Jinn Her - Building the World One Screw at a Time／JH螺絲 撐起晉禾的螺絲帝國
Jinn Her - Building the World One Screw at a Time
◎English translation by Peng Hsin-yi
◎Photos by Pao Chung-hui, Jian Ming-jyun
In the 1960s, heavy industry expanded operations to Gangshang, with several manufacturers continuing to operate in this area today. In 1976, manufacturing in Taiwan took off. This created a huge and sudden demand for screws and was the beginning of a boom for screw manufacturing in Taiwan. It has also provided the region with many lucrative jobs.
Jinn Her Enterprise Co., LTD was established in 1980 and due to it is close proximity to the Port of Kaohsiung and China Steel Corporation, it was also headquartered in Gangshan. It produces some of the world's largest and smallest screws. The smallest are as small as 0.3 cm (0.1 inch), whereas the largest being as heavy as 1 kilo (2.2 pounds). Their screws are used for practically everything, from small appliances to bridges to skyscrapers. Jinn Her can produce screws for anything that needs them.
After graduating from junior high school, CEO Tsai Yong-yu followed in his brother's footsteps and worked as a laborer in a screw factory. Today, he is the owner of one of the largest screw manufacturing companies in the world. In fact, for every four screws used worldwide, one of them was made by JH. Jinn Her has branch offices in Shanghai and Shandong, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. The company's annual revenue is approximated at 400 billion NTD.
Mr. Tsai's motto is "being responsible for each screw equates taking responsibility for society". He makes sure every employee understands the importance of their work. Mr. Tsai believes screws have a life of their own, each one supporting something bigger than itself. If one screw fails, the things they hold together could dangerously fall apart. He maintains a strong sense of responsibility for each screw that bears their logo. After all, it has taken him a lifetime to establish his company's brand image, quality and marketing channels.
The Kaohsiung headquarters consists of a 15 hectare factory and employs 450 workers. It is projected that by the end of the year, the factory will have increased its workforce to 600. Mr. Tsai is also looking for about 50 hectares to complete this expansion. It is his dream to create enough jobs, so Kaohsiung's younger generation will not have to leave home to find work. He hopes in the future, people will start coming from Taipei to find jobs in Kaohsiung!
Jinn Her's number one priority is quality. In order to ensure this, each screw is made in the same location and on the same production line. Every manufacturer works toward achieving zero inventories and subsequently saving costs. Jinn Her has taken the opposite approach, by creating an automatic inventory system, the first one in Taiwan's screw manufacturing industry. Their inventory includes as many as 30 thousand storage units. The system includes a unique barcode system, allocating each product its own ID. Now products can be traced from the production line to storage units, all based on the barcode on the package. The system has been found to be very effective, taking only 20 minutes for each order to be ready for shipment.
Jinn Her offers storage units to its customers so that it can ship products at a moment's notice. The customer will also not have to worry about storage issues at their end. This thoughtful practice has won Jinn Her a lot of customer loyalty, with many giving Jinn Her their business for more than 30 years.
Taiwan's King of Screws did not earn his nickname without reason. Mr. Tsai continues to analyze every screw he sees when he is out. The more he maintains his role of quality control, the more business he believes he will attract in the future. He vows to make Jinn Her as successful as possible and expresses his gratitude for the land that nourishes him.
In 2011, Jinn Her donated 15 thousand bags of white rice for people in need. In 2012, they increased the donation to 30 thousand bags. Although the screws are made of hard metal, they have generated much kindness and warmth for society. Mr. Tsai says he is a happy man because he knows the screws he makes bring happiness to many.
JH螺絲 撐起晉禾的螺絲帝國
◎文／侯雅婷
◎攝影／鮑忠暉、簡名君
小至0.3公分乃至於重達1公斤的螺絲，隱身於機器、橋樑和摩天大樓中，是不可或缺的基本零件。座落於高雄岡山的晉禾企業公司打造規模世界第一大的螺絲帝國，靠得是精準掌握螺絲背後商機。
得利於中鋼的鋼鐵原料和高雄港運送便利，高雄岡山的螺絲產業於45年前開始發展，產業聚落儼然成形，1976年，台灣工業剛起步，岡山的螺絲產業跟著蓬勃發展，螺絲業日進斗金的傳言不脛而走，在這樣的氛圍下，晉禾企業董事長蔡永裕從國中畢業就開始跟著兄長踏入螺絲這行，從黑手做起，合夥做螺絲 ，時至今日，全世界每四顆螺絲就有一顆來自JH晉禾螺絲，晉禾企業版圖遍及台灣岡山、中國上海、山東、馬來西亞和越南，年營業額新台幣400億元。
「對自己製作的螺絲負責！也就是對社會負責。」董事長蔡永裕如此教育員工。蔡永裕說螺絲是有生命力的，他解釋道，螺絲是被廣泛應用於汽車、橋樑和大樓的重要零件，因此他說，螺絲出問題，世界會亂掉！對製造螺絲有著一份使命感，拿著刻有JH的晉禾螺絲，蔡永裕表示，晉禾企業以品牌、品質和通路，走出了螺絲的康莊大道。晉禾佔地15公頃的高雄廠房分工井然有序，現有450名員工，年底將增加至600人，未來正尋求50公頃的土地擴廠，蔡永裕的理想，是讓高雄子弟不必離鄉背景到外地尋求工作機會，他豪氣的說，要讓台北人到高雄來上班！
晉禾企業為了確保螺絲的品質，生產線佈局從頭到尾皆在同一個廠區完成，再者，在業界都講求零庫存或至多存貨一星期用量之際，晉禾逆向操作，打造了全台第一個螺絲自動倉儲系統，涵括3萬個庫位，從生產到存放於哪個庫位 ，靠得是紙箱上的條碼，從接單出貨至裝上貨櫃，只要20分鐘。另外，晉禾代顧客儲放零件，隨時出貨的體貼作法，也讓晉禾的顧客忠誠度超高，合作超過30年以上的公司，比比皆是。
這位台灣的螺絲大王坦誠出門在外會仔細瞧瞧每一顆螺絲，他領悟出商機無限這層道理，他表示，未來的機會越來越多。他承諾，晉禾事業發展越好，會具體回饋在生長的這片土地上，2011年 ，晉禾企業在岡山當地捐出1萬5千包白米關懷弱勢，2012年提高至3萬包白米 。一顆顆堅硬的螺絲，化成溫暖的關懷 ，蔡永裕說做螺絲是幸福的，因為螺絲可以為他人帶來幸福。