There is such an entrepreneur who started out as a wage earner in a hardware mall. With his keen insight into the industry and his determination to work hard, he went south to learn skills and returned to his hometown to build a factory. He opened up the market with a pair of pliers and shouldered a social responsibility.
He is Zhang Dongming, general manager of Linyi Hannuo Hardware Tools Co., Ltd.
Walking into the production workshop of Hannuo Hardware, the roar of machines can be heard one after another. More than 40 workers are busy completing the processing, debugging, and assembly of pliers.
From the initial single production line to today’s five production lines, from the initial exploration to the annual production capacity of one million units, Zhang Dongming’s entrepreneurial story begins in the Hardware City more than 20 years ago.
Zhang Dongming, general manager of Linyi Hannuo Hardware Tools Co., Ltd., recalled: “Looking at these hardware tools at that time, the sales were very good. Later, because I had a door to sell these hardware tools before, I saw later that the production of pliers was relatively large. So in the later period, I slowly considered the production of pliers.”
Around 2013, Zhang Dongming made up his mind to build a factory.
In order to master the core technology, he went south with his ideas and went to his supplier friends who had been running factories for many years.
In the factory in the south, he lived and worked in the factory, learning everything from the operation of each process to the debugging of the machine.
Zhang Dongming said: “We have a relatively good relationship, and their products have no conflict with ours. So, we agreed and went. After we went there, we stayed in his factory, worked for him, and did every job.
I have to do and learn the procedures, learn how to do this process, how to debug this machine, and slowly explore all the techniques in these processes, basically I have learned a superficial knowledge first.”
The road to entrepreneurship is never smooth sailing.
When there was a shortage of funds in the early days, Zhang Dongming borrowed money from relatives, friends and banks. When there was no sales, he relied on the contacts he had accumulated in the hardware city in his early years and went door to door with samples to sell.
Zhang Dongming said: “After all, I worked in the hardware city for the first time, and I also know some bosses who distribute tools, and then I sell our products through them, and then sell them to them, and then let them see the quality of our products.”
Today, Hannuo Hardware’s pliers have developed 145 products of different styles and materials, with prices ranging from 45 yuan to more than 20 yuan, covering the low, middle and high-end markets.
With high smoothness, sharp cutting, durability and convenient quality, the products are sold all over the country and have become the preferred source of goods for many hardware wholesalers.
Zhang Dongming introduced: “In terms of production, it is probably more than one million pieces a year anyway. I have not calculated the specific number in detail. In terms of output value, it is about five or six million, anyway, it is five or six million.”
Currently, the company has 70 or 80 production equipment, with an annual production capacity of one million pieces, and an annual output value of five to six million yuan.
From a migrant worker to the helm of a source factory, Zhang Dongming’s entrepreneurial path has become wider and wider, and what he values most is the social responsibility brought by the enterprise.
Zhang Dongming said: “There are now about 40 workers who can support dozens of families. This is the happiest thing for me. The current business environment in Linyi is very good, and the policies and systems are complete. I hope to get more publicity and support to make the company better.”
From working in the hardware city to gain experience, to going south to learn skills and mastering technology, and then returning to his hometown to start a business to deeply explore the market, Zhang Dongming used pragmatism and persistence to make a small pair of pliers the key to entrepreneurial success.
In Linyi, there are many entrepreneurs like him, taking root in characteristic industries and writing their own stories of struggle.
