Development of New Products and Improvement of New Technology

Compared to many famous companies, the Dongfang Sliding Bearings Co., Ltd is rather low-keyed. Gradually, it becomes one of the leading enterprises in its field. Dongfang Sliding Bearings Co., Ltd is a very simple company which is not famous even in Linan, Hangzhou. Thus, its present achievement surprises many people. Why does it develop so quickly? Obviously, there are many important aspects.

The first important one is that the company makes continuous improvement of equipments to ensure the quality of products. Since 2003, the company had increased the investment in the equipment modification. In 2002, the total sales value was about 10 million Yuan. However, the chairman of the company put about 2 million Yuan in the equipment modification. Because the company did not have the technical power at that time, it came to cooperate with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University which can provide intellectual resources for it. Meanwhile, it combined with practical experience in business and then created the specific machines for its own use.

After that, the company always invests about two million Yuan in the transforming of the devices each year. The cooperative colleges also increased. Sometimes, the company also hires foreign experts to guide the equipment modification.

So far, the company has created eight categories of machine tools. Some of these special machines can improve the quality and stability of thrust washer products. While some of them are automatic or semi-automatic equipments. The left are machines that are energy-saving and environmentally friendly.

The development of a series of special purpose machines, not only improves productivity and reduces the labor intensity, but also improves the quality of the thrust washer. With the quality advantages of its products, Dongfang Sliding Bearings Co., Ltd becomes one of the industry standards and stands at the leading position of the thrust washer market. The rate of growth in sales value is more than 20% annually. And the total sales value in 2009 exceeded 110 million Yuan.

Secondly, the company puts a large amount of money in the development of new products so as to have the strategic direction. Addition to the equipment modification, the company began to develop high-precision hydraulic pump side plate in 2006. According to the survey, it found that the hydraulic pump side plates mainly depended on imports. Many domestic enterprises can only produce low-end or semi-finished products. Thus, the company found a lot of potential in this field.

Then the company invested more than 10 million Yuan in developing new hydraulic pump side plates. After 2 years’ great efforts, together with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, it developed a special kind of machining facilities which can solve technology problems and meet the precision requirements.

The chairman introduces that they will continue developing new series of hydraulic pump side plates. The strategic development direction of the company is making these products apply in the large equipments as well as in household appliances.

As a small and medium-sized company, why does it continuously invest heavily in technical innovation and research and development? The chairman explains that although his company is one of the leading enterprises in the country, it is still far behind from some advanced foreign companies. Only the continuous improvement of technology can make the company stay ahead in the market.