As Steve Jobs said, "You haven't met them, you haven't shake their hands, you haven't shared each other's stories, but somehow they get to know each other when they use the products you've created with your heart and love." Seiko is perfect, and users can see the excellent quality, but also feel the pure craftsmanship.
This issue of CIAA exclusive dialogue reports on antimicrobial label product companiesWrigley Home Group shares***, special invitationLi Huanxin, technical director of Wrigley Home Materials, for us to interpret the ingenuity of Wrigley Home Furnishing's manufacturing road.
01 National benchmark bathroom brand, smart home overall solution provider
Headquartered in Foshan, Guangdong, Wrigley Home Furnishing Group is a large-scale modern manufacturing enterprise integrating R&D, production, sales and service. Since its establishment in 1994, ARROW Home has always been committed to improving the quality of people's home life, bringing intimate home solutions to consumers with humanized design and innovative product lines.
After nearly 30 years of development, ARROW Home has comprehensive advantages in brand, R&D, channels, manufacturing and other aspects. It has three major brands: ARROW, FAENZA and ANNWA, forming a differentiated market positioning and meeting the needs of different consumer groups. The products cover ceramic sanitary ware, faucets, showers, bathtubs, bathroom cabinets, ceramic tiles, intelligent toilets and other categories, and expand the product matrix throughout the house through a set of customized product design.
In terms of channels, the sinking of retail terminals has accelerated, and it has 1More than 30,000 terminal outlets, forming a distribution network system with wide coverage, large number and deep sinking. While deeply cultivating the retail channel, in recent years, it has continued to expand the home improvement channel, optimized the engineering channel, and actively promoted the e-commerce strategy. Through the steady expansion and operation of omni-channel, it provides customers with high-quality services and experiences, and achieves efficient customer reach, interaction and demand insight.
In terms of manufacturing, the company has laid out ten major production bases based on factors such as the advantages of industrial clusters and rapid response to logistics, and has advantages in production capacity coordination, order response and transportation efficiency. At the same time, it has significant advantages in intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing, and has undertaken a number of intelligent manufacturing related scientific and technological projects such as the National 863 Program, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and won the second prize of Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award.
As a national high-tech enterprise and an enterprise with intellectual property advantages, the company continues to increase R&D investment and continuously enhance its R&D and innovation capabilities. At present, a first-class R&D system has been established, including basic and cutting-edge technology research, personalized technology research, and product research and development, and more than 10 R&D departments have been set up to be responsible for the independent design and development of various categories of products and key components, as well as related core technologies and basic technology research. At the same time, it also has scientific research platforms such as provincial enterprise technology center, provincial engineering technology research center, and provincial industrial design center. From 2018 to 2023Q1, the company's R&D expense ratio increased from 354% to 618%, R&D investment is industry-leading.
As of 2022, it has obtained a total of 2,343 product patents, and at present, the company has mastered dozens of core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, such as antibacterial and antibacterial, water-saving flushing, waterway constant temperature, intelligent toilet R&D platform technology, shower comfortable water type technology, and high-pressure grouting workstation. In terms of exterior design, it has won the German Red Dot Design Award, the German IF Product Design Award, and the Kapok China Design Award for many years.
On the road of high-quality development, ARROW Home Furnishing has won the "National Quality Benchmark", "Foshan Quality Award", "Guangdong Province Quality Award Nomination Award" and other awards, which is a strong note for the company to comprehensively promote the implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country with quality and promote China's high-quality manufacturing. The company is committed to building the whole industry chain of smart home, providing customers with high-quality smart home overall solutions, and will move towards the vision of "becoming a world-class smart home overall solution provider".
02 The consumption concept has changed, and the antibacterial function meets the actual needs
In today's era, consumers' demand for bathroom products has changed, environmental protection, energy saving, health has become the three main concepts of sanitary ware, for such changes, Li Huanxin director analysis, consumers used to pay more attention to the "usable", "durable" these basic performance, with the change of consumption concept, bathroom products in the basic performance at the same time, healthy, comfortable, convenient, We have reason to believe that with technological progress and economic development, health, comfort, environmental protection and other functional attributes that are currently additional will gradually become the necessary attributes of bathroom products to meet the needs of consumers.
Talking about the question of "why should bathroom products develop antibacterial functions", Li Huanxin explained that bathroom products are usually in a humid environment, which is conducive to the reproduction of microorganisms inside and on the surface of the product. In the process of daily use, users need to come into contact with the product frequently, whether it is a home or a public place, there will be multiple people using the same product alternately, and when the number of microorganisms on the product is too large, the low immune population will have a greater risk of infection. Moreover, sanitary products belong to durable consumer goods, the replacement cycle is more than several years, microbial reproduction may lead to mildew and accelerated aging of plastic products, antibacterial function can improve the basic performance of the product itself, and at the same time meet the user's health needs.
In order to solve this problem, the company currently has R&D and application of surface antibacterial technologies such as ceramics, plastics, and rubber, and has launched toilet products with antibacterial ceramics, antibacterial seats, and antibacterial waterways, as well as bathroom cabinets using antibacterial plates. In order to meet the needs of consumers, it is planned to optimize costs through technical research and product promotion, apply antibacterial technology to more products, and pay attention to the research of sterilization and antibacterial technology in the water environment.
03 Excellent antibacterial performance and comprehensive coverage of material preparation technology
In sanitary products, technology is undoubtedly a key factor in determining the intrinsic quality of the product. Director Li Huanxin shared the progress of ARROW Sanitary Ware in antibacterial technology. The company's products involve a wide range of materials, including ceramics, glass, metals, plastics, rubber, coatings and other different substrates, the processing technology is significantly different, and the requirements for antimicrobial agents are also very different.
In the previous verification, the R&D team found that the conventional solution could not meet the antimicrobial durability requirements of the product after long-term contact with water. Through the analysis of the antimicrobial mechanism and performance of different antimicrobial agents, we have mastered the preparation technology of long-term antimicrobial materials suitable for different processes and scenarios. The test results showed that the samples were treated with water resistance before testing, and the treatment time was 15 times higher than the industry standard, and the excellent antimicrobial properties were maintained.
In an industry such as sanitary products, which requires a high degree of attention to hygiene and antibacterial properties, its antibacterial properties are still available after such a long processing time, demonstrating Wrigley's strong strength in antibacterial technology and research and development.
04 Visualize antibacterial signs to ensure the safety of bathroom products
As a leading bathroom company, a number of products under ARROW Home Furnishing have been authorized to use the CIAA antibacterial logo, talking about why to apply for the logo, Li Huanxin believes that bathroom products are closely related to people's lives, and after the epidemic, consumers are more concerned about the health and safety issues related to microorganisms. There are many types of antimicrobial functional products on the market, and various companies have various ways to promote them, which are prone to compliance problems, such as the difference between the test methods advertised by some products and the actual use scenarios, which brings confusion to consumers' choices.
According to the application scenarios of the product, the antibacterial test method, performance requirements and labeling methods have been clearly standardized, and at the same time, there are requirements for enterprise qualification and management. Therefore, the company's bathroom products have been awarded the antibacterial mark after passing the professional audit, indicating that the products have undergone strict and perfect third-party testing, and their hygienic safety performance and antibacterial performance are in line with the standard specifications. Through the visual logo, the antimicrobial function information can be conveyed more intuitively, and it is more convenient for consumers to choose the antibacterial products they need.
The antimicrobial mark is a mark developed by CIAA based on the technical specifications of antimicrobial products to identify the antibacterial performance and health safety performance of products. Antibacterial mark is the quality assurance of antibacterial products, with visible logo patterns to convey invisible quality, the product posted antibacterial logo, means that the product has been CIAA recognized, with CMA CNAS qualification of the third-party laboratory to obtain the test report, its health and safety performance and antibacterial performance to meet the antibacterial mark of the product technical requirements, and the user has made a commitment to product quality.
05 Summary
ARROW Home pays attention to product quality and consumer needs, and the products are innovative and practical at the same time, and the antibacterial performance and health and safety performance are continuously improved. It is believed that in the future development, ARROW Home will continue to uphold the concept of ingenuity manufacturing, and constantly bring forth the new to meet the new needs of consumers for high-quality, healthy and environmentally friendly home furnishing products.
[Interviewee introduction].
Li Huanxin, senior engineer, doctoral candidate.
He graduated from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009 and is currently the director of material technology of ARROW Home Group.
[CIAA Introduction].
CIAA is a national, non-profit social organization composed of universities, research institutes, enterprises, testing institutions, and service units engaged in antimicrobial related scientific research, technology development, industrial application, product manufacturing, performance evaluation, marketing, and industry services. Its full English name is Chinese Industry Association for Antimicrobial Materials &Products, and its Chinese name is Zhongguancun Huizhi Antimicrobial New Materials Industry Technology Innovation Alliance.
CIAA began to be established in 2002 and was formally approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China in 2007 with the name of Antibacterial Industry Branch of the National Health Industry Enterprise Management AssociationIn 2018, it officially obtained the qualification of a legal person of the association, and the name is Zhongguancun Huizhi Antibacterial New Material Industry Technology Innovation Alliance, so the antibacterial industry gave birth to a national industry organization with the qualification of a first-class legal person.
CIAA is affiliated to the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and relies on the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Management Committee to carry out work for the antibacterial industry.
CIAA focuses on the national biosecurity strategy, takes harmful microorganisms as the work object, takes harmful microbial control as the work content, follows the concept of "safety first, then antibacterial and effective" and "moderate antibacterial", and is committed to promoting safe, antibacterial and effective antibacterial products to the society, providing consumers with a cleaner, hygienic and healthy comfortable living environment, so as to practice the national strategy of building a healthy China.
While CIAA is based in China and serves China's antibacterial industry, it has developed into an antimicrobial industry organization with international influence. It has not only established close ties with foreign antibacterial industry organizations such as the Japan Fiber Evaluation Technology Council (JTETC), the Japan Antimicrobial Products Technology Council (SIAA), the Korean Antimicrobial Products Technology Council (KIAA), the American Antimicrobial Association (IAC), and the European Microbial Deterioration Research Group (IBRG), but also initiated the establishment of a global antimicrobial industry organization with SIAA and KIAA, the World Federation of Antimicrobial Industry (WFAI).