黄进宝 锐意进取，匠心独具

撰文/李欣煦 Written by Shirley

 

HUANG JINBAO
THE FURNISHING VISIONARY WITH INGENUITY

 

        Once founded the furnishings manufacturer Fubao, Huang Jinbao remembers all too well his favourite motto: “A bunch of people, be great at one thing over a lifetime.” One of Fubao’s subsidiaries, Frandiss received acclaims in its category. Now, the group has initiated collaborations with hotels.


Establishing Competitive Advantage Through Innovation

       January 2017, Frandiss, a Fubao brand achieved a major breakthrough. Its founder and President Huang Jinbao credited it to bold innovation, concentration, persistence and open-mindedness over the last two and a half decades. Back in 1992, Huang took his path to success from a series of unfulfilling jobs and his subsequent investment into sofa manufacturing.  Over time, he has taken up the habit of note keeping, a habit that would later enrich his company.

       For only the last couple of years, domestic furniture market has been invaded by global power. Huang points out the mechanisms behind it: a stabilised global furniture market tends to embrace fashion and younger consumers. The effort put into design also reflects a trend of product differentiation. Huang drew his conclusion: the correct response to the situation consists in establishing competitive advantage through innovation, and improving manufacturing techniques. For Fubao, boosting originality and going international should be its top priority for future development.

       As chairman of Hong Kong Furniture Association, Huang’s vision for his business have been penetrating.Huang asserted that his industry is facing tough challenges but rewards are bigger. Thanks to an elevated consumption willingness among consumers, the furniture industry has got a push towards proper brand management. The same push has also caused considerable non-diverse competition. He tipped furniture manufacturers to adopt a “Blue Ocean” approach (the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand), uniting fellow manufacturers of furniture or anything.

       Therefore, the furnishing visionary preached by example. United Furniture Association’s creation was partly his contribution. The association serves as a platform for the furniture industry’s supply chain, in other words, aggregating competitive advantage through unity.
Huang emphasised that, in furniture industry, nothing is out of the reach of changes.


Next Playground: Hotels

       Frandiss, the aforementioned breakthrough brand of Fubao, whose product has been proven to retain both class and style, partnered with Shanghai’s newly opened Nuobo Hotel. Fubao had laid hands on the hotel industry before. The furnishings manufacturer keeps a reputation for their on-demand yet unique design.
Huang predicts furniture’s next playground will be hotels. He already mentioned furniture industry’s challenges and bigger rewards. With better incomes, people tend to travel more, he says, thus filling niches within the hotel industry. As hotels flourishes, a need for hotel furniture will surge simultaneously. Those demanding hotels are going to need large sums of furniture tailored to their demands. Almost only manufacturers that can design for themselves, with plenty of originality, can answer their call and make a fortune of it.

       Huang explained more about Frandiss and Nuobo. The latter a new hotel on a pre-existing site – a riverside warehouse once owned by Shanghai’s tycoon figure of the roaring 1920s, Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng. The hotel’s connection with these legendary moguls fitted well with its modern-day fashion. Frandiss thought carefully about all these elements, employing Baroque and Rococo design.

       He talked about the necessity of assembling a team specialised in hotel furniture design, an assembly line for related products and closer ties with hotels. Now, he says, all the cooperation remains only in their beginning, there is a long way to go from the lack of professionalisation.


Genetics of Craftmanship
       Obsessed about century-old brands, he has a vision for Fubao: to put it among them. To keep a brand running for a century, quality has to be worshipped. Fubao insists on original design, driven by innovation, aiming to top high-end furniture market.

       Frandiss value originality and insist originality. Lives on it and wins for it. They focus on the elite life and are ready to lead the trend. As Huang puts it, the design is what essentially drives people consuming furniture. Fubao keenly seek international cooperation for inspiration. He made it clear that it doesn’t meant copying at all. Also, design should not, in his belief, be limited to an exclusive team. Design is meant to be open-minded., effective within the context of China’s situation.

       March 2017, Frandiss Night of Design, Fubao invited the whole world to have a look at the power of original Chinese design.

       For the future, Huang emphasised the importance of a calm head. “Resist temptations. Only expand when you’re strong enough.”

       On his first day manufacturing furniture, Huang knew he would make nothing shy of the best. Craftmanship has become part of every Fubao staff’s genetics for the last two and a half decades. When mass producing furniture, Fubao sticks to certain standards only hand production would adopt. He believes that every piece of hand-polished furniture has its own life. What’s more, the manufacturer, to this day of machines, still develops new technique for hand making furniture, an art passed on for millennia.
Huang gives equally high regards to service as to product. Sales is not an end but a beginning. Long-time customers, especially, choose Fubao for its reliable service. Fubao will not stop there.