Memories Along the Leine Banks
Xilin brand logistics equipment made by Ningbo Ruyi Joint Stock Co., Ltd. on display at CeMAT 2016 in Hannover, Germany.
As one of the most developed manufacturing cities in the world, Hannover, Germany, has hosted so many industrial trade shows that its name has become synonymous with grand exhibitions of impressive machinery and electrical appliances.
In late May 2016, the city welcomed CeMAT 2016, the largest exhibition of logistics equipment in the world.
Before this year, I hadn’t visited CeMAT for six years, during which time my son Chu Jiang took my place in leading our company’s delegation to the exhibition. Every time he bumped into my regular customers, they always asked if I made the trip.
This year, I brought 20 engineers and salesmen to the fair, where we learned a lot from other exhibitors while demonstrating our products to others.
I still remember my first attendance to the fair in 2000. My booth measured only nine square meters, smaller than any others, but I still proudly displayed my products such as hand-controlled hydraulic carriers and platform trucks. I saw few competitors from China, the biggest occupying a booth of some 18 square meters. Lined up one after another, our products were hardly eye-catching – we were like little kids among global giants. I was still very proud because our products could enter the EU market.
I thoroughly observed exhibits in each booth while delivering my brochures. Despite the language barrier, I worked to communicate with as many people as possible to promote my product. My tireless efforts established relationships with many world-famous logistics equipment producers such as Germany’s Jungheinrich AG and the United States’ Yale Corporation and CM Company.
Since then, Xilin products made by Ningbo Ruyi Joint Stock Co., Ltd. have grabbed a major share in the international market, for which I owe much to Hannover, a city that helped my business grow from a small Chinese company into a global player.
The international market has been changing. In 2004, for example, the EU launched anti-dumping campaigns for hand-controlled hydraulic carriers, with our company, a world leader in carrier production, as the target. We lost much of our share of the EU market after losing the anti-dumping case.
Nevertheless, I swore to return to Hannover as well as the EU market, and I finally made it thanks to our painstaking efforts to research, innovate and develop new products: power-driven carriers. My dream came true the next year when we rented a booth covering 300 square meters to display products that were firsts for the Hannover fair. The mayor took a photo with me and expressed his gratitude for my contribution to the fair.
In the years that followed, my business thrived with a growing number of upgraded quality products. At the fair this year, we debuted brand-new hi-tech products in our 300-square-meter exhibition hall.
I saw changes at the Hannover fair: The quantity of exhibits decreased, and exhibition areas shrank from five to three. Still, something else was even more obvious: Logistics products had become dramatically more advanced and high-tech. A decade ago, we were showing hand-controlled hydraulic carriers, and today people are promoting automated high-elevation forklifts.
We live in an era of development at breakneck speed, especially for commercial products. The market has always embraced the new and loathed the old.
Chu Jiwang is president and founder of the Ningbo Ruyi Joint Stock Co., Ltd., a major Chinese logistics equipment manufacturer. More than just an entrepreneur, Chu is a recipient of the China Charity Award, the top philanthropic honor in the country. In each issue, he shares his business insights and inspirations gained from his life experience.