The "electrical discharge processing machine" field, with sales growth exceeding 20% in the past three years, has been hailed as "the biggest miracle of Taiwan's machinery manufacturing industry in the past decade" by the Mainland Professional Machinery Bi-monthly Magazine; CHMER Electromechanical, It is the leading company that has created this first in Taiwan. What does Chairman Wang Wu-hsiung, who is honored as the "Principal" of Taiwan's Electrical Discharge Machining Machines, do to lead?

Text: Zhang Jingyi

"In 2008, the government will turn the machinery industry into the next trillion-dollar industry!" Minister of Economic Affairs He Meiyue has repeatedly declared in public. Because the mafia industry, with an output value of NT$600 billion last year, not only quietly emerged, but also made Taiwan the fourth largest exporter of machine tools in the world.

This piece of jade hides a field that has not been noticed by Taiwan, but has been praised as "the biggest miracle of Taiwan's machinery manufacturing industry in the past ten years" by the mainland's bimonthly professional machinery magazine "Electric Machining and Mold" , is the "electrical discharge processing machine" whose sales have increased significantly by more than 20% in the past three years.

Taiwan's electrical discharge machines, which are necessary for forming hard material molds, have not only become the world's production champion, but are also expected to maintain a high growth rate of more than 10% to 20% this year. . CHMER Electromechanical, with a market share of more than 40%, is the leading company that created this first in Taiwan. It has just been 30 years since CHMER was founded. In addition to being the industry leader, CHMER has never lost half a dime. Last year, CHMER was selected as one of the "Thirty-one Most Stable Companies" by domestic media.

In the past five years, CHMER’s earnings per share have averaged 5 yuan, its gross profit margin has maintained at 30%, its compound growth rate has exceeded 20%, and its debt ratio has been less than 30%. “Small but beautiful” is CHMER synonymous with.

The 62-year-old chairman Wang Wuxiong is the driving force behind CHMER Electromechanical. He is honored as the "Principal" of Taiwan's electrical discharge machining machine. He has not only cultivated one-third of Taiwan's electrical discharge machining industry peers in the industry invest tens of millions of dollars in research and development every year, so that Taiwan's technology can keep pace with Switzerland and Japan.

But "Principal Wang" has a family background since he was a child, and his body is not only inferior to others, but also suffers from autism. Fortunately, Wang Wuxiong found his own strengths and interests in reading. He was good at homework and taciturn, so he was nicknamed "Saint" since he was a child.

Success genes: genius + idiot

"The combination of genius and idiot is my characteristic," Wang Wuxiong, who always speaks in a gentle manner, pointed out his success genes in one sentence.

He is always focused on what he does and quietly developed his mechanical and electrical skills during his student days. When he was in the army, because of his maintenance skills, he was highly valued by his superiors. In the end, he was even exempted from military training. When he retired, he was awarded an Army Certificate of Commendation. After retiring from the army, Wang Wuxiong was successfully admitted to Panasonic Taiwan, but due to his introverted nature, he was never taken seriously.

After working silently for four years, Wang Wuxiong finally stood out. Because in the first technical competition held by Panasonic in Taiwan at that time, Wang Wuxiong won the first place in the country, and no one can beat his results to this day. The Japanese head office specially asked him to go to Japan for an internship. In the next six years, he was smoothly promoted from basic technician to section leader.

The reason why Wang Wuxiong resolutely left Panasonic and changed tracks was because he found that the electric discharge machine market has great potential; once a Japanese electric discharge machine in a factory failed, and Japanese and Taiwanese technicians spent a long time Nian was still at a loss, so he asked him to give it a try. He traced the problem and found that it was just a resistor worth 5 yuan that had a problem, which easily solved the problem.

He discovered the potential of the market and began to use his off-duty time to study electric discharge machines. During the research period, a fire broke out in the rented attic room while conducting experiments. Not only did I suffer burns and was hospitalized for more than a month, but I also lost hundreds of thousands of yuan. "This made me cherish the results of research and development even more and strengthened my determination to start a business." ," Wang Wuxiong showed an honest smile as he compared the scars on his hands.

In 1975, Wang Wuxiong hired an employee with 200,000 yuan of funds supported by his father, and composed the prelude to the movement of Taiwan's electric discharge machine industry. Although external resources are scarce, he relied on his ten years of valuable experience at Panasonic to understand the three essences of technology leadership, employee training and business management:

1. R&D technology, leading technology

Eight years ago, CHMER launched "wire cutting machines", another main force besides electric discharge machines, making Taiwan the only country besides Switzerland and Japan capable of mass-producing wire cutting machines.

In the first year of its launch, it not only quickly captured 90% of Taiwan's market, but even the Japanese were surprised. "Almost all Japanese colleagues came to visit," Wang Wuxiong said proudly.

CHMER’s R&D efforts have turned ITRI from a teacher into his student. In the past, CHMER worked with the Industrial Technology Research Institute to develop PC-Based controllers. After developing the prototype, CHMER greatly simplified the original thirteen printed circuit boards to three, which made the Industrial Technology Research Institute come to seek help in admiration. , also makes Taiwan's electric discharge machine controllers mostly use domestic products, becoming an anomaly in Taiwan's machine tool industry that has always used imported controllers.

"Actually, many people only see the bright appearance," said Wang Wuxiong's eldest son, Wang Chenhong, currently the deputy manager of CHMER's export department. For this moment, his father started from 20 years ago Tens of millions were invested in research and development every year, and it didn’t take shape until fifteen years ago. "It's common for my dad to work overtime on weekends, even during the Chinese New Year," Wang Chenhong recalled. "He just refuses to admit defeat. He always likes to say that if others can do it, there's no reason why we can't do it."

To this day, Wang Wuxiong still spends more than 2% of revenue on research and development every year. He also requires employees to develop new products every two years and display them at the International Machine Tool Exhibition. Therefore, not only is no one in Taiwan's industry able to match it, but almost all R&D awards are won by CHMER. CHMER has won fifteen "National Excellence Awards" alone, and is the first domestic company to also win the "Pan Rock Award" from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Award" and "Little Giant Award" manufacturers.

2. Master the researcher and grasp the "heart"

These achievements all come from R&D personnel full of artist personalities, but they are often the most difficult talents to control. Over the years, Wang Wuxiong, who also has a background in R&D, has understood the truth that "to capture the hearts of technicians, you must convince them."

"In the past thirty years, he has always taken the lead in research and development, and many problems still need to be solved by him today," Chen Huowang, associate general manager of the general management office who has served at CHMER for more than 20 years, observed. When R&D personnel spend one or two years without a clue, Wang Wuxiong will step in and point the direction. His guidance often allows researchers to gain enlightenment like a sudden enlightenment.

"You cannot intervene in the R&D process too early," Wang Wuxiong found from experience. If you guide too early, it will limit the innovative ideas of R&D personnel, and secondly, the acceptance of researchers who are brave enough to try will also be affected. not tall.

Wang Wuxiong has a better way of grabbing the hearts of new talents. “The chairman almost always attends interviews for recruiting R&D personnel,” Chen Yaoteng, head of the R&D department, pointed out. Wang Wuxiong also encourages young employees to report new ideas directly to him, skipping senior levels. “The chairman hopes that new ideas will not be rejected one by one because of class. Filter out and give new people a chance to express their opinions, and the turnover rate will naturally decrease."

3. Profit center system, retaining talents

"The energy crisis and financial crisis over the past thirty years have not stopped me. What troubles me most is the loss of technical personnel." Wang Wuxiong, who always convinces technical personnel, admitted that he wants to prevent employees from starting their own businesses. It's not easy.

In the early days of starting a business, due to the high profits of electrical discharge machines, the brain drain problem was serious. Huang Qingbin, the director of the second factory who has been in office for 24 years, said that not many colleagues who joined the factory at the same time stayed. A few people left their jobs and established new businesses. "So the International Machine Tool Exhibition is like a class reunion. Most of the companies at the conference are companies started by colleagues who were colleagues in the past. To be honest, the relationship between them and their bosses is not bad."

Although most of them are healthy competition, it is inevitable to feel sad when the talents who have spent all their efforts to cultivate leave. So Wang Wuxiong searched for a prescription. Occasionally, a foreign customer suggested that he adopt a "profit center system": first, expand the positions of the management class and retain the top management; second, divide the departments, and each department will be responsible for its own profits and losses, and decide its own bonuses.

Sixteen years ago, Wang Wuxiong began to implement the profit center system, so there has been no loss of technical talents for twelve years. In order to allow employees to realize their entrepreneurial dreams, Wang Wuxiong even enthusiastically allocated a severance pay to old employees who wanted to leave their jobs and start a business to establish a company. If the funds were insufficient, Wang Wuxiong invested, and thus successively established Shunpeng, Hongyou, and Shuohong. and other related companies.

"Although it is a related company, the chairman almost lets the employees operate independently," Lin Shaowen, director of Shunpeng Technology of CHMER's related company, said that this system allows many old employees to play a greater role space, and currently the proportion of Shunpeng's products sold domestically has begun to decrease, with nearly 20% sold to other peers.

Wang Wuxiong, who originally planned to retire at the age of 60, was unable to hand over the reins smoothly three years ago because a group of employees started their own business. This group of employees collaborated with researchers from the Industrial Research Institute to establish LeTong Technology and became CHMER's strong rival. But talking about Wang Wuxiong, Zhang Ruicheng, the head and executive director of Leitong, who was originally a CHMER R&D staff, still said with admiration: "Thirty percent of the industry now is from CHMER. It can be seen that Director Wang spares no effort to cultivate talents, but everyone always has his own ambitions." ."

Faced with this group of "disciple soldiers", Wang Wuxiong not only let go and refrained from making enemies, but also tried to integrate and build consensus. "Board Chairman Wang invites everyone to sit down and talk," LeTong Zhang Ruicheng said. "In addition to talking about product prices, the main thing is to hope that the technology will not spread to the mainland."

Trick: Join if you can’t beat

The rapid rise of mainland China has become a nightmare for the electrical discharge processing machine industry. Five years ago, the total number of electric discharge machine manufacturers in the world was smaller than that of Taiwan. Today, there are at least 400 in mainland China, far more than the 50 in Taiwan. "Currently, 80% of CHMER's products are sold to the mainland," Wang Wuxiong explained. "Many Taiwanese machine tool manufacturers can no longer survive without the mainland. It's really a love-hate relationship." On the other hand, the newly emerging "high-speed milling industry" "Engraving machine" can process metal molds three to five times faster than the "CNC electric discharge machine" used for shape engraving. Although the price is still high, many companies have switched to the latter, forming an electric discharge machine industry. of hidden worries.

Faced with the two menacing threats, Wang Wuxiong, who has a smooth personality, only uses one move - "If you can't beat him, join in."

"If Taiwan only engages in production, its competitiveness will definitely not be as competitive as that of the mainland." Wang Wuxiong said that CHMER set up a factory in the mainland fourteen years ago. Although the production lines are not yet fully operational, The goal of occupying an advantageous geographical location has been achieved, and we can adapt to changes in the future; Wang Wuxiong, who understands customer needs, has long foreseen the trend of high-speed milling and engraving machines, started research and development three years ago, and started trial sales this year.

In May this year, Wang Wuxiong was elected as the chairman of the "Precision Machinery Research and Development Center", the research center closest to the world's machine tool capital (Taichung). In addition to cooperating with the government's "2008 trillion yuan industrial plan" In addition to the painting, as the "principal", what he is most concerned about is that he hopes to unite the "disciples" to develop high-speed milling and engraving machines and set another first in Taiwan.

Source: 2005.10.1 Vision Magazine