Persist in the Green Mountains and Don't Relax - Interview with Dr. Jiang Xiaoping, Chairman of MTI Kejing Group

[Introduction]To overcome these bottlenecks, the key is to solve the material problem. Therefore, we are very optimistic about the future prospects of the new materials market, which is also the fundamental reason why MTI Kejing Group has been focusing on this field since its establishment in 1994, "said Dr. Jiang Xiaoping, Chairman of MTI Kejing Group, in an interview with staff from Instrument Information Network.

Introduction:Since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, although the economic situation within the scope has gradually improved, its upward momentum has become increasingly weak. Therefore, finding new growth points for the world economy has become a new issue facing countries around the world. After every economic crisis, a new economic engine is needed for the world to move towards revitalization. Although it is still unclear which industry can become a new economic growth point, in the predictions of many experts, there will always be two industries emerging from time to time - new energy and biomedicine, although both fields still have some problems. For example, the new energy industry (mainly including solar photovoltaics, wind power, new energy vehicles, etc.) has not yet broken through the cost and scale bottlenecks.

To overcome these bottlenecks, the key is to solve the material problem. Therefore, we are very optimistic about the future prospects of the new materials market, which is also the fundamental reason why MTI Kejing Group has been focusing on this field since its establishment in 1994, "said Dr. Jiang Xiaoping, Chairman of MTI Kejing Group, in an interview with staff from Instrument Information Network.

Dr. Jiang Xiaoping

One stop shopping

At the beginning of its establishment, MTI Kejing Group mainly provided single crystal wafers for experimental use in materials research laboratories. After more than 20 years of development, although the product line has been greatly expanded, it has never left the field of sample preparation in materials research. Dr. Jiang told me that Kejing's goal is to provide users with a complete set of solutions for material research, namely one-stop shopping.

In the field of material research, such a scenario often occurs - when setting up a laboratory, researchers need to spend a lot of time and energy to conduct pre procurement research and deal with different instrument and equipment suppliers. At this point, the value of companies like MTI Kejing Group can be fully reflected. They provide users with not only instruments or equipment, but a complete set of solutions. Instruments or equipment are just one link in this solution, and their value is more importantly reflected in the service aspect.

For example, if a research institution wants to build a graphene research laboratory, the marketing and sales personnel of MTI Kejing Group will first have sufficient communication with relevant researchers to understand their needs. Based on this, Kejing will generally come up with several solutions for users to choose from. When purchasing from Zui, Kejing is often responsible for packaging and providing research materials and laboratory equipment, which helps users save a lot of research time. To successfully implement this business model, in my opinion, the professional level of marketing and sales personnel is an important guarantee factor (especially for cutting-edge research markets such as new materials and new energy). At the very least, they need to understand the user's professional description and understand the user's ongoing research work in order to come up with a solution for the user.

When it comes to the choice of this business model by MTI Kejing Group, Dr. Jiang's tone reveals a hint of helplessness. "We once considered that the company would only focus on a few products and make them stronger and bigger. But this model requires a large amount of capital investment in research and development, which we didn't have at the time. If we had chosen that path, MTI Kejing Group would probably not have been able to develop to today. But as I mentioned earlier, no matter how Kejing expands its product line, our 'roots' are always in the field of materials science research. ”

I have heard many entrepreneurs in the industry talk about the concept of 'one inch wide, one mile deep', but when I hear this sentence, it is mostly related to product development strategy. But in a broad sense, it actually represents a focused attitude, focusing on seeking to deepen, refine, and strengthen in one's own advantageous field. Isn't it also a kind of "one inch wide, one mile deep"?

How to become a successful 'Chinese brand'

What is the reputation of 'Made in China' in the current market? It can be said that 'everyone has their own opinions'. Everyone is limited to different perspectives on the problem and the degree to which they grasp the information, and their judgments are also different. Given Dr. Jiang's years of overseas entrepreneurial experience, and the fact that MTI Kejing Group itself started from overseas markets and then returned to the Chinese market (it is understood that the current contribution of foreign markets to MTI Kejing Group's overall revenue exceeds 50%). So, in the interview, the author also threw this question to Dr. Jiang.

Speaking of laboratory equipment, it is very, very difficult to open up overseas markets, especially in Europe and America, and establish one's own brand, "Dr. Jiang candidly expressed his viewpoint.

Compared to analytical instruments, laboratory equipment may be relatively better, but even for Kejing, the level of entry is still not enough. The difficulty lies in the fact that our products still have a significant gap in quality, workmanship, and other aspects compared to others. Of course, this is not only a problem for equipment manufacturers, but also involves the level of the entire country's industrial foundation. On the other hand, the laboratory market has a lot of inertia, and people are used to some old brand products. As an outsider, how can you replace them without some innovation? However, innovation requires a lot of investment. Therefore, a considerable number of domestic manufacturers can only take the path of 'imitation' and then compete at low prices. Thirdly, after your products finally squeeze into the overseas market, how can you do it? Can we hold onto this market and further expand it? Sometimes when you fall abroad, you can't get up. So to shape a 'brand', besides market promotion, innovation and product quality are more crucial. ”

However, Dr. Jiang also emphasized that with the continuous strengthening of China's national strength in recent years, he is still very optimistic about the prospects of "Made in China" in the market.

When preparing for this interview, due to professional habits, I also searched for some information about the impact and evaluation of Chinese products in the industrial and non consumer goods fields in Europe and America. In fact, the results were very encouraging, which is also very consistent with Dr. Jiang's expectations. However, these products are not directly aimed at ordinary consumers, so many people do not know much about them. Huawei is a well-known brand, whether in the field of telecommunications equipment or network equipment. Huawei can be considered a mainstream manufacturer, and Americans even use security as an excuse to prohibit American companies from purchasing Huawei equipment. Other representative brands include ZPMC's port machinery, which holds a monopoly share of nearly 80%. In 2013, President Obama used the American flag to cover the Zhenhua logo on the crane during a dock speech; CIMC's airport equipment is understood to cover almost all major airports in Europe. Netizens who often travel to Europe for business can find a metal nameplate with CIMC printed on it when boarding if they are interested; Yuanda's non electric central air conditioning system, which emphasizes trendy energy-saving and environmental protection concepts, also holds a monopoly position in the market; Hikvision's surveillance system, especially in the field of video surveillance systems, has become an excellent choice; and so on. Of course, these are only what the author found, and there may be even more that were not found. In short, the scale of China's economic and industrial development today cannot be sustained by just a few sweatshops.

So, there is no need for China's scientific instrument and laboratory equipment industry to underestimate itself. As Dr. Jiang said, "The future is still bright, and I have witnessed more and more Chinese laboratory equipment manufacturers like Kejing taking their work seriously and wanting to do their own things well

Present and Future

After more than 20 years of unremitting efforts, Dr. Jiang proudly tells me that MTI Kejing Group has gained a certain brand influence in the market, and has achieved * * in the research and development of monocrystalline wafers and new energy material research equipment markets.

However, Dr. Jiang is also aware that there is still a lot of room for improvement in Kejing in the future.

For example, in terms of experimental furnace products, currently Kejing has only achieved the highest level in the domestic market. In the market, we still have a certain distance to catch up with some brands in Germany and the United States. For example, in terms of thin film crystal growth equipment, thin film coating equipment, etc., we are constantly increasing our research and development investment

Dr. Jiang envisions the future product development and production model of MTI Kejing Group as follows: "Kejing will mainly focus on two key areas, namely design and assembly, while leaving the intermediate links, such as component manufacturing, to partner manufacturers. In short, we will try our best to approach the two ends of the 'smile curve' proposed by Acer Group founder Shi Zhenrong, that is, to approach the links with higher added value. This way, Kejing can have more time to innovate. The brand building we just talked about is actually mainly achieved through continuous product innovation in the market. For example, in the United States, to be honest, it is not perfect either. But it is a country that worships innovation, and plagiarism is highly looked down upon there. ”

When it comes to innovation, financial support is essential, so going public for financing is also one of the goals pursued by many companies. Once upon a time, it was even a symbol of a company's success. Similarly, MTI Kejing Group is currently preparing for its listing on the ChiNext board.

Without the support of the capital market, relying solely on self rolling development can sometimes make many ideas difficult to implement, "Dr. Jiang candidly stated." In fact, in the field of materials research, MTI Kejing Group has been walking on one leg so far, and we still lack one piece, which is analytical/characterization instruments. But this market is now basically monopolized by foreign companies, making competition more difficult. If we have sufficient funds, we may consider entering this market. We have started some attempts in this area, but the difficulty is indeed very high. ”

Postscript

During the interview, Dr. Jiang joked that when he left the field of scientific research and started his own business, he was mainly tired of writing papers at that time, so he thought of finding more challenging jobs to try. At the same time, he also wanted to do something practical for society. Starting from trading and developing into investing and building factories in Hefei, Shenyang, and Shenzhen, as well as having a wide sales network, MTI Kejing Group, a Chinese company headquartered in Richmond, California, USA, has firmly established itself in the materials science research market and has not changed since then. This may be because there are constantly new challenges on this path that Dr. Jiang and his companions need to face. So, after Zui, please allow me to end this article with a line from the movie "Pearl Harbor": "It suffered, but it grew stronger. (Editor on duty)