On the evening of November 15^th 2002, the brightly lit Shanghai American Club, located at the Shanghai Bund International Tower, was swarming with distinguished guests, waiting for a grand and special ceremony to take place.

Witnessed by over 60 Chinese and foreign guests, Ms Weinberger, the Consul General of Austria in Shanghai, presented on behalf of the Austrian government a Gold Service Medal issued by the Austrian President to a graceful and elegant Austrian Chinese. The person who received the medal is Mr. Zhang Ning, the general manager of HOERBIGER (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. A Gold Service Medal is the highest honor that can be bestowed for Austrian citizens, and the medal is a special approbation and the highest acknowledgement of the outstanding contribution a person has made for the Austrian government. The conferment of this special medal to Mr. Zhang was in recognition of the achievements Mr. Zhang has made in the establishment, operation and management of Hoerbiger (Shanghai), and in high esteem of his contributions to the promotion of corporate and cultural exchanges between China and Austria. Mr. Zhang has been the only person who has received such an honor among overseas Chinese, which is not only his personal pride, but also an honor for Hoerbiger in china.

Hoerbiger, the largest independent supplier and manufacturer of compressor parts, was founded in 1895 by the famous Austrian scientist and inventor Hanns Hörbiger. The company’s headquarter is registered in Switzerland, and it maintains worldwide more than 100 individual companies and operating plants in 42 countries and regions, with its products concentrated on the three sectors of compressor technology, automation technology and drive technology. The company is well known in each of the three sectors for its expertise.

Hoerbiger (Shanghai) was registered and established in Jan. 1995 in the Caohejing Hi-Tech Park. The company mainly produces compressor accessories and provided technological support for a wide variety of sectors such as compressor manufacturing, oil and petrochemical, steel, ship manufacturing, PET bottling, electric, pharmaceutical and food processing in China and the Asia-pacific region.

       Mr Zhang Ning came to China as the only overseas executive sent to China to lead a fresh course for Hoerbiger in the country, bringing Hoerbiger’s centennial cultural and professional tradition as well as his deep understanding of the arts of modern management and traditional Chinese culture.  Perhaps, it is out of their original expectation that a tentative investment and a relatively unknown brand in China could score such a splendid success amid the rigorous and prudent European management style and the oriental philosophy of diligence and practicality. Since the commercial operation in 1997, Hoerbiger has grown to a leading firm in the Chinese market of compressor accessory and relevant technology with annual sales of over 100 million Yuan, and rapidly become a top-manufacturing base of Hoerbiger in the Asia Pacific region, compared with the mid-sized firm with a registered capital of a minor $3.5 million in the beginning. It is really a miracle, even in the eyes of the senior management team of Hoerbiger.

Standardized Management as a key factor leading to the success of the firm

Hoerbiger (Shanghai) is the first wholly owned subsidiary of the Group Company in the mainland of China. It serves as, on the one hand, a tentative investment in China, and one the other hand, a window firm in Hoerbiger’s inroad into the Chinese compressor market, therefore the trial investment also bore on the future strategic planning in the Chinese and the Asia Pacific markets of the Group company.

The biggest problem faced by the management team is how Hoerbiger, as an experienced market player and a new entrant to the Chinese market, should cope with the intense competition from local rivals. In the words of Mr. Zhang Ning, the first stage of construction and development of Hoerbiger (Shanghai) has been extremely hard, but HOERBIG has made it step by step, breaking through the barriers en route to become a strong player in China. What are the secrets for Hoerbiger’s success in China? Of course, they are, to some extent, due to the brand, technology, but what count most are the company’s operational rules.

The so-called rules refer to the strict practices and standards of conduct in the daily production and management of a company. As a manufacturing firm and a top firm in the compressor accessory field, the various orders received by Hoerbiger (in 2004 alone, the company received over 3,000 purchase orders and contracts), including a large number of non-standardized orders for products ranging from several hundred Yuan to over one million Yuan, must go through a standardized sales process and strict technological test. The underpinning factors could only be the rules and scientific management system and enterprise culture. On the back of a strong technological background, Hoerbiger (Shanghai) has combined the rigorousness of European firms with the calmness and practicality of the Chinese culture, creating the rules and a unique and objective-oriented corporate mechanism and management system. The production, marketing and sales, and management of Hoerbiger (Shanghai) all conform to the rules, which gives rise to a gradual improvement in efficiency and profitability.

Here are the rules: no matter whether you are in the office building or in workshops, all the things here run in an orderly way. The clear, orderly and standardized working environment in the workshops in particular, is something rare to be seen even in western countries.  The strict on-the-spot management and green channel system has ensured the work efficiency and product quality. People visiting Hoerbiger (Shanghai), including the company’s clients and industrial partners, with some of them being senior executives from developed countries, are all deeply impressed by the standardized operation here. The company fully implements all the technology and quality standards set by the Hoerbiger Group. In early 1999, the company earned the ISO 9002 Certification issued by the Lloyd’s Register, and in April 2002, the company upgraded its certification to ISO 9001: 2000 issued by the Lloyd’s Register.

Here are the rules: entering into Hoerbiger (Shanghai), you will feel the warm enthusiasm for work. Besides the computer desk, in the library and the office, everybody is dedicated and devoted to the work. From price inquiry to contract management, from the design of products to the manufacturing of products, from the purchase of raw materials to equipment management, everything here are under the scrutiny of standardized management. Under these effective and mature management standards, the company’s production efficiency is ensured, and the achievement of employees could be effectively recognized, which propels them to work harder given the sense of achievement and responsibility.

Here are the rules: driven by a sense of making the best better, the company has recorded rapid growth in a short duration of only several years thanks to a strict sense of management and active mentality of development. With an annual compounded growth rate of 45%, the company has seen record sales of over 100 million Yuan in 2004 with only 120 employees. The company introduced balanced ScoreCard, an internationally leading strategic management system in 2003, following Hoerbiger Asia. Under the guidance of the more powerful strategic management system, the Hoerbiger (Shanghai), already famous for its clear objective, prudence and practicality, is set to score more splendid success.

Talents and technology as the factors driving innovation

Since the commercial operation in 1997, Hoerbiger (Shanghai) has grown into a firm capable of producing various types of compressor accessories from the one that can only produce compressor valves, and is equipped now with the design technologies for various reciprocating and rotary compressors, screw compressors and refrigerating compressors. These successes were not only a result of hardworking, but also an embodiment of the company’s unprecedented enthusiasm in innovation. If the company’s leading technology and know-how, top engineers and equipment are the effective tools in grabbing market shares, then the company’s ability to digest globally leading compressor accessory technology and to make further innovations upon them could be said to be the driving engine for the company’s continuous progress.

Hoerbiger (Shanghai) attaches great emphasis on the introduction and cultivation of talented employees. Compared with local Chinese firms, the company boasts of a group of high-caliber staff. Over 60 pct of our employees have bachelor degrees, while around 5 pct of them have masters or PH.D degree, with most of them possessing rich experience in the production of compressors. Meanwhile, the company sends engineers abroad regularly to learn the latest technologies regarding compressor accessories, which will be further digested and applied into domestic production, bringing them in line with the standards of the Hoerbiger Group.  Under the active atmosphere of innovation, the strong and stable team of professionals is adept at study and production, and well versed in research and practice. Their reliable technology and outstanding operating achievements have helped the localization development of Hoerbiger, enabling the firm to deal with its daily production from a higher industrial perspective.

After the successful digestion and absorption of technologies, all of the company’s products could be produced locally, and products designed by the company has covered various types of compressor valves, including the CX series, CE series, CS series, CT series, R Series HDS Series, centripetal compressors, Bell & shell check valves, tube & Shell check valves, stuffing boxes and various loop products. With its good applications and reliable quality, Hoerbiger (Shanghai) has boosted its presence in China and has been appointed as the designated suppliers of compressor accessories by the bellwethers in China’s oil and petrochemical firms, namely PetroChina and Sinopec, and was accepted as a member of the compressor sub-association of the China General Machinery Industry Association. The company was selected as a high-tech enterprise in 1998, and was awarded as a leading foreign-invested firm by the Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission and the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission.

Continuous profitability growth and technological progress also boosted the company’s position in the whole group’s strategic planning for the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, the company’s production capacity ranks number one of the Hoerbiger Group in the Asia-Pacific region, and the turnover in the Chinese market is only second to Japan. The company has been taken as the most important manufacturing base and compressor technology R&D center in the Asia Pacific region, providing technological support, technology consulting service, technology design service for other Hoerbiger subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific region.

The success of Hoerbiger (Shanghai) has been regarded as a legendary story among specialty foreign-invested firms in China, as evinced by its rapid growth into an important manufacturing base for the Hoerbiger Group in the Asia Pacific region from a tentative investment. Similar to other excellent foreign-invested firms, Hoerbiger also witnessed the fast growth of the Chinese economy. The company represents not only the growth experience of a foreign brand or a foreign firm in the mainland of china, but also, viewed from the intersection point of time and space, is a paragon of success for the joint operation under the Oriental and the Western cultures and against a backdrop of an opening-up and pragmatic China.

Beginning from the initial commercial operation in 1997, Hoerbiger (Shanghai)’s sales has grown to almost 100 million Yuan annually from a mere 8 million, with its total investment expanded to $5 million from the initial registered capital of $3.5 million. The company bought another patch of land in 2002 in the Caohejing Hi-tech Park after it initial expansion of the plant in 2001. Surrounding the newly Christened Hoerbiger Road, the construction of the new plant on the newly bought land will kick off by the end of this year, which will mark a new stage of development for the company. The company has always been recommended as a showcase firm by the Consulate General of Austrian in Shanghai for delegates from Austrian government, visiting delegation from enterprises or student delegations. It has become a window for Austrian firms to understand China, and a bridge for China’s compressor accessories and services to enter the global markets.

At the helm of Mr Zhang Ning, the top management team of Hoerbiger (Shanghai) has been working to seek a way suitable for growth of companies such as Hoerbiger (Shanghai) in the integration of the Western and the Eastern cultures. From the preparatory process, to the construction of the plant, and to the marketing and sales process, manufacturing, HR and finance, they have been working towards the establishment of a complete corporate operation and management system and has been making progress year after year because of their deepening experience of the two cultures and their conviction of the course ahead. Hoerbiger’s corporate motto: “Only equipped with the philosophy of constant innovation, and a constant pursuit to meet the changing market situation, could we see continuous progress and development—there is no end to development,” has been enriched and refreshed along with the gradual development of the firm.  

Looking forward, the company expects even faster development along with the construction of the new plant and it estimates that its number of employees will reach 150, with sales exceeding 130 million Yuan in 2006 on the basis of further improvement in the work efficiency. Under the mature strategic guidance, Hoerbiger (Shanghai) is well poised to greet a new round of development and a fresh future with fresh vitality.

Hoerbiger, although less known than brands of the retailing sectors, is a renowned brand in the fields of global compressor accessories and services. “Where you have compressors, you'll find Hoerbiger, and where you see Hoerbiger, you'll find quality and reliable performance.” ---- Hoerbiger (Shanghai) is now working hard proudly to carry forward the centennial honored tradition of the Hoerbiger Group.