made by domestic manufacturers in this field because the company only concentrates on the production of uniquely designed items. The company says it has obtained more than 10 patents at home and abroad. "The efforts made by our in-house R&D team led by Steve Chen have played a major role in the success of acquiring the patents," says Lin. "Taiwan's industrial operating environment has help us complete the designs of sophisticated products because Taiwan is an ideal production place with the strong support of mold-making and other manufacturing processes like plastic injection molding."

Over the past two decades, the company has spent approximately NT$40 million (US$1.24 million at US$1:NT$32.2) in making molds, with NT$8 million (US$248,400) spent in 2007 alone. The company says it has to continuously develop molds to meet customers' special requirements and the industrial trend. Each year the company reinvests about 5% from its total revenues in R&D, including the design of molds.

Promoting OBM Products

In the beginning of its inception, the company focused on sales on the OEM and ODM (original equipment/design manufacturer) basis. Recently, the company has been making all-out efforts to develop OBM (original brand manufacturer) products by setting up an affiliate-the Tile Craft Industry Co. The company currently has two self-owned brands, including "Ferro-Carbon" and "Tile Craft".

The company boasts its designs always follow the new development of the tiling industry globally. For instance, the popularity of the natural stones applied in the construction industry has inspired the company to design practical tiling tools.

To stay updated with industrial trends, Chen has to travel overseas six months of a year. "The designs we develop are truly practical rather than idealistic visions, because we know exactly what end-users are looking for in terms of ergonomic and health-enhancing features," Lin explains. "Backed by years of field experience in designing industrial products, Chen is brimming with ideas that can be turned into practical reality, anytime, anywhere. This seasoned designer has the perfect combination of a savvy specialist-earnest work ethics, earthy approach and intellectual capacity to turn inspirations into highly useable products."

"Our products are designed to feature functions and practicality that can allow easier use by consumers, and we have therefore gained corporate recognition in the world's major consumer marketplaces," says Lin.

As the company is entering the third decade of its existence, it has worked out a concrete plan to develop as one of the worlds' top-five manufacturers of tiling tools. To reach that goal, the company will launch strategic alliances with overseas sales agents as well as branding alliances by adopting co-brands with business partners. In fact, the company is having talks with the sales agents of Europe and Australia for launching strategic alliances which are expected to come into being within the next one year.

Thanks to its dedication to developing uniquely designed products, the company has seen a 30% year-on-year sales growth over the past several years. Lin believes her company could achieve another 30% sales growth in 2008.

Advanced Management System

Lin attributes the substantial sales growth to the adoption of an advanced internal management system. Before developing her career in Ferro-Carbon, Lin has accumulated advanced management skills working for a large-sized Japanese firm in Taiwan. "I found with forward-looking management system, an enterprise will be able to infinitely extend its operating life," Lin explains. "That's why we adopt the sophisticated management system derived from large-sized companies. Thanks to the adoption of the management system developed by large-sized companies, our internal management system has helped us streamlined all the processes in production, management, personnel, accounting and even warehousing. As a result, we are ready for developing as a large-sized firm."

The company says it first adopted the spirit of the world-class firms' management system before it managed to be successfully certified by the ISO9001 international quality assurance system in 2007.

To cope with the global online marketing trend, Ferro-Carbon is setting up an enterprise resources planning (ERP) system, the first step to installing an online business platform. A key part of setting up the ERP is putting bar codes on all its products that will enable the firm to computerize inventory keeping, such as scanning products to read various product related data. The company estimates it would be able to fully set up the ERP system by the end of 2008.

Corporate Social Responsibility

While achieving steady growth in sales, Ferro-Carbon has also paid considerable attention to living up to its social responsibilities as a conscientious corporation-donating part of its revenues to under-privileged groups.

Such generous corporate spirit carries on internally, the company always holds for its staffers gala parties when celebrating anniversaries and traditional festivals. "Our approach effectively creates harmonious office climate in addition to building employee loyalty and inter-staff friendship," notes Lin.

Besides holding activities to raise employee loyalty and helping staffer to bond, the company also does not neglect on-the-job training and further education, offering classes in business management to help staffers to advance their management and professional skills. The company believes enhancing workers' skills on various levels will help to sustain corporate growth.

Ferro-Carbon Ent. Co., Ltd

No. 303, Sec. 4, Huanjung Road, Nantung District, Taichung City, Taiwan 40869

Tel:886-4-2386-4118

Fax:886-4-2386-4116

E-mail:ferro.carbon@msa.hinet.net

http://www.ferro-carbon.com