The 1st One from Taiwan to Acquire Certificate from Volkswagen- Chan Hsiung Factory

Chan Hsiung Factory Co., Ltd is a specialized maker of special and automotive fasteners. Its products are sold across the world. The U.S. market represents 60% of its product sales, and Europe accounts for 40%. Beside acquiring the honorable certificate from the German Volkswagen, Chan Hsiung’s quality satisfaction outstands others in major carmakers' minds. Its outstanding fastener quality gives many buyers the impression that the CHF brand is like a boutique product line. A German client once praised: “CHF fastener quality is top-notch!” Subsequent to its transformation as a professional special fastener maker, Chan Hsiung’s upgrade is another huge leap in quality. Fastener World Magazine is delighted to invite president Henry Lin and general manager Kevin Lin, the father and son, to tell us how they keep up with the latest technology and maintain strict quality standard.

Focus on Specialty and Start Automotive Fastener Business from Scratch
The minute I stepped in the factory of Chan Hsiung, what came to my eyes were the perfectly aligned machine tools and equipment. Without grease and unbearable heat, Henry is proud of the comfortable environment in his factory. This man who started his business from scratch said, “In the fastener industry, you learn by doing. At the early time, Chan Hsiung knew nearly nothing about market trend except for a little about fundamental technique.” He continued, “When the company was just started, its scale, equipment level and technical quality were inferior, and I was extremely against giving factory tours to clients. Nowadays, Chan Hsiung is confident of its quality and domestic and overseas clients are welcome to visit its factories.” In the past as Henry recalled, Taiwan suffered extremely low fastener profits, and companies had a hard time surviving, not to mention growth. Henry decided to transform and started to produce automotive fasteners. At first, he was lucky to have the help and assistance of American partners, and Chan Hsiung was able to open up its business of automotive fasteners. Coincidentally, at that time China was preparing for the Olympics, so the demand for infrastructure led to the price leap of wires and this determined the scales of Chan Hsiung. The company is also one of the first Taiwanese fastener maker entering the automotive fastener market. Currently it has not only acquired the certificates from Volkswagen and Tesla, but is also a stable fastener supplier for BMW, Ford, Chrysler and Audi. Since its transformation in 2000, its number of employees has doubled and its revenues have had 3 to 4 folds of considerable growth. How was the company able to grow against recession in the current fastener market? Henry said there was no other better way but to do what you are good at and do the best.

Most Stringent Quality Management / Reputation Spreads Through Word of Mouth
General manager Kevin Lin, the second generation, discharged from the army 15 years ago and immediately entered the QC department of Chan Hsiung and started from scratch. At first his thoughts were dull until he saw a note that wrote “The feedback for Chan Hsiung’s quality is bad and clients have no faith”. He was determined to do a full makeover and revitalize his father’s business. He did the best he could to fix the quality problems, and spent years rectifying the factory’s QC procedures at full scale. That includes replacing hand drawing with computer drawing, introducing MIS system, and computerizing all process check forms. “In recent years we spent over a million dollars importing American GI sorting and inspection equipment with better precision. Besides our speedy sorting capability, we have Eddy current system that can easily sort out fasteners that are not heat-treated or electroplated well,” said Kevin. He added, “Our QC department has high staff retention rate. Most of our staff have 5 to over 10 years of experience, so they are highly experienced in quality inspection.” Recently, Kevin has introduced the German pressure inspection instrument to the production line that makes real-time quality control on the production line possible, further enhancing the company’s quality.

Success Does not Come Overnight / Efforts Help Reap Better Achievement
Chan Hsiung received the supplier assessment notification from Volkswagen in 2012 and passed Volkswagen’s grade 10.9 high strength fastener certification in September of the same year. Speaking of this top honor for a fastener company like Chan Hsiung, Henry said, “The fastener industry involves a lot of know-how and very complicated technique that are not as simple as those an average person can imagine. Chan Hsiung does not fight alone, and it is our dedicating and growing staff who treat this company as their own that brought the company to this achievement today.”
In the future, Chan Hsiung will not only continue making automotive fasteners but will also start to develop assembly parts related to fasteners. Buyers across the world who are involved with automotive fastener technology or quality marketing are welcome to contact for OEM or ODM cooperation. Chan Hsiung offers excellent products with the best competitiveness, reasonable cost and profits. It also expects more quality improvement with surface coating partners and cooperation with them. At the end of the interview, Kevin concluded: “You don’t have so many opportunities in your lifetime, but they are yours to keep if you can catch them!”