“Plastic Hollow Products” Special Column “Blow Molding Figure” – Liang Ruiqiang

From “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing”Jinwei Hollow’s breakthrough in digital green ecological manufacturing

Foreword of the article

This time, the “Blow Molding Figures” special issue of “Plastic Hollow Products” will have an in-depth discussion with Liang Ruiqiang, Chairman of Suzhou Jinwei Hollow Technology Co., Ltd. on investment advice, competitive advantages, market trend forecasts, automation research and development, development routes, employee relations, and work experience.

# 01 “Blow-molded Characters” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

In 2024, JWELL Machinery’s acquisition of Kautex of Germany was one of the most important events in the global blow molding industry. This acquisition indicates that JWELL Hollow has taken a big step towards internationalization and high-end development. Nearly a year has passed since the event. Has Kautex of Germany brought JWELL the expected dividends? How much orders have been received at home and abroad? Can JWELL factories in China also learn from Kautex’s advanced technology and processing experience to achieve rapid technological upgrades or overtake on the curve?

In 2024, JWELL Machinery acquired Kautex of Germany, which set off a huge wave in the global blow molding industry. Nearly a year after the acquisition, many positive changes have gradually emerged.

From a technical perspective, Kautex of Germany has deep technical reserves, and its technologies in high-precision mold design and development, intelligent blow molding control systems, etc. are gradually being integrated into JWELL’s production system. JWELL’s domestic factories actively absorb Kautex’s advanced technology and processing experience, and achieve rapid technological upgrades. Through the exchange and learning of technical personnel and the optimization and transformation of production lines, JWELL’s domestic factories have significantly improved the stability of product quality. This has further enhanced JWELL’s competitive advantage in the domestic market and laid a solid foundation for overtaking on the curve. For example, Kautex’s advanced mold research and development technology has enabled JWELL to increase the precision of hollow product molds with complex shapes by about 30% and shorten the production cycle by 25%, which has greatly enhanced JWELL’s competitiveness in the high-end mold market.

In terms of market orders, JWELL has made new breakthroughs in high-end markets such as Europe and North America with the brand influence of Kautex. In the six months after the acquisition, the number of orders from Europe and the United States increased by 40% year-on-year, of which high-end blow molding equipment orders accounted for 35%. These orders not only increased JWELL’s sales, but also marked that JWELL has established a firm foothold in the international high-end market. In the domestic market, JWELL has used Kautex’s technology to upgrade its existing product lines, attracting the attention of many large domestic companies.

# 02 “Blow-molded Figures” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

The tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop. With the downward trend of the capacity cycle, the hollow blow molding industry, as a near downstream consumer industry, will inevitably enter a period of stock market competition, thus inhibiting the investment decisions of product companies. According to your company’s new orders in the past year, which industries still maintain a high growth in demand, and which industries have less orders than expected? In the long run, which industries do you think will have better growth potential and why?

Jinwei’s new orders in the past year show different development trends in different industries.

Among the industries where demand has maintained a high growth, the pharmaceutical packaging industry has performed outstandingly. As people pay more and more attention to medical health, the scale of the pharmaceutical market continues to expand. According to data from the China Pharmaceutical Packaging Association, the scale of my country’s pharmaceutical packaging market will reach 150 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 12%.

The broad prospects of the dialysis fluid market, which is growing steadily at a rate of 20% per year, and the current patient group has reached 6 million people. At present, the domestic population is aging seriously. We will attach great importance to this market segment and increase investment and R&D efforts in order to occupy a favorable position in future market competition.

The rapid development of the e-commerce logistics industry has also driven the growth in demand for blow molding products. With the popularity of online shopping, the demand for various types of logistics packaging has surged. According to data from the State Post Bureau, the national express delivery volume will reach 120 billion pieces in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 15%.

However, the order volume of some industries is lower than expected, especially in the daily chemical industry. Affected by the intensified market competition, daily chemical companies are more cautious about investing in blow molding packaging equipment. Some small daily chemical companies have even cut equipment renewal plans and switched to lower-priced traditional packaging materials.

In the long run, the new energy vehicle supporting industry has good growth potential. According to the International Energy Agency, by 2030, global new energy vehicle sales will reach 80 million. With the vigorous development of the global new energy vehicle industry, the demand for various types of blow molding parts will continue to grow. For example, the battery housing, cooling pipes and other components of new energy vehicles all require high-performance blow molding products. JWELL has begun to deploy new energy vehicle supporting fields and has developed a series of blow molding equipment suitable for the production of new energy vehicle parts. It has established cooperative relations with many new energy vehicle companies.

# 03 “Blow Molding Figures” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

According to the “Blow Molding Industry Business Situation Research Report” issued by the Hollow Products Committee of the China Plastics Association in the past three years, the blow molding market has continued to be weak, while Jinwei Hollow has maintained a steady growth in turnover in the past three years and has achieved remarkable results. Please talk about the core reasons from the aspects of Jinwei’s equipment positioning, competitive advantages, and market layout.

Jinwei Hollow has maintained a steady growth in turnover in the past three years, thanks to its precise strategies in equipment positioning, competitive advantages, and market layout.

In terms of equipment positioning, Jinwei Hollow focuses on the mid-to-high-end market and is committed to providing customers with high-quality and high-performance blow molding equipment. Unlike some products on the market that focus on low-price competition, Jinwei focuses on the technical content and stability of the equipment. This high-end positioning has enabled Jinwei to establish a good brand image in the mid-to-high-end market and attracted many customers who pursue high-quality products.

Jinwei Hollow’s competitive advantages are reflected in many aspects. Technology research and development is one of its core competitiveness. The company has a research and development team composed of more than 100 professional and technical personnel, and the annual investment in research and development accounts for more than 8% of its turnover. In the past three years, Jinwei has obtained more than 36 national patent technologies, such as new blow molding mold structure design, intelligent blow molding process control system, etc. These technological innovations not only improve product performance, but also reduce production costs.

A complete after-sales service system is also an important competitive advantage of Jinwei. The company has established multiple after-sales service outlets around the world, which can respond to customers’ after-sales needs within 24 hours.

In terms of market layout, Jinwei Hollow actively implements a globalization strategy. In China, the company has established production bases and sales centers in many regions, which can quickly respond to the needs of customers in different regions of the country. Overseas, Jinwei sells its products to more than 100 countries and regions around the world by setting up branches and agents.

# 04 “Blow Molding Figures” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

As a leading blow molding machine manufacturer in China and one of the earliest companies to start the “globalization” development strategy, JWH has a certain market share both at home and abroad. Please analyze the future market and functional demand trends at home and abroad based on the order situation in recent years.

From the order situation in recent years, the demand for hollow blow molding equipment in the domestic and foreign markets shows different characteristics and trends.

In the domestic market, with the upgrading of the manufacturing industry and increasingly stringent environmental protection requirements, customers’ functional requirements for blow molding equipment are gradually developing towards intelligence, automation and green environmental protection. In terms of intelligence, more and more customers hope that blow molding equipment has functions such as remote monitoring, fault diagnosis and automatic adjustment.

In terms of automation, customers’ demand for fully automated production lines continues to increase. Taking the daily chemical industry as an example, a large daily chemical company purchased JWELL’s fully automated blow molding production line. From raw material feeding, blow molding to product packaging, the entire process has been automated, which not only reduces labor costs, but also improves production efficiency and product quality consistency. According to statistics, after adopting the fully automated production line, the company’s labor costs have been reduced by 40% and production efficiency has been increased by 35%.

In terms of environmental protection, customers’ demand for blow molding equipment for degradable materials has gradually increased. With the country’s increased efforts to control plastic pollution, the application prospects of degradable materials in the packaging industry are broad. JWELL actively develops blow molding technology for degradable materials. At present, it has successfully developed blow molding equipment suitable for a variety of degradable materials, such as polylactic acid (PLA), polybutylene adipate/terephthalate (PBAT), etc., meeting customers’ demand for environmentally friendly packaging.

In overseas markets, there are also differences in demand in different regions. In developed countries such as Europe and the United States, the precision, stability and safety of blow molding equipment are extremely high. For example, in the field of food packaging, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has strict regulations on the hygiene standards of packaging materials and equipment. Jinwei has developed high-precision blow molding equipment that meets FDA standards for the European and American markets, using advanced materials and manufacturing processes to ensure that the equipment will not contaminate food during the production process. At the same time, the European and American markets also have a large demand for customized blow molding equipment, and customers often require that the equipment can be flexibly adjusted according to different product requirements.

In emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and Africa, the demand for blow molding equipment is mainly concentrated on products with high cost performance and simple operation. The manufacturing industry in these regions is relatively backward, and companies have limited investment budgets for equipment, and lack professional technicians. In response to these market characteristics, Jinwei has launched a series of moderately priced and easy-to-operate blow molding equipment, and provides comprehensive technical training services. For example, in a certain African country, Jinwei provided a set of small blow molding equipment for a local plastic products company, and sent technicians for on-site training to help the company quickly master the operation and maintenance skills of the equipment, which was welcomed by local companies.

# 05 “Blow Molding Characters” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

Relying on the technical background of Jinwei Machinery, Jinwei Hollow has always practiced the research and development innovation route. It is understood that Jinwei Hollow products not only involve daily chemicals, chemicals, medicines, toys, logistics, special products and other fields, but also actively extend the industrial chain. The fully automated production line independently developed, designed and processed is one of them. Please introduce the reasons why the company is engaged in the research and development of automation solutions, and analyze its advantages in combination with actual customer application cases.

Jinwei Hollow is engaged in the research and development of automation solutions, mainly based on market demand and the company’s own development considerations.

With the continuous increase in labor costs and the intensification of market competition, customers are increasingly urgent to improve production efficiency and reduce production costs. The automated production line can realize the fully automated operation of the production process, greatly reducing manual intervention, and improving production efficiency and product quality stability. For example, in the toy manufacturing industry, the traditional blow molding production method requires a lot of manual operation, which is not only inefficient, but also has uneven product quality. The fully automated blow molding production line provided by JWELL for a toy company has achieved one-stop production from raw materials to finished products, with production efficiency increased by more than 50% and product defective rate reduced to less than 3%.

From the perspective of the company’s own development, the development of automated solutions will help enhance JWELL’s core competitiveness. In the context of increasingly fierce industry competition, continuous innovation and providing differentiated products and services are the key to the survival and development of enterprises. By developing automated production lines, JWELL can meet the diverse needs of customers and further consolidate and expand its market share.

Take a chemical company as an example. Before purchasing JWELL’s automated blow molding production line, the company faced problems such as low production efficiency, high labor costs, and unstable product quality. JWELL customized a set of automated blow molding production lines for the company according to its needs, using advanced control systems and high-precision molds to achieve precise control of the production process. After the production line was put into use, the company’s production efficiency increased by 40%, labor costs decreased by 30%, product quality was significantly improved, and its competitiveness in the market was significantly enhanced.

The advantages of JWELL’s automated production line are also reflected in many aspects. First, the highly integrated design integrates raw material feeding, blow molding, product testing, packaging and other links into one production line, reducing the occupation of production space and material transportation costs. Secondly, the intelligent control system can automatically adjust production parameters according to different product requirements to optimize the production process. In addition, the automated production line also has good scalability. Enterprises can add production modules at any time to improve production capacity according to their own development needs.

# 06 “Blow Molding Figures” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

Full electric motors have been a relatively clear key development trend in the hollow blow molding industry in recent years. Whether it is the earliest starters in the European Union and Japan, or the later follow-up markets such as North America and China, the popularity of full electric motors has been rising year by year. Please introduce Jwell’s progress in the field of full electric blow molding machines, and your prediction of the future development direction of this model.

In terms of technology research and development, JWELL has invested a lot of resources and overcome a number of key technical problems. For example, in terms of servo drive systems, JWELL’s independently developed high-performance servo motors and drivers can achieve precise control of the blow molding process, and the response speed is more than 50% higher than that of traditional hydraulic systems, greatly improving the molding accuracy of products. In terms of control systems, JWELL uses advanced programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and human-machine interfaces (HMIs) to achieve intelligent operation and monitoring of equipment. Operators can easily set production parameters, view equipment operating status and fault information through the touch screen, and the operation is simple and fast.

At present, JWELL has launched a number of all-electric blow molding machine products, covering different specifications and application areas.

For the future development direction of all-electric blow molding machines, JWELL believes that intelligence and greening will be the main trends. In terms of intelligence, all-electric blow molding machines will further integrate with technologies such as the Internet of Things and big data to achieve remote monitoring, fault diagnosis and intelligent maintenance of equipment. In terms of greening, all-electric blow molding machines will pay more attention to energy conservation and emission reduction. At the same time, JWELL will continue to optimize the design of all-electric blow molding machines, adopt more efficient motors and energy-saving control systems, and further reduce energy consumption. At the same time, JWELL will also work on developing blow molding technology for recyclable materials so that all-electric blow molding machines can better meet environmental protection requirements.

# 07 “Blow Molding Characters” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

Employee loyalty is an important factor affecting the sustainable and stable development of enterprises. The lack of employee loyalty caused by the competition for talents has become an important challenge in modern enterprise management. Please introduce Jinwei Hollow’s philosophy and methods in talent training and management. As a group company, what positive impact does this philosophy and method have on the actual operation of the enterprise?

Since the establishment of Jinwei Company in 1997, Chairman He Haichao’s development philosophy has been: “If an enterprise wants to develop, go long and go far, it needs to recruit and attract good talents.”

In terms of talent training, Jinwei Company has insisted on taking the road of school-enterprise cooperation for many years and established different types of “Jinwei Classes”. Since 2008, it has successively cooperated with Wuhu Vocational and Technical College, Suzhou Industrial Park Industrial Technology School, Jurong Secondary Vocational School, Jiangsu Agricultural and Forestry Vocational and Technical College, Tongling College and other schools. Nearly a thousand graduates have entered various positions in Jinwei Company, and many have become the backbone of the enterprise.

Jinwei focuses on providing employees with diversified training and development opportunities. The company has established a complete training system, including new employee induction training, job skills training, management training, etc. When new employees join the company, they will receive a week-long induction training to understand the company’s culture, system and business processes. In terms of job skills training, the company regularly organizes internal and external training according to the job requirements of employees. For example, for technical R&D personnel, the company will invite industry experts to give technical lectures and organize employees to participate in domestic and foreign technical seminars to broaden the technical horizons of employees. At the same time, the company also encourages employees to learn independently and provides them with learning materials and learning subsidies.

In terms of talent management, Jinwei adheres to the people-oriented concept and pays attention to the career development planning of employees. The company has formulated a personalized career development path for each employee, and provides employees with promotion opportunities and job adjustment opportunities based on their interests, abilities and performance. At the same time, the company has also established a fair and just performance appraisal system, rewarding employees based on their work performance and achievements to motivate employees to work actively.

Jinwei’s talent training and management concept has a positive impact on the actual operation of the company. First, it has improved employee loyalty. By providing employees with good development opportunities and treatment, Jinwei’s employee turnover rate is controlled within 5%, which is much lower than the average level of the same industry. A stable workforce ensures the continuity of the company’s production and R&D and improves the company’s operational efficiency. Secondly, it has enhanced the company’s innovation ability. Diversified training and development opportunities have stimulated employees’ innovation awareness and innovation ability. Jinwei has launched a number of new technologies and new products every year, injecting new impetus into the development of the company. Finally, it has enhanced the competitiveness of the company. An excellent talent team is an important part of the core competitiveness of an enterprise. With its high-quality talent team, Jinwei stands out in the market competition and continues to expand its market share.

# 08 “Blow Molding Figures” Special Topic – Liang Ruiqiang

You have been with JWH for more than 20 years, and have served as the company’s general manager, general manager of the Thailand branch, and chairman of the company. What is your biggest gain from working in different regions and positions? As a witness to the development and growth of JWH, please share your thoughts with young people who are interested in working in the traditional manufacturing industry.

I have been with JWH for more than 20 years, and have gained a lot from working in different regions and positions. During my tenure as general manager of the Thailand branch, I gained a deep understanding of the local market environment and cultural differences, and learned how to conduct business in different cultural backgrounds. This experience not only trained my cross-cultural communication skills, but also taught me how to adjust the company’s products and marketing strategies according to local market needs.

After serving as the chairman of the company, I paid more attention to the company’s strategic planning and team building. By formulating a reasonable development strategy, I led Jinwei Zhongkong to keep moving forward in the fierce market competition. At the same time, I also deeply realized the power of the team. A united and efficient team is the key to the success of the company.

For young people who are interested in working in the traditional manufacturing industry, I would like to share a few insights. First, we must maintain our enthusiasm and curiosity for learning. The traditional manufacturing industry is in a critical period of transformation and upgrading, and new technologies and new concepts are constantly emerging. Young people must continue to learn and improve their professional skills and comprehensive qualities to keep up with the pace of industry development. Secondly, we must cultivate the spirit of hard work. The work in the manufacturing industry is often hard and requires a lot of time and energy. Only with the spirit of hard work can we succeed in this industry. Finally, we must focus on teamwork. Manufacturing is a systematic project that requires the coordination and cooperation of various departments and positions. Young people must learn to cooperate with others, give full play to their own advantages, and contribute to the development of the company together.

In short, although the traditional manufacturing industry faces many challenges, it also contains huge opportunities. As long as young people can continue to learn and work hard, they will be able to realize their life value in this industry.