The Impact We Make

፬ሰ The Impact We Make Isaac Newton wrote: “We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” Far Eastern Group has made substantial contributions to Taiwan society through its ideals and professionalism and by providing a method to bridge the gap between the local people and the world. Beginning with a single supple fiber, Far Eastern Group today, has an influence, which is global and connected through infinite miles of fiber optic cables. Far Eastern Group has helped to shape Taiwan’s economy, culture, management concepts, social responsibilities, and entrepreneurship and in the process become a prestigious household name and a model for all Taiwan companies. Winston Churchill wrote: “The further backward you look, the further forward you can see.” For the past sixty years, Far Eastern Group has influenced the Taiwanese people in their daily lives and by transforming yesterday builds the bridges for a better world tomorrow. 50 未命名-1 1 2011/8/9 2:10:37 PM 43 未命名-1 2 2011/8/9 2:10:39 PM THE IMPACT WE MAKE ECONOMY Ⅰ. 經濟 Economy For sixty years Far Eastern Group has played an important role in Taiwan’s economic development, contributing in myriad industries and ways to Taiwan’s progress. How did Far Eastern Group become one of the most important business entities in Taiwan? What enabled its expansion from a simple textile factory into a large conglomerate? And what allows a successful integration of Taiwan and mainland China operations to encompass manufacturing including textiles, cement, petrochemicals, to businesses in the shipping, retail, construction, hotel, finance, and telecommunications industries? ɼ Taipei Metro Towers – Far Eastern Group headquarters 52 p50-73(0808).indd 52 2011/8/9 3:03:18 AM 53 p50-73(0808).indd 53 2011/8/9 3:03:22 AM THE IMPACT WE MAKE ECONOMY Textiles — the Origin of 60 Years of Glory wareness of Far Eastern Textile Ltd. cover customer base, product and manufac- (FETL) was limited to garment man- turing processes. “We are sensitive to who ufacturing, however, in its present our customers are and their needs. We work incarnation as Far Eastern New Cen- with leading brands such as Nike and Adidas. Atury Corporation (FENC) the company’s busi- These companies are less affected by economic ness has grown and touches upon all aspects of downturns and therefore we are less affected.” daily life in Taiwan. Furthermore, FENC also collaborates with When the Nationalist Government retreated emerging companies such as Uniqlo from Japan, to Taiwan in 1949, Far Eastern’s textile factory A&F from the United States, and Li-Ning from moved from Shanghai to Banqiao, Taiwan. Dur- China. Hu emphasized that FENC is among the ing that period, daily necessities were scarce and top few suppliers avoiding elimination from key the company provided warmth with such basic accounts. needs as the manufacturing of the “Skyscraper” FENC has a raw materials research advan- brand of knitwear. FENC set many records in tage, giving the company a great deal of flexibil- Taiwan’s textile industry, for example, it was ity in apparel innovation. The product varieties the first to export cotton yarn as well as apparel have shifted from basic knitwear, to fashionable overseas. The Group served as a key generator of sportswear. FENC is now a major supplier of foreign exchange reserves for Taiwan, contribut- China apparel brands, leading China’s apparel ing directly to Taiwan’s economic prosperity. industry into a more streamlined manufacturing In touch with Taiwan’s economic pulse and process. Austin Lee, President of Far Eastern Ap- government initiatives, FENC redirected its parel (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. in China, indicates that business accordingly. When the company suf- the lead time from template preparation to final fered from a raw material shortage, it seized the product can be shortened from one week to one opportunity to expand vertically from upstream day on diverse projects. to downstream. From producing petrochemicals The success of the cross-Strait deployment and fibers to spinning, weaving, dyeing, and re- between Taiwan and China has increased tail, it has created a complete supply chain and FENC’s scale, and brought energy and momen- to this day in Taiwan, only Far Eastern Group tum to the company. Eric Hu believes that a has successfully accomplished this. company needs to grow constantly. “By capacity Johnny Shih, Vice Chairman of FENC, has expansion and talent development, the com- pointed out that the company’s development pany will be able to attract new talent, interna- can currently be divided into three phases. The tional customers and global investors.” first phase focused on quality and quantity of “You can see the true potential of a business mid- to downstream products. In the second by how it handles crisis.” Hu lamented about the phase, the company shifted its focus from tex- first energy crisis back in 1973. In three years, 70 tiles to non-textile applications and producing percent of the downstream textile companies in value-added products such as PET bottles, High Taiwan had closed, and FENC was greatly im- Tenacity Yarn, tire cord and optical film. Petro- pacted as well. But facing the 2008-2009 global chemicals were later developed, to become a economic crisis over 30 years later, FENC had core product offering. The third phase is more the foresight to be cautious with all investment ɼ Apparel manufactured by Far Eastern New Century Corp. (formerly Far Eastern Textile Ltd.) focused towards becoming a leading global sup- projects, and enhanced the management of our plier with high-quality innovative products. financial measures. This shows that the com- According to Eric Hu, Senior Executive Vice pany has the ability to shrug off major impacts President of FENC’s Textile Business Operation of the economic crisis with its abundant experi- Center, “A business needs innovation to move ence and solid tradition of “Sincerity, Diligence, in step with global trends.” Innovation should Thrift and Prudence.” 54 p50-73(0808).indd 54 2011/8/9 3:03:28 AM ɼ Far Eastern New Century Corp. (formerly Far Eastern Textile Ltd.) and its early printed fabric products hold beautiful memories for the people of Taiwan 55 p50-73(0808).indd 55 2011/8/9 3:03:32 AM THE IMPACT WE MAKE ECONOMY Polyester — a Leading Player in Asia very morning at 11:00 a.m., facture chemical fiber, the PTA process Far Eastern Textile Ltd. (FETL, takes 15% less in raw materials than the renamed Far Eastern New Cen- DMT process. After assessing the risks tury Corp.) Hsinpu Chemical and potential of the new technology, EFiber Plant senior executives receive a Mr. Hsu promoted PTA as the raw mate- text message listing raw-material prices. rial of choice and 40 years later this new Modeled after the financial industry, re- technology has grown to become the ceiving timely pricing reports help exec- world’s mainstream process. utives prepare and embrace for changes FETL was the first company in Asia to in the market. Regular bi-monthly or as introduce and utilize partially-oriented needed cross-Strait sales meetings are yarn (POY) from Europe. The finished held via video-conference with all top POY skips a draw-twisting step and al- managers in Taiwan and China. These lows direct false-twisting along with ad- are a few examples where harnessing ditional processing steps. Furthermore, the latest technological advances in the spinning speed can reach up to 3,500 communication can be fully utilized to meters per minute, which was thus improve knowledge and efficiency to faster than the original technique. help decision making. FETL prioritizes monitoring market Although FETL has implemented the developments and with careful obser- most cutting-edge concepts and state- vation formulating decisions based on of-the-art technology, it still holds true this analysis. Y.H. Tseng, Senior Execu- to its original values and motto. Com- tive Vice President of the Fiber Business bining in-depth experience with new Operation Center, shares an example of capabilities in decision-making and this. In 2008 FETL acquired Invista Far human resource management, FETL Eastern Petrochemicals Ltd. (chang- changes crisis into opportunity and op- ing its name to Oriental Petrochemical portunity into business success. This (Taiwan) Co., Ltd. (OPTC)), which had foundation provides strong support for been running a long-term deficit. The the company as it strives to get ahead. acquisition decision was based on the In 1971, when Oriental Chemical evaluation that the polyester market was Fiber Corporation commenced opera- moving to the emerging Asian markets; tions, it was already more advanced and would be where research, develop- than its competitors. Raw materials were ment and production would also most differentiated into two types: Purified likely be heavily based. In addition, ɼ Top: Far Eastern New Century Corp. (formerly terephthalic acid (PTA) and Dimethyl OPTC had the capacity to produce one Far Eastern Textile Ltd.) Optical Film Plant terephthalate (DMT). At the time, DMT million tons of PTA per year and would ɼ Bottom: Film produced by Far Eastern New was mainstream in the market, due to thus become the stable raw material Century Corp. (formerly Far Eastern Textile Ltd.) the fact that PTA was difficult to pro- provider for FETL. Just a few months duce lacking the mature technology to after its take over, OPTC had already do so. At the time, only three companies reported a profit by the first quarter of worldwide were able to supply PTA. 2009. Mr. Yu-Ziang Hsu, Far Eastern Through a series of major transforma- Group’s Founder, always focused on tive decisions, FETL has strengthened “using the most advanced technology, its competitive advantages in the market the best equipment, and building plants creating a leading polyester manufac- at the lowest possible cost.” To manu- turer in Asia.

Load more