Duowei is an ordinary company built by a grassroots entrepreneurial team

Distinguished guests and friends,

Good afternoon!

Thanks for your precious time and coming from afar to attend the 35th anniversary celebration of the founding of Duowei Union Group. On behalf of all the staff of Duowei Union Group, I would like to extend a warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to all of you.

This year is the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up, and also the 35th anniversary of the founding of Duowei Union Group. Forty years of reform and opening up has provide us with a good development environment and brought development opportunities to private enterprises. Without reform and opening up, private enterprises in China would never achieve what we have today, not to mention this 35th anniversary of Duowei Union Group today; we should be thankful to this historical opportunity. Thanks to the forty years of historical opportunities, Duowei has developed from scratch, with business extending from a small village to the country, and even the world. All of this should be attributed to the good policy of reform and opening up, which we must cherish.

Duowei is an ordinary company built by a grassroots entrepreneurial team. I come from the poor and backward village named Xiduo in Fucheng County, Hengshui, Hebei Province. From 1978 to 1981, I failed the national college entrance examination for four consecutive years. At that time, I stayed at home and did not want to go out, feeling ashamed and useless, spending all the family's savings. After 1 month of struggling, I finally figured out that I couldn't get into college, but I still had my own path to follow.

In the spring breeze of reform and opening up, my family was given a few acres of land and a small, thin donkey, and I spent RMB 100 with four other villagers to buy a stone mill from the production team to grind sesame oil, and started my farming and business life. My "small goal" at that time was not "earn a hundred million" as President Wang of Wanda Group said. My goal was to grow crops that are better than others, with less cost, to earn free sesame oil to eat! That goal was achieved within 1 year.

This allowed me to give my donkey more grain to eat at night so that it would have the strength to pull the mill and plow the fields during the day. When the donkey rested, I usually fan mosquitoes and insects away from it. So the donkey was happy to work more and grew fat, I was happy too because my wallet also grew fat. Thanks to the donkey, we don't have to buy fertilizer throughout the year while achieving good grain harvest, and we also have free sesame oil to eat. Life was hard, but satisfying. The greater reward is that it built a good foundation for my business venture in the following years. Watching me farming and doing sesame oil business for two years, people in the village believed I am a cultured, hardy, competent person, and an able man in the village.

At that time, chimneys for heating in rural areas were all made of iron sheets. When I was selling sesame oil, I once rode 30 km to Botou Town (Botou City), arriving at a place near the railway station, where I saw the roof of the railway station waiting hall was made of iron tiles left by the Japanese. Then, I thought iron sheets could also become iron tiles after a little bit of processing. Thus, I had the idea of setting up a factory for black and galvanized iron making and iron tile processing. In 1983, together with another five persons, I set up our first factory, Xiduo Iron Tile Factory. It was located in my house, so I skipped the rent. We contributed RMB 2,000 and bought a tile press, to start our new business.

I went to a Xinhua Bookstore in Shijiazhuang and bought several books, List of Industrial and Commercial Enterprises in China. With instructions and envelopes printed, we began to write letters and posted them to these enterprises nationwide at the addresses shown in the Lists. We even agreed that once a letter was written, RMB 0.01 would be paid to the letter writer, and shareholders' wives should work on schedule but would not be paid. Our hard work paid off. A few days later, we received 300 orders from Shijiazhuang 3502 Clothes Factory (which was a military uniform factory then, now Ji Hua 3502 Career Apparel Ltd.) for purchasing black iron tiles. We earned RMB 3,000 from our first order, and recovered our investment.

Later, we received orders from enterprises all over China, such as MCC 19th Motor Co., Ltd. in Dukou (Panzhihua), Sichuan, Chongqing Chang'an Machine Factory, and Fujian No. 1 Construction Group Co., Ltd. Our business was getting better and better. In 1987, the galvanized iron sheets were very rare, expensive, and difficult to buy. Generally, intermediaries were required. When I saw the car delivering goods for my factory had a Beijing license plate, I suddenly understand that galvanized iron sheets might come from Beijing. So I bought a carton of cigarettes for the driver and took his car to Beijing to look for the source of galvanized iron sheets. When I came to Beijing Sheet Metal Factory, I saw in the yard a lot of imported galvanized sheets of very good quality.

Because of the planned economy, iron sheets were appropriated by the state then and the price was very low. I saw some workers were making chimneys, but they said what they were making were rainwater pipes. Then, I realized that rainwater pipes in Beijing were the same as chimneys in rural areas. When I asked the price, I was shocked, too high! So was the profit! When I got home, I told what I saw to other shareholders, and we immediately decided to move the factory from Xiduo village to the county town to solve the problems of inconvenient transportation and poor information, and we also decided to exploit Beijing market immediately.

In July 1988, I came to Liuliqiao Supply Station of Beijing Local Building Material Co., Ltd. It is an unsightly yard. After I came in, I saw several people drinking. They looked at me and thought I was a beggar (I was carrying a broken bag). They asked me, "What do you do?" I said, "I'm trying to find a place to store my goods here." They ignored what I said thereafter and let me go.

The next afternoon, I went there again and they were still drinking. I took out a bottle of Erguotou and put it on the table. Finally, they were touched by my insistence and sincerity and agreed to rent out a warehouse with windows only but without doors to me, at a rate of RMB 80,000 per year. I agreed! Fine, as long as I was allowed to store goods here (I later learned in the nearby village that the rent of the whole yard was only RMB 50,000). In this way, we started marketing our products.

In three years, we almost visited all the native product stores, building material stores, and household appliances stores in Beijing. By taking advantage of low prices, we sold our products to each store. Soon, the rainwater pipes and corrugated iron goods in native product stores and household appliances stores in Beijing were basically all provided by us. Later, we found Beijing Daily accepted advertising, so we immediately lined up for advertising on Beijing Daily. The price advertised was 20% lower than the price given to building material stores at least. As a result, users directly bought products from us, while these stores could not sell a piece. We completely changed the rainwater pipe and corrugated iron market in Beijing.

In 1992, I went to the Equipment Department of the former General Research Institute of Building and Construction, Ministry of Metallurgical Industry for business handling, and I found there were a profiled steel sheet factory and a lot of Baosteel color steel coils and profiled steel sheets in the yard. Because of our good reputation in the Equipment Department, we became the first enterprise that bought color steel coils from the Equipment Department and made payment after use. So far, we have been using Baosteel color steel coils for 26 years! Thank Baosteel for supporting us for years.

At the end of 1997, we established Beijing Duowei Color Profiled Steel Sheet Co., Ltd. at No. 18, Jia, Guozhuangzi, Fengtai District. It has more than 20 employees, including founders. My goal was to achieve annual sales revenue of over RMB 10 million five years later, which was a big goal at that time. In 1998, CATIC had a corrugated iron export project to Iraq under the Oil-for-Food Programme. Director Hua Da led a team to our factory for inspection. The sheet type required was determined by WFP and could not be changed. We did not have that sheet type at that time, and had to ask the equipment factory to redesign and manufacture the steel sheet profiling equipment. We had only 45 days to deliver goods and needed to transport the goods to Tianjin Port for shipment. The contract amount was large, but the delivery period was short and we had no equipment. After thinking twice, we finally decided to conquer all obstacles and just do it.

With all difficulties overcome, we finally finished the production on schedule. After part of the goods was transported to Tianjin Port, the United States and the United Kingdom bombed Iraq on the night of November 30, 1998, which suspended the shipment of goods, but I had not received the payment, and I was very anxious. Two days later, the goods were delivered successfully, and we began to perform the contract. This project made our five-year goal achieved right now. Through this project, Duowei established a profound friendship with CATIC, and leaders of CATIC spoke highly of Duowei and believed we were a very good and trustworthy company. By now, CATIC has been our old customer for more than 20 years, and here I am very grateful for its support and cooperation over the years!

As the founder, I know nothing about technology, finance or management, but I know if I refuse to give play to your advantages, I will accomplish nothing.  In 1998, we started to implement the stock incentive system among employees. This is the innovation of Duowei and also the industry. At that time, I didn't know what stock rights were. By relying on my own thoughts and by summarizing my past frustrations, I realized that I should share responsibilities and benefits with employees. This stock incentive system, after nearly 20 years of survival and improvement, shapes today's Duowei

We always adhere to the concept of "distributing wealth and gathering people". We respect employees and customers. We prefer to suffer losses by ourselves rather than let our employees or customers suffer any loss. I know very well that entrepreneurs must have ambitious ideals and goals, must have broad minds and insights, must have a reasonable stock composition and multiple stock incentive models. Thus, we can turn outsiders into relatives, and let them pursue careers together with us. By now, more than 60% of our employees working for Duowei for more than 10 years hold our incentive stocks.

In 1999, we found during the consolidation and development of Beijing Company that we have a lot of northeast and northwest customers, causing high logistics costs. Therefore, we decided to expand our business to the northeast and northwest with Beijing as the center. This would reduce the logistics cost and better serve our customers. From 1999 to 2006, we established Duowei Shenyang Company, Harbin Company, Baotou Company and Xinjiang Company.

he SARS epidemic broke out in a large area in 2003. Without a penny from the government, without negotiating any conditions, we mobilized the color steel coils from Beijing and Shenyang, and continuously worked hard for seven days and seven nights. Finally, we processed and produced 60,000 square meters of polystyrene sandwich panels. Then, we transported them to Xiaotangshan SARS Hospital in a timely manner to ensure the smooth construction of Xiaotangshan isolation wards. We therefore were awarded by the government.

During the SARS period in 2003, Duowei Union Group undertook the construction project of its first industrial plant of more than RMB 15 million - workshop project of Hetao Liquor Group. By now, Duowei has undertaken the construction of wine-making workshops at all five bases of Hetao Group and has established deep friendship and good cooperation relationship with Hetao Liquor Group. We are grateful to Hetao Liquor Group for its trust in Duowei. Today, Mr. Wang Yongqiang, the president of Hetao Liquor Group, is also here. Thank you, Mr. Wang!

Dear friends, long-term cooperation only exists among people having the same values or sharing similar corporate culture. It is exactly Duowei's corporate values of "responsible for customers and employees" and the corporate culture of "sincerity, righteousness, and unity of knowledge and action" that bring us together.

In order to better serve our customers and meet their requirements, Duowei had set up 13 factories by the end of 2012. These regional companies have made outstanding contributions to the development of the Duowei Union Group. However, with the change of economic situation, Duowei experienced management lagging behind, shortage of talents, declining profit margin and worsening market competition. Then, our decision makers realized that the survival of a private enterprise never depends on the number of factories or credit notes. Instead, it depends on the profit and cash flow of that enterprise, as well as the lean management, innovation and high-quality products and services.

Therefore, Duowei carried out its painful integration and adjustment for six years, including those on the three major bases in Beijing. By strictly following the national strategy of coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, with the help of Beijing's relief of non-capital functions and release of environmental protection pressure, Duowei Union Group has turned its 13 factories into five production bases in Tianjin, Nantong, Shenyang, Harbin and Urumqi for the purpose of strengthening lean manufacturing, and improving product and service quality. The Group made its transformation from heavy assets to light assets, and from low-end manufacturing to high-end manufacturing.

We also adjusted our market strategy, i.e. extending our market from north to the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and from the domestic market to the overseas market. The development history of Duowei is a struggle and growth history made up of innovation, entrepreneurship, bold reform, and continuous transformation and upgrading.

After 35 years of development, we must give our sincere thanks to our partners that have cooperated with Duowei for years, including but not limited to PetroChina, China FAW Group, CASC, Automotive Engineering Corporation, and China Coal Zhangjiakou Coal Mining Machinery, as well as those partners that have in-depth cooperation with us in recent years, including but not limited to BMW, Samsung Electronics, BOE Technology, China Electronics Corporation, CCECC, Poly Technologies, and Muyuan. On behalf of Duowei Union Group, I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to you all! You are the cornerstone and source of Duowei's development.

We would also like to thank our overseas customers for their trust and recognition. Since 2006, Duowei Union Group has been actively exploring overseas markets. Our first stop was Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, a poor and turbulent Islamic country. The first overseas order was signed for military activity rooms and school classrooms. Then, we gradually established business cooperation relationship in more than 50 countries and regions in Central Asia, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, South America, East Africa, West Africa, North Africa, etc. Especially in 2015, we signed a contract for $297 million "New Three-color" housing project with the Venezuelan government.

As encouraged by the Belt and Road Initiative, we are unswervingly promoting our overseas development strategy and have established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Duowei Ethiopia Company in East Africa, which has obtained the legal construction qualification there. With the strong support of CCECC, we have undertaken the housing EPC projects of Ethiopia Hawassa Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in Africa, Kombolcha Industrial Park and Dire Dawa Industrial Park. Among them, Hawassa Industrial Park Project won the ENR Global Best Projects Award selected and awarded by the Engineering News-Record in 2017, and has made contributions to the local economic development. We have employed more than 3,000 workers in Africa and have cultivated a large number of skilled craftsmen there. We respect local culture and develop together with local people. With the continuous expansion of overseas markets, such countries as Singapore and Israel have also become our important service areas.

Today, leaders of ZACH from Israel are also here. Welcome you all.

We must extend our sincere thanks to our partners, Baosteel, Yieh Phui, BlueScope, Dongkuk Steel, Guanzhou, TPCO, BBMG, Rockwool, Tong Tian, etc. It is your timely provision of high-quality raw materials for Duowei that enables us to guarantee product quality and enterprise reputation to our customers. You are our gas stations along Duowei's development road.

We also want to thank the financial system working with us, thank you for your timely and strong financial support during the process of our business operation, especially the friends of Fucheng Agricultural and Commercial Bank from my hometown, who lent penniless me RMB 200 on the first day of my business. Even now, whenever the enterprise needs financial support, they would travel far to Beijing to help us with formalities, which moved us deeply, and we will never forget.

We would also like to thank the industry association, design institutes, universities and friends from all walks of life who have been helping us over the years, you are the ones who promote the development of the industry and constantly inject new blood to our business, making us the pioneers of the industry.

We would like to thank every employee of Duowei, thank you for following the company all the way, overcoming difficulties and hardships, and keeping fighting to help Duowei achieve what we have today.

After 40 years of reform and opening up, China's reform has entered a deep water zone. The economy is facing downward pressure, coupled with the China-US Trade frictions and unfavorable overseas market conditions, private enterprises are having tough time in transformation. We need to do our part of duty, no matter how the environment changes. We don't envy large enterprises' size, because we have hard bones. Facing unfavorable situation, we must not rely on scale, copying, and simple homogenized products to occupy the market. We must insist on independent innovation, insist on craftsmanship in every detail of our work, and do our best to meet the needs of our customers.

It is now a time when the economy is at turning point from high-speed development to high-quality development. Customers are expecting more and more on high quality, and companies with strength and integrity who dare to innovate will grow more and more prosperous.

It is now a time for mutual integration and win-win cooperation, and also the time achieving self-value of enterprises by creating value for customers. We need to build a complete supply chain system and industry chain system with our customers, suppliers and partners to achieve a win-win situation through continuous strategic cooperation.

Duowei need to be open-minded to learn from peer benchmarking companies, and establish good competition and cooperation relationship with like-minded peer companies to achieve win-win results. We must continue to innovating technology and products to enhance our service capability in system integration. We don't want to be the ZTE in the US-China trade war, we want to learn more from Huawei.

Dear friends, General Secretary Xi Jinping has encouraged private enterprises four times in a row in the last month. He said that "Private enterprises and private entrepreneurs are our friends." After 40 years of opening up, the second spring for private enterprises is on the way. Building the most valuable steel building system and metal enclosure system is the historical mission of Duowei. It is our common goal to make eye pleasing clothes for buildings and make life better. On the way of Duowei's development, it is your company that helps us go better and farther.

Let's join hands to create a better future!