Sheng Tai Brassware Co., Ltd.

Faucets, showerheads, bathroom fittings

After years of goading by industrial consultants and backed by marketing expertise cultivated in colleges in Taiwan, as well as observing, and emulating global trends, Taiwan-based makers of faucets and bathroom fittings have gradually seen their efforts to climb the supply chain pay off, achieving recognition and success by evolving from OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) to ODMs (original design manufacturer). One such maker is Sheng Tai Brassware Co., who has been at the top of the sanitary ware industry in Taiwan for many years, and has in recent times captured considerable attention globally with its JUSTIME-branded wares.

2009 Red-Dot Award Winners

Sheng Tai's two newest products, Story and Tai Chi series faucets, are real-world proof of the company's inspiring design abilities having been recognized by the coveted Red dot Design Award, this being a far more convincing testament than conventional promotional hype-the two series have been honored as 2009 winners by the German body.

Pursuing the nostalgic look, Sheng Tai's R&D Team came up with the Story series faucet, which blends retro ceramic handles with a futuristic, round body, achieving a semblance of the classic bib taps. The ceramic element enhances the aesthetic added-value to make the faucet a premium item.

Functionally the faucet features a durable, ceramic valve component that lasts about 500,000 turns, and a brass, corrosion-resistant body that has been salt spray tested for 96 hours. The handle is made of engineering ceramic, achieving a structurally stronger handle and higher UV resistance than competing models. Precision processed with CNC (computerized numerically controlled) machines for minimum joints and use of screws, the faucet is easy to clean.

Sheng Tai s other Red dot award winner-the Tai Chi series faucet, as the name implies, features gentle curves, streamlines forms inspired by the posture of Tai Chi, the ancient Chinese martial art that advocates the "soft" rather than hard approach. Plus, the company's R&D Team played upon the basic concept of Tai Chi-"Ying and Yang" (literally lunar and solar or female and male in Chinese), designing different models with features that symbolize femininity and masculinity. It would be reasonable to assume the Red dot judges were impressed that the faucet designers successfully drew inspiration from a seemingly irrelevant branch of ancient Chinese culture.

To maximize variety and yet minimize manufacturing difficulty of the series, Sheng Tai cleverly developed modular parts and shared components that are interchangeable among eight different faucet models. Plus, the improved aerator technology for water flow enhances water-saving while the ceramic valve disc eliminates water leakage and enables smooth action. The series comply with U.S.'s ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards in surface treatment and have standardized specifications for easy installation.

With excellent functionality and innovations, the Story and Tai Chi series faucets have also been given rave reviews on the websites of Trendir and Interiores, both professional international furniture magazines. Apparently, winning Red dot has further underlined the success of JUSTIME-branded bathroom fittings and accessories.

Path to Excellence

Treading a typical path in the sector, Sheng Tai started out making conventional brass and copper bathroom fittings in the central Taiwan county of Changhua in 1976. Today the company is one of the most experienced OEM and ODM of bathroom fittings in Taiwan.

Sheng Tai supplies a comprehensive range, including faucets, basins, showers, mirrors, and other sanitary accessories, some of which are branded JUSTIME. With some 200 workers in its Taiwan plant and more than 2,000 in Thailand, the firm exports some 96% of its output, with 46% going to Europe, 43% to the America and more than 7% to the Asia

Sheng Tai is also a successful OBM (original brand manufacturer), who has spent over 15 years and considerable effort to build the JUSTIME brand that has garnered a solid global reputation. In fact, the JUSTIME label is associated by consumers for both innovation and functionality.

Deserving credit for taking Sheng Tai and JUSTIME to the current level of success and brand recognition is the Marketing Director Chinger Pan and R&D Director James Huang. Pan said that Sheng Tai prevails over competitors by supplying products featuring the latest innovations and functionality, hence setting trends and standards of the highest level in the bathroom fittings category.

R&D Dedicated

Sheng Tai has been able to extract the most from the complicated interaction between adhering to R&D requirements and continually upgrading quality. Also the company believes in continually investing in honing production flexibility and efficiency to improve quality.

But the R&D Director's approach, dedication to R&D is hardly merely mechanical, for Huang sums up his motto as "If quality is the life of a product, then design is its soul."

Sheng Tai shows their obvious dedication and professionalism by the host of precision machines installed in-house, including CNC lathes, NC (numerically controlled) machines, machining centers, automatic polishing machines, die-casting machines, automatic forging machines, plating machines, electrophoretic lacquer coating equipment, 3D (three-dimensional) measuring machines, spectrometers, and coating-thickness measuring instruments.

An ISO-9001-certified business for years, Sheng Tai continues to live up to such standards by regularly testing for product-lifecycles via simulations in-house, calibrating gauges and jigs, as well as reviewing plant floor layouts for optimal efficiency.

Definitely stepping beyond conventional wisdom in staff training, Sheng Tai encourages workers to attend art exhibitions, for Pan and Huang believe such exposure can help to cultivate aesthetic sense to enable staff to develop more attractive sanitary ware; after all, anyone can turn out utilitarian faucets and kitchen fixtures.

Product Variety

Besides offering product variety, Sheng Tai also shows design intelligence that tries to realize the truism "it's the details in life that count." The company's R&D Team has introduced a series of stainless-steel racks, hooks, and accessories, whose simplistic designs belie their ingenuity: the "minimalist joints" effectively make keeping such items clean.

Sometimes reinventing the wheel is worthwhile for scoring high innovation points, which Sheng Tai has done with its "G-type faucet." Shaped as the letter "G," this faucet features a long shaft on the left and a short one on the right, with the left shaft being turned to control the water flow, and the right controlling the ON/OFF valve and hot/cold water.

Besides being a trend-setting design without the conventional screw-down mechanism, the G-type faucet is also available in different specifications for kitchen and bathroom sinks and bathtubs. Officially debuted at the 2008 Taipei International Building, Construction & Decoration Exhibition, the G-type faucet captivated foreign buyers for its incredible functionality and innovation.

"The G-type faucet is more than a mere faucet, but also an object of art," said Huang.

Another pride-and-joy unveiled, although yet to be named, at the recent trade show in Taipei, Barcelona and Shanghai by Huang and his R&D Team is a shower faucet with radically-minimalist design: the faucet has no protruding knobs but has two round shafts embedded into the wall as hot/cold water controllers, with the water outlet being the long shaft connected vertically to the two short shafts. This cutting-edge shower faucet has impressed visitors deeply.

Again featuring "low maintenance" in design, Huang said that the faucet has a minimalist exterior and reinforced structure, which has an added bonus of being a safety handrail for users who need it.

With Huang and his R&D Team having long believed that sharp angles are dangerous, this easy-to-clean faucet features rounded edges, a geometry that Sheng Tai has been building into all its products. Despite making smooth-edged products calling for more sophisticated production technology, Sheng Tai fully believes investing in the added expense, and effort is well worth it.

Packaging for Added-value

Knowing the importance of eye-catching packaging design and how it can enhance the marketability of otherwise mundane, garden-variety products, Sheng Tai takes the trouble to design gift-box packaging for its series of bathroom accessories like coat hook, soap dish, tissue holder, shelving, towel ring and bar.

Such packaging is proving to be quite popular with Western European consumers for the approach helps to turn DIY accessories into potential gifts. "Gift-boxing such accessory, above all, enhances added-value so that consumers may be inspired to see these products also as gifts," Huang said.

Balancing Price and Practicality

Each of the firm's creations is born of a design formula consisting of safety, functionality, necessity and marketability, according to Huang. "We find that consumers are sometimes forced to buy items with unnecessary functions and designs, which is another way to say 'overkill or over-design.' " This means designers may be neglecting the price-vs.-practicality balance, squandering resources to build features that simply are unwanted, Huang said, so Sheng Tai uses its years of experience to consistently design products that strike the best balance between functionality and price.

Endeavoring to give its design philosophy the room to relax, the company also wants to infuse the styling of its bathroom fittings with European and other flavors, aiming to create products that enhance the "relaxation quotient" for users stressed out from the daily grind. Pan said he wants to build products that help users to relax, just as classical music does.

Sheng Tai Brassware Co., Ltd.

No. 99, Chang Tsao Rd., Sec. 3, Homei Chen, Changhua, Taiwan 508

Tel: 886-4-7629971-4

Fax: 886-4-7526980

E-mail: shengtai@ms10.hinet.net

Website: www.justime.com