Starting to study for a PhD at 70! Chairman of FCS, largest injection molding machine manufacturer in Taiwan, practices "live and learn": All my family have a master's degree, I can't lose to my son

 "The operator's vision and mind determines an enterprise's future scale; the operator's character and quality determine the enterprise's life," Po-Hsun Wang said solemnly. 

Po-Hsun Wang, Chairman of FCS (6603), the largest injection molding machine manufacturer in Taiwan, appeared at Taiwan University of Science and Technology yesterday (7/17) to share his business story and philosophies at his speech themed "Experience in Transforming from Traditional Industry to Intelligent Manufacturing". 

 "I'm still studying for my PhD at 70 because all my family graduated with a master's degree; I am going to hand over the company to my son; I can't lose to him," joked Po-Hsun Wang, Chairman of FCS. 

We live and we learn. Po-Hsun Wang founded FCS in 1974. Having been fighting in business world for decades, he chose to return to school in 2014. He was admitted to National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology at the age of 70, and obtained a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management after 5 and a half years. 

In 2018, he decided to hand over the business to his sons. He appointed his eldest son Jerry Wang chairman of the FCS Ningbo Company and his second son Alan Wang CEO and General Manager of FCS. Under the leadership of his sons, FCS's annual revenue exceeded NTD 4.6 billion last year, an annual increase of 6.39%, hitting a record high. 

Although he has withdrawn from the front line, with 49 years' accumulation, Po-Hsun Wang still has endless experiences and suggestions to share. He was invited to attend a lecture held by Management Institute in Taipei on the 17th, at which he shared his business philosophies and experiences on the road to entrepreneurship. 

Philosophy 1: Have the courage to dream and plan a 10-year blueprint in advance

Po-Hsun Wang recalled that thanks to the take-off in economic development in Taiwan, FCS expanded from one small factory to three big factories in a decade after it was founded in 1974, but after the success, he couldn't help thinking, "What about the next 10 years? How will FCS's factories develop?"  

From about 1985, he went to Japan to visit other factories and found that on their factory blueprints, the purpose of each piece of land was clearly marked, so he did the same. "I didn't even have land at that time, and I began to plan." First we should have a dream before we make it come true!"

 "Equipment depreciates quickly, so it's better to acquire the land first," Po-Hsun Wang said frankly. Later, he bought a brick kiln factory. He had to apply to the government to build the factory, then borrowed a loan from the bank to buy equipment, and finally built a 10-hectare Taiwan factory in 1995. 

Later, in order to compete with the low prices in the Chinese mainland, he built Dongguan Factory and Ningbo Factory. In recent years, he built a new factory in India and Hangzhou Factory. 

▲Po-Hsun Wang shares his business philosophy.  

Philosophy 2: Do not compete in low prices, and focus on differentiation and technical strength

With China's reform and opening up, the low-price competition from the Chinese mainland has also put Taiwan's manufacturing industry in a slump. Po-Hsun Wang knew that it was better to improve technical strength and make product differences than to compete in low prices with the Chinese mainland. "The bottom manufacturing equipment is the least valuable, but we also do research and development, the develop intelligent IT and intelligent machinery." 

He pointed out that in the past, people emphasized that "the low cost can bring high profit", but now emphasize that "creating added value" can truly increase profit, so FCS no longer only sells hardware, it also sells software, and is committed to providing customers with one-stop services from scratch. 

 "Smart manufacturing is really just the integration of existing things." Po-Hsun Wang pointed out that the mold condition can be detected by only a sensor, the information of dozens of machines can be integrated into the same computer, and the data can be transmitted to the cloud. Therefore, the factory director can monitor the production volume, yield and other information through the mobile phone even he is not in the factory. 

Philosophy 3: Do not be afraid to fail, and turn your experience into a knowledge base

 "But all of this requires research and development," said Po-Hsun Wang frankly. New technologies are built after failures. Their average annual failure cost is as high as NTD 20 million, and in every 10 ideas, only 3 ones will be turned into products, 1.3 ones will be commercialized, and eventually only 1 will be profitable. 

In order to achieve success faster, he suggested that enterprises should have perfect "knowledge management", which means that the failures of an enterprise and wrong experiences are recorded, and correction should be implemented from production, maintenance, marketing to management and other levels, so that such failures and wrong experiences can be avoided in the following process. 

He stressed that if an enterprise can exchange the experiences of all parties, formulate SOP based on such experiences, and collect them in a knowledge base, and then periodically delete and correct them, the final results will be likely to become the core competitiveness of the enterprise. 

Philosophy 4: Value talent, with high investment made to retain 12 engineers in 3 years

In the current era of great job shortage, Po-Hsun Wang also has experiences and skills for nurturing talent. 

He said that FCS has a R&D team in campus. If students are interested in their machines, they can study at school, practice in the factory at spare time, and can work directly at FCS after training. Because they have basic technical ability, their starting salary is NTD 5,000 higher than that for ordinary new employees.

Po-Hsun Wang also revealed that the talents in the south have been stolen by TSMC. In order to retain talents, FCS spent ten millions to retain 12 engineers in 3 years, and let employees feel that company has growth and prospects. 

Looking to FCS's future, Po-Hsun Wang pointed out four major directions: digital technology, intelligent machinery, green energy and environmental protection and advanced materials. Among them, ESG is an issue that every company must face. He said, FCS is also focusing on the development of non-toxic and heat-resistant CPET, degradable plastic PLA, etc., and invested NTD 200 million in rooftop solar panels to generate electricity, to prepare for the future carbon rights market.