Return to Singapore 1995

At noon, the bus taken by Li Xiaofan and Lin Zhiyong arrived in Ouhai, Wenzhou.

After working hours in the afternoon, the two went to the Foreign Trade and Foreign Economic Section of the Ou Overseas Economic and Trade Bureau to find Luo Sining, Wu Xiuli's technical secondary school classmate.

The two of them waited in his office for more than half an hour before waiting for Luo Sining. Luo Sining temporarily went with their leaders to investigate foreign trade companies in the district in the morning. Coincidentally, they were investigating the export business of sunglasses related to the eyewear industry.

After Luo Sining made them two cups of tea, Kuai Ren said quickly: "You two, Xiuli told me on the phone this morning that you want to know about the glasses-related industry here?"

"Yes, I am working in Singapore now, and I have some initial thoughts on engaging in business related to myopia glasses in Singapore. I heard from my friends that the glasses industry here is very developed, so I want to come and learn about it!" Li Xiaofan said straight to the point.

"Okay, let me give you a brief introduction. I personally feel that the world's glasses industry is currently undergoing changes. In fact, our best export business in Ouhai is not myopia glasses, but sunglasses!" Luo Sining introduced. road.

"Sunglasses?" Luo Sining's answer surprised Li Xiaofan.

"Well, let me first briefly introduce what I know about the history of Wenzhou's glasses industry. In the late 1970s, our first glasses factory in Wenzhou was established in Mayu, Ruian, called Mayu Glasses Factory. It mainly produced spectacle lenses, Presbyopic lenses. Around the mid-1980s, we Wenzhou eyeglass sales operators and handicraft workshops gradually joined the eyewear manufacturing industry, and Wenzhou’s eyewear industry quickly formed a certain industry scale. However, the industry level is not very high, and there are fewer exports!”

"But I heard from Xiuli that the current export situation of Wenzhou's glasses industry is very good!"

"Well, there is a story here. It is a coincidence that at the beginning of last year, one of your Mingzhou fellows came to our Wenzhou with a company called European Optics, the largest purchaser of eyewear products in Europe, and started the export of our Wenzhou glasses. It’s such a chance that we Ouhai entrepreneurs seized the big cake of sunglasses!”

"It's also related to our Mingzhou fellows, what a coincidence!" Li Xiaofan said curiously.

"Well, afterwards, according to our research, in the 1970s, due to high labor costs and environmental pressure, the global sunglasses production base was transferred from developed European and American countries such as Italy, France and Germany to Taiwan. Later, with the development of Taiwan As production costs increase, eyewear manufacturers are looking everywhere for Looking for a new foundry. Coincidentally, at the beginning of last year, this European optical company came to Wenzhou for inspection and discovered the new continent of Wenzhou. Our companies happened to seize this opportunity, so now many companies have turned to Taiwan. Customers who placed orders from the factory gradually shifted their orders to us in Wenzhou! ”

Li Xiaofan was very interested, so Luo Sining briefly introduced the story:

At the beginning of last year, a Dutch businessman named Robert came to Wenzhou to inspect the glasses factory under the introduction of an overseas Chinese in Mingzhou. Robert came from the European Optical Company, which once controlled the European glasses market.

The person who first received Robert was a small local factory called Dongfang Liming Glasses Factory. The factory was not large in scale at the time, but its boss was a young man named Hu Jiandong, who was very visionary and capable. Hu Jiandong got acquainted with the overseas Chinese from Mingzhou. So he accompanied Robert to inspect the entire Wenzhou glasses industry.

After the inspection, Robert was very satisfied, as if he had discovered Wenzhou, a new world for the OEM industry in the glasses industry. And after inspecting Wenzhou, he trusted Hu Jiandong very much. After returning, European Optical Company unexpectedly placed a large order of more than 2 million pairs of sunglasses for Hu Jiandong's Oriental Dawn Factory.

At that time, Hu Jiandong's factory could only produce 100,000 pairs of glasses a year. After receiving the unexpected large order, Hu Jiandong immediately began to expand production. However, Super Typhoon No. 17 that landed in Wenzhou in August last year disrupted his plan. This natural disaster resulted in the death of thousands of local people. Hu Jiandong's glasses factory was also completely destroyed, and he was in debt of nearly one million overnight.

Fortunately, there were still orders from European Optics. Relying on the spirit of "Wenzhou people can be bosses and sleep on the floor", Hu Jiandong recovered from the crisis a year later. This order from Europe was much larger than Hu Jiandong originally expected. The original order of 2 million pairs of sunglasses in the first year was quickly increased to 4 million pairs. When Luo Sining and others went to investigate the factory in the morning, their boss Hu Jiandong told their leaders that the latest order quantity had doubled to 15 million pairs...

"15 million pairs of sunglasses?" This number shocked Li Xiaofan.

"Well, 15 million pairs, which is 7.5 times the order last year!"

"Can you introduce us to the Oriental Dawn Glasses Factory?"

"Yes, no problem, but I have something to deal with in the afternoon, so I may not be able to accompany you. I can make a call and ask their factory to arrange a salesperson to receive you. How about that?"

"Thank you. Thank you very much for your help in introducing us to the inspection! Then I'll trouble you!"

…

Under Luo Sining's introduction, Hu Jiandong, the owner of Oriental Dawn Glasses Company, arranged for a foreign trade salesman to receive Li Xiaofan and Lin Zhiyong.

Because of the introduction from the Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau and the boss, the foreign trade salesman received Li Xiaofan and the others very warmly and answered every question.

The salesman told Li Xiaofan that most of the current orders from Europe are cheap sunglasses with an ex-factory price of less than US$1.

Li Xiaofan looked at the sunglasses samples presented by the salesperson and found that these sunglasses were ordinary cheap sunglasses currently sold in various theme parks and scenic spots abroad. However, after these sunglasses were labeled with foreign big brands, the price was not cheap.

Li Xiaofan remembered that these sunglasses were sold for about 20 to 30 Singapore dollars in Singapore's Sentosa Theme Park, and the better ones were more expensive. It was really a lucrative industry!

The salesperson also took Li Xiaofan to visit their factory. At that time, there was no automated production line, and most of the entire assembly line had to rely on manual assembly, a typical labor-intensive industry.

Because the workers' income was related to production, the factory adopted a piecework system. Li Xiaofan found that the workers who assembled glasses on the production line were extremely efficient. Some experts could grab four or five pairs of glasses frames with their left hand, take a handful of lenses on the table with their right hand, and install them on the frames at one time...

It opened Li Xiaofan and Lin Zhiyong's eyes.

After coming out of the workshop, Li Xiaofan asked, "Does your factory only produce these ordinary cheap sunglasses for export?"

"In addition to these cheap sunglasses, we have also received orders for high-end sunglasses from Europe this year!"

The salesperson accompanied Li Xiaofan to a particularly clean and dust-free small workshop next door, where some high-end sunglasses were being assembled.

After Li Xiaofan entered, his eyes lit up: Oh my god, all of them are world-class sunglasses!