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Vol. 1, 2004
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Company Profiles Kitchen Whiz Rising To The Challenge Fine China |
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Master Household Ltd
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A wide range of high quality stainless steel cookware from Master Household Ltd, which exports about 50% of its annual output |
When Master Household Ltd was awarded the ISO 9001 rating earlier this year, "it was far better than any award we'd ever received in the past", according to administrative supervisor Anny Chow.
"It was a fitting reward for our painstaking efforts to reach the highest production standards," she says.
"We've always been very tough about ensuring high quality. That's why our factory in Guangdong Province has about 150 quality controllers keeping a very tight watch on every one of our multiple production lines. One blemish and out goes the product onto the reject pile.
"The ISO rating is also serving as an incentive to continue to produce only high quality products. At the same time we are further expanding our R&D, and building long-term relationships with valued customers."
The company also believes that the improved situation following the Chinese mainland's entry into the World Trade Organization will provide greater opportunities to expand its business worldwide.
The fact that Master employs so many people in QC gives a good indication of its massive daily output. The main factory and four adjoining subsidiary plants employ a total of 3,000 workers. The amount of equipment in use is impressive: 500-odd polishing machines (with few exceptions most of the wares are given a "mirror finish"), 168 drawing machines, 120 pressing machines, 74 welding units, and 16 lines of brazing machines to cite a few.
As Chow puts it, "We estimate that monthly output is about 1.4 million items of kitchenware (which makes up 70% of the company's output), tableware (15%), specialist equipment for restaurants (10%) and other household products (5%)."
Master ships an average of 150 containers overseas every month, mostly through the mainland port of Yantian and the rest through the mainland city of Shekou.
The company's Hong Kong showroom is a dazzling sight: hundreds upon hundreds of mirror-finish pots, pans, other cooking and restaurant items, plus an equally glittering array of tableware. Here and there are the occasional products made of copper or with a copper base, and other novelty items such as pots, pans and mugs with either a design sandblasted on the outside or a non-mirror matt finish.
"We like to give buyers a choice," says Chow, "but by far and away the mirror-finish products are the most popular with housewives and restaurants all over the world."
Apart from the stylish cookware and kitchenware, Master produces a host of other related articles including soup ladles, graters, roasters, prongs, tongs, whisks, slicers, pressers, coasters, strainers, colanders, poachers, sets of canisters, fondue containers, cups, trays, whistling kettles, teapots, jugs and mugs, steamers, drainers, holders and a range of super-sophisticated woks including one with an aroma knob.
Master was launched about 10 years ago from its present base in Xinxing County, Guangdong Province, to produce a smaller range of kitchenware and cooking utensils for the domestic market on the mainland. But business was only moderate and the company decided to sell overseas, re-thinking its product lines to add Western appeal.
How successful that new strategy has become is vividly illustrated by these details of its major outlets: about 30% of all yearly output goes to one group in Europe; about 10% goes to a noted chain in the UK; and about 10% to a group in Australia.
"But of course we have customers all over the globe - some of them in the most unlikely countries," says Chow. "For example, now we've expanded sales to Russia, Japan, Indonesia and even Nigeria. It just shows that housewives and restaurants everywhere prefer good quality, long-lasting utensils."
WRITTEN BY GEOFFREY SOMERS
Master Household Ltd
Units B-C, 23/F,
Full Win Commercial Centre,
573 Nathan Rd, Mong Kok,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: 852-2312-0409
Fax: 852-2312-0484
Email: master@masterhl.com.hk
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