2021年对于中国瓦楞纸包装设备制造企业东方精工集团是具有里程碑意义的一年，这一年是庆祝东方精工在瓦楞设备制造行业成立25周年。我们和东方精工集团总裁邱业致一起回顾了公司的发展历程。

2021 is a landmark year for the Chinese corrugated packaging equipment manufacturer, DongFang Precision Group, as it celebrates 25 years of manufacturing equipment for the corrugated industry. We sit down with Qiu Yezhi, President and look back on the company’s progress and development.

由Daniel Brunton报道

A report by Daniel Brunton.  

和邱总坐下来……我才意识到“东方精工”这个名字在行业里的时间和我报道它的时间一样长！我第一次接触这个行业还是在1994年巴黎瓦楞展，仅18个月之后，瓦楞行业见证了一家中国设备制造商的诞生，这正是我们现在熟知的“东方”。

Sitting down – virtually – with  Qiu Yezhi, I realised that DongFang Precision is a name that has been in the industry for almost as long as I have been reporting on it! My first exposure to the industry was the Corrugated ’94 expo in Paris and a mere 18 months later, the industry saw the start-up of a Chinese equipment manufacturer which we now know as DongFang.

公司于1996年由现任董事长唐灼林在广东省佛山市创立，当时公司还只是一家仅有十几名员工的小工厂，邱总就是这十几名员工的其中一员，自公司成立之初就开始在公司工作了。邱总介绍说：“当时，我们制造的是非常基础的机器以满足中国市场需求，如印刷机、开槽机、圆压圆模切机。我们售出的多数机器都带有2个或3个柔性印刷单元。”

Founded in 1996 by the current Chairman, Tang Zhuolin, in Foshan, Guangdong Province, the company operated from a small factory, employing a little over a dozen people. One of those employees was Qiu Yezhi, who has been with the company since day one. “In those days, we were making very basic machines for the domestic Chinese market,” she explains. “such as printer slotters and rotary die-cutters. Most of the machines we sold were fitted with two or three flexo print units.”

她继续说道：“在1997年底，我们制造并售出第一台四色印刷开槽机，它是配备圆压圆模切单元的上印机。然后在1998年，我们研发出另一台四色印刷开槽机，它同样配备圆压圆模切单元，并配置了美国太阳公司的前缘送纸真空传送印刷以及自动修模技术，但它是四色下印机。我们早期的发展速度非常快。”

She continues, “In late 1997, we built and sold our first four colour printer slotter with rotary die-cut unit – this was a top printing machine. Then, in 1998, we developed our four colour printer slotter with rotary die-cutter as well as lead edge feeder, vacuum transfer printer and the automatic grinder technology from Sun Automation, but in bottom printing. We grew quite quickly in the early days.”

国际市场

International Interest

就像一直坚持创新的中国设备制造商一样，当时有几家欧洲公司来访问中国并参加了早期的中国瓦楞展活动。就在早期的这几场活动中，东方开始了在欧洲市场对设备的营销与支持的讨论。

As has always been the case with innovative Chinese equipment manufacturers, there were several European companies who visited China and attended the early Sino-Corrugated events - and it was at one of these shows that DongFang started discussions about the marketing and support of equipment for the European market.

邱总介绍：“我们知道随着自身发展，欧美地区将成为我们的重要市场，我们很幸运能和一些非常优秀的代理商合作，例如英国的M&K Trading就是其中一家。到2001年，我们在欧洲建立了研发中心和销售网络。几年之后，到2007年，我们已经与欧洲众多长期战略合作伙伴建立了紧密的合作关系，并在北美与我们的重要战略合作伙伴Haire Group开展在北美市场的合作。在这些重要地区，我们的市场渗透已经十分牢固，得益于遍布全球的完善的销售网络，我们现在向欧洲、北美和亚洲及世界其他地区的客户销售机器。当然，欧洲和美国都生产、销售和服务于当地市场。”

 “We knew that Europe and the Americas would become important markets for us as we grew, and we were very lucky to get some really good agents to work with us, such as M&K Trading in the UK to name just one,” explains Qiu Yezhi. “In 2001,we then established an  R&D center and sales network in Europe, and several years later from 2007, we had started working closely with many long-term strategic partners in Europe and then with Haire Group, our important strategic partner in the USA for the Northern America market. Market penetration in these important territories was firmly established and thanks to a sophisticated sales network all around the world, We now sell machines to customers in Europe, North America, Asia and the rest of the world.. Of course, both Europe and the United States produce, sell and serve the local market.”

邱总继续介绍道：“今天，我们的机器遍布全球40多个国家，随着过去几年的一系列收购，我们现在已是行业内极少数可以为客户工厂提供完整解决方案的企业之一，从瓦楞机到粘箱机联动线，从自动物流到智能运行系统。”

She continues, “Today, our machines are running in over 40 countries around the world and with a series of acquisitions over the last few years, we are now one of very few companies that can supply a complete factory, from corrugator to converting, from automatic handling to a totally ‘intelligent’ operating system.”

巨大增长

Big Growth

2011年，东方精工勇往直前在深圳证券交易所上市。随着首次公开募股（IPO）的完成，东方精工开始对行业内多家龙头企业进行收购，它们都是在行业里活跃了几代人的企业。

DongFang Precision took the bold move to list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2011. With the IPO completed, DongFang Precision embarked on the acquisition of several leading companies who had been active in the industry for many generations.

“我们在柔性联动线方面发展得很好，我们还为柔性联动线制定了一系列优良的辅助方案。”邱总说道。“然而，我们知道公司想在产品组合中增加瓦楞纸板生产设备，于是我们开始评估市场为收购做准备。”

“We were well established in flexo converting and we had a good range of ancilliary solutions for these flexo lines,” explains Qiu Yezhi. “However, we knew that we wanted to add corrugated board production equipment to our portfolio and we started to evaluate the market for possible acquisitions.”

她继续说道：“通过尽职调查，我们的其中一项收购是意大利瓦楞纸板生产线制造企业佛斯伯集团，在2014年成功完成60%的股权的收购，在2017年完成剩余40%股权的收购。为了进一步扩大市场，我们在2019年又收购了Tiruna。之后在2020年通过意大利佛斯伯我们收购了BP Agnati的多数股权，这家企业现已更名为Quantum Corrugated。

She continues, “Following due diligence, one of our acquisitions was the Italian corrugator manufacturer, Fosber Group;60% of its shares was successfully acquired in 2014 and the rest 40% of shares was acquired in 2017. Looking to further increase our market, we then acquired Tiruna in 2019 and in 2020 – through Fosber – we acquired a majority shareholding in the previous BP Agnati, which has now been renamed Quantum Corrugated.”

展望未来

Looking to the Future

随着工业4.0的快速发展并涌现在各行各业，数字化和人工智能也理所当然地成为东方精工的发展核心。“对我们来说，‘智慧工厂’是我们研发的关键组成部分，它确保了我们研发的机器将帮助世界各地的纸箱工厂减少废料、提高综合质量、扩大产量。对我们来说，人工智能和机器学习是我们解决方案的核心组成部分，以及在我们众多的机器产品组合支持下，我们可以为世界各地的客户提供整体解决方案。”邱总继续说道。

With the rapid developments and the roll-out of Industry 4.0 across many sectors, it comes as no surprise the digitalisation and AI are at the core of DongFang’s ongoing development. “For us, ‘Smart Factory’ is a key component to the R&D we are undertaking, ensuring we develop machines that will help box plants all around the world in decreasing waste, improving overall quality and enhancing output. For us, AI and machine-learning are core components of our solutions and with a considerable portfolio of machine offerings, we can help supply turnkey solutions to customers all around the world,” continues Qiu Yezhi.

在公司的下一个五年计划中还包括了更多的收购、新品研发和工业 4.0 ，完全没有一点安于现状的迹象！东方精工不断研磨和完善其产品，近年来一直专注于为世界各地的纸箱工厂提供有针对性的解决方案——这显然不是保持着一种“放之四海皆准”的心态。“例如，您看Fosber集团，他们是为欧洲和美国提供瓦楞设备的解决方案；而 Fosber Asia 品牌是为亚洲、非洲和新兴市场提供略有不同的瓦楞设备型号，但是在这些市场中的其中一个共通点就是他们都由“产量”和“速度”所驱动，”邱总解释道。“也正因如此，我们在欧洲针对不同客户需求推出了上印固定式和下印固定式共6款柔性印刷线，它们都是伺服驱动的，并且在过去几年里，我们还为市场提供能够一次完成内印与外印的柔性印刷设备。得益于电商行业的快速发展，尤其在欧洲和美国，我们现在已经售出几十套下印式双面印刷机，这可能比世界上任何其它瓦楞包装设备生产商都多。”她总结道。

With its next five year plan that includes more acquisitions, new product development and Industry 4.0, there are no signs of sitting on their laurels! DongFang continues to hone and refine its offerings and over recent years, has focussed on developing specific solutions for box makers in different regions of the world – it is certainly not a ‘one size fits all’ mentality. “For example, if you look at Fosber Group, they manufacture corrugator solutions for Europe and America, while the Fosber Asia brand develops slightly different models for Asia, Africa and emerging markets where despite the market differences, output and speed are also the driving factors in these markets,” explains Qiu Yezhi. “That is also why we have developed upper flexo printing and bottom flexo printing lines in total six different models  to meet different needs of customers in Europe all of which are servo driven and for the last few years, we have also offered flexo printing equipment that is capable of printing inside and outside of the sheet in one pass. Thanks to the rapidly evolving e-commerce sector, particularly in Europe and America, we have now sold dozens of sets of  inside-outside printing machines, which is probably more than any other corrugated packaging equipment manufacturers anywhere in the world,” she concludes.

有着25年的成功经验，东方精工打下了坚实的基础，将为下一个25年扬帆起航！

With 25 years now under their belt, DongFang Precision has a strong foundation to now set its sights on the next 25 years!