The Head of TIFI New Generation Social Keng-Tung Wu: Experience is Passed Down Through Communication

Many Taiwanese fastener companies have entered the period of business succession. In order to let the industry professionals have a general understanding of the recent business succession and share their own perspectives, Fastener World has invited several new generations from the industry to join this column. On the other hand, The Board of Directors of TIFI also agreed in a directors & supervisors conference on Dec. 18, 2015 to organize a “New Generation Social” for strengthening experience succession and generation interaction. Thus far nearly one hundred 2nd and 3rd generation industry leaders have become members of this social. The 1st head of this social is Mr. Keng-Tung Wu from Shuenn Chang Fa Enterprise. In this issue we are very pleased to invite Mr. Wu and his wife Ya-Lan Chu to share their perspectives about the issue of business succession. 
Shuenn Chang Fa Enterprise Co., Ltd. founded in 1984 started its business in the production of standard screws and later changed its focus to high-value added special long screws and automotive screws. In order to satisfy clients’ demand, it developed several special screws and introduced highly efficient machines from Germany in 2010 for increasing the production of long screws. In addition, for developing more marketing approaches and offering clients high quality products, it was certified to ISO/TS 16949 in 2005. After then, it also received the CE approval. It was even certified to ISO 14001 (an environment management standard) in 2008. 

Having Started His Fastener Career for 6 Years, Wu Talks About Joy and Challenges
Wu, who originally worked in the electronics industry but later stepped into the fastener industry, concisely illustrated the mission statement of the Social- “Connection”. He added, “Frankly speaking, I had lots of things to adapt to when I just stepped into the fastener industry, as they were totally different products to me. Or, we can say that the operation of this industry is different. In the electronics industry, you can have your job done well when you can understand the work manuals. However, working in the fastener industry is another story because many techniques can only be learned from the experience of senior engineers. In this industry you can never work alone and the most important mentor is my father-in-law.”
So, for getting into the swing of his job quickly, Wu started his interaction with many 2nd generations or professional managers. It was a coincidence that TIFI also organized the Social.  Wu expects this platform can attract more participation of the 2nd generation and it will be even better should the senior can bring more new blood in. He thinks that succession is not a formality or a way to differentiate the 1st and the 2nd generations, but a key to achieving sustainability and prosperity of the entire industry. He said, “A smooth succession is not only the business of our own, but also what customers care about, as the stability of your business may cause great impacts on theirs, too.” 

Starting the Career from Looking for What Interests You
Ms. Ya-Lan Chu is the daughter of Shuenn Chang Fa’s President Yung-Chang Chu as well as the wife of Mr. Wu. She is also the new blood of the company. She started to accumulate her experience from the sales division. She said, “Whatever your final goal is, it will be really helpful if you start from what interests you the most. Finding out what interests you will be the most important issue if you don’t know which way to go.”
With a lot of practice and experience, Wu said, “When I just stepped into this industry, I often heard senior engineers telling me “Just go do it”.” Although I had many questions on my mind when I was trying to learn, I did learn after doing. However, I was always thinking that maybe there would be no bottleneck for technique succession and the time for learning could be shortened if I could turn the idea of “Just go do it” into readable instructions. This corresponds to the sentence in an article on Industry 4.0 published in CommonWealth  Magazine- “Human resources are too valuable to be used in doing repeated and low knowledge and technology intensive jobs. They have to be decision makers and managers in manufacturing procedures rather than operators of machines. “In fact, many techniques have been lost through word of mouth. This is really a shame.” Accordingly, another mission of this Social is to emphasize the importance of creating printed versions of the word-of-mouth techniques. 

This Social is a Place to Increase Your Value
Sometimes disputes are more likely to happen between the person you are familiar with and you. “Communicate!” When asked to give suggestions to the new generation, Wu thinks that everyone should know to which level he wants his value to be. If communication can be done through the analysis of relevant data, it will be more possible to achieve effective communication. Communication is not about who wins or who loses but the compromise between one side and the other.
Many sessions have been arranged for this Social this year. Chu said, “I’d say that these sessions can create an ideal place for views exchange rather than say that participants can learn something from these sessions. I hope that this Social can play a role for increasing participants’ value.”
The development of Taiwanese fastener industry has been over 70 years. So, the industry should have been developed for 2.5 generations. Some may have passed down the management to the 2nd generation while some others may have been training the 3rd generation. After the Social is organized, we are optimistic and expect to see the centennial anniversary of Taiwanese fastener industry.