Garden & Decorator Wood Products Inc. - Garden pruners, followers trimmers, shears, grass cutters, m

One exporter who has managed to defy a common and often tragic trend in the sector-to stay afloat in the fiercely competitive business environment where many either go under within a few years or stay open while merely maintaining cash flow-is Garden & Decorator Wood Products Inc. (G&D). After some 20 years in the garden hardware trade, the firm may not actually deserve the title of "bellwether" but certainly has played a role to help its peers on the island to explore the world market.

Maria Huang is the opposite embodiment of behind every successful man is a woman: Ray D. Thomas, an Australian mechanical engineer, provided the inspiration to set up G&D in 1986. After graduating from a local university with a bachelor's in international trade, Huang has been involved in the hardware trade, and later even went to Tulane University stateside for an EMBA, which may have further polished the sheen on the line of hardware exported worldwide; while Huang's business and technical formula is foolproof-with Thomas' engineering training backing up his role as designer and consultant to the company.

"Ray is the soul of our company who helps us design new models and enhance the product quality," Huang says gratefully. "We not only supply and develop in-house products to our international clients, but also help them source hardware offered by makers around the island. To fully meet demands, we devote ourselves to design and develop high-end products and also strictly require suppliers to produce only world-standard items for G & D."

"I have been in the industry for nearly three decades. The early years saw Taiwan hardware manufacturers making typically only quality pruners and shears, and rakes of wood and bamboo; but we were the one to later introduce quality hardware made to higher level specification," Huang recalls. "After establishing my own company some 22 years ago, I worked slavishly 16-hour days-from eight in the mornings into the wee hours-to keep it afloat. Moreover, I traveled often to central and southern Taiwan with Ray Thomas, where most hardware manufacturers were, to talk with them about ways for product improvement and upgrades to meet world standards."

Widely-regarded as Pioneer

After years of apparently thankless, selfless dedication to improving the sector, G&D is generally regarded by its peers as having played a central role to upgrade the overall caliber of the garden hardware sector, as well as being seen as a pioneer. "G&D and Thomas have contributed significantly to the prosperity and global reputation of Taiwan's hardware industry today," Huang says proudly. It may not be much of an exaggeration to claim that the G&D-plus-Thomas duo have set trends for Taiwan's hardware industry, and helped the sector become world-class suppliers."

Even at 70-plus years, Thomas has youthful energy and drive as he continues to devote himself to the hardware world. "Work keeps me alive and the goal is to design and develop first-class hardware for top-end clients," Thomas remarks. "Being able to keep customers happy with excellent products will enable G & D to keep running our business at its peak."

"You get what you pay for. If you pay low prices, you get cheap quality. Cheap quality products always return as defects for claims or repair. But we want only returning customers, not products," he quips. "So, we always try our best to supply the best products to avoid hassle."

"Honesty and trustworthiness are our key business motto: We must trust our clients and we expect our clients to be open in dealing with G & D. That means we would never deceive clients with inferior products whose quality often cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. Some items have hidden mechanisms that enable perfect operation," Thomas explains. "Cheap price cannot come with guarantee of quality. G&D is loyal to delivering the finest quality and always at reasonable prices."

Inspired by Industrious Bees

Besides building its own branded items, G&D also takes on ample OEM orders for many world-leading suppliers, for which it has garnered plentiful praise. "I create the 'Bee' logo for the company for the insect's well-known characteristics of industry, reliability, teamwork, gregariousness and harmony, as well as its production of the defect free, world-popular honey," Thomas elaborates. "Bees are indispensable for they spread pollen and help crossbreed flora to grow fruits and vegetables for mankind. Our vision behind creating such brand is to set up G&D in a role as pivotal in the hardware sector as the bees' in the horticultural world."

G&D lives up to the textbook definition of offering a broad product range, including drop forged bypass pruners, heavy-duty anvil pruners, garden pruners, curved anvil ratchet pruners, flower trimmers, floral shears, grape & utility shears, sheep shears, pruning scissors, fruit scissors, multi-purpose scissors, pruning knives, grass cutters, multi-purpose sharpeners, machetes, wheeled swivel long handle grass shears, telescopic grass shears, long handle border shears, promotion hedge shears, lever action hedge shears, geared wavy hedge shears, straight hedge shears, bypass compound lever loppers, ratchet bypass loppers, rakes, shovels, hoes, rotary turf disc edgers, tree planters, trowels , cultivators, saws, spray water wands, spray nozzles, recoil hoses, garden hose sets, car wash sets, sprinklers, garden too sets, etc.

To offer e-age product organization and inventorying, G&D adopts a computerized system to keep track of product specifications. "We pay close attention to details required by customers, including printing, cutting and even vacuum-formed blisters," Huang emphasizes. "Each step of manufacture has to be very precise, otherwise a tiny error can sometimes result in major consequences."

Near-zero Defect

"It's virtually impossible to find defects or flaws in our products, our overall statistic may be only two in fifty thousand pieces," Huang confirms. "After 22 years in business, G&D has never received returned products due to defects."

The company works with many world-reputable brands and today distributes 95% of its products to these buyers, who come from all parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, the U.K., the U.S., Baltic nations, Central South America and the Caribbean.

Proven Track-record

Not one to boast without proof, G&D has a long list of satisfied, grateful clients, including a prestigious hand tool manufacturer in California, U.S.; Country Home Products, a large supplier of garden hardware in rural U.S.; Trail Blazer, a Canadian manufacturer of outdoor products who recently was officially awarded at home for excellent corporate operations; and Pietro Rosa Due Buoi, a famous Italian knife and scissors maker.

Further proof of G&D's excellence lies in the following feedback from clients:

"Dealing with G&D has been a very valuable and educational experience, as is evidenced by the unusually thick file of correspondence. We have benefited from their patience and guidance, and both G&D and CHP look forward to success with their line of products."

"Thank you for keeping your performance at or above expected levels. We are very pleased when goods arrive on time to meet schedules, as many of the products purchased will be used within one to two days after arrival. We look forward to seeing more of your excellent on-time delivery."

"I would like to take this time to thank you for the wonderful service and assistance G&D provided in the development of Trail Blazer's Xtend-A-Blade."

"As you can see from the photo this product does a nice job of pulling sod. It produces a nice clean-cut strip of sod, and the lifter is best suited for small areas, which makes hard work easy."

Emulating Edison's Words

Thomas is an invaluable "treasure" to G&D: he admires Thomas Edison, the great American inventor of the light bulb and follows his philosophy for life and business when he stated that he would employ people who had not yet learned what cannot be done.

"If people say something cannot be improved, I would say why not," says Thomas. "I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it." As would Edison, Thomas encourages G & D staff to "have faith and go forward." "I hope that G&D can achieve lasting sustainability by looking for top quality products, offering the finest service and punctual delivery," Thomas says.