A leader in telecommunication and home appliances, Hisense Group in Qingdao, Shandong province, views standardization and innovation as key strategies for its future growth, according to senior executives of the company.

Liu Hongxin, president of Hisense, said the company attaches great importance to standardization with a focus on its methods and measures.

He said its standardization is inseparably interconnected with technological innovation and market competitiveness.

The company has established a system to guide the establishment of standardization systems in different companies within Hisense.

The system contains base standards, product realization standards and basic protection standards.

It was the first company to receive an AAAA rating for good behavior from the Standardization Administration of China in 2005.

Founded in 1969, Hisense is a large technology group whose operations span multimedia, domestic appliances, information technology and real estate. Its total sales reached $14.69 billion in 2016.

Over the past four decades, Hisense has accumulated high-end technologies including data-based multimedia, intelligent information systems, modern telecommunications, energy-saving refrigeration and optical communications.

Liu said that Hisense incorporates technological innovation into its management strategy, including research and development of products and applications. The company will improve its products and standards based on users' needs. By comparing with international standards and industry benchmarks, Hisense has made its own competitive product standards, he said.

Global markets

Liu added that internationalization is a vital part of Hisense's standardization strategy in the future.

"With a global design concept and integrated R&D resources, the company will continue to produce high-quality televisions and related products for overseas markets," Liu said.

"The core to improving the brand image for Hisense is to sponsor major sporting events based on its technological advantages."

Recently, the company sponsored F1 Red Bull Racing, the Australian Open tennis final and made a contract with FIFA in April this year to become the official sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The ULED TV of the Hisense MU9600 series won an International Innovation Award at CES Asia 2017 this month, which enhanced the international influence of China's ULED TV industry.

Zhu Dan, deputy general manager of Hisense International Marketing Company, said the key for Hisense's fast pace of introducing new high-end products to overseas markets is based on its global R&D and production capabilities.

To date, it has established over 20 overseas branches, 12 R&D centers in countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, Canada and Israel, and three manufacturing bases in South Africa, Mexico and the Czech Republic.

Its products have been sold to more than 130 countries and regions around the world.

Hisense's global production layout has also taken shape with the purchasing of Sharp's TV manufacturing factory in Mexico two years ago, expansion and transformation of factories in South Africa and the construction of a new manufacturing base in Algeria.

Since 2007, the sales volume of Hisense's overseas brands has increased by 22 times.

In the first quarter of this year, the revenue and sales volume of Hisense's overseas brands grew 40.9 percent and 45.5 percent year-on-year, respectively.

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Other practices

Hisense focuses on the generalization of product design by practicing universalized, serial standardization and dynamic management research.

It has established a generalization database and laid a foundation for reducing the costs of design, manufacturing and technology services.

In 2016, the quantity of materials used for parts by Hisense was reduced by 47.85 percent year-on-year.

A large number of professionals and technical personnel from Hisense have taken part in international and national standardization activities and helped to come up with advanced standards programs.

By participating in standardization activities at home and abroad, Hisense has promoted the development of the laser and optical module industries and led the development of frequency conversion technology and the intelligent transportation industry.

Hisense values improving the skills of its standardization personnel, organizing various standardization training and technology exchanges.

Many famous experts in standardization, including Bai Dianyi, assistant dean of the China National Institute of Standardization, and Yu Meimei, secretary general of the China Machinery Industry Standardization Technology Association, were invited to train Hisense staff.

Hisense's standardization practices have evolved over the years from establishing standards after a product has been manufactured to integrating standardization work into the product design phase.

(China Daily 06/28/2017 page23)