22 Feb SIEBENSTER’s China Export Story
SIEBENSTER was founded in February 2022.
After several years of hard work, we have finally entered mainland China.
We said we strive to provide the best possible service, and fortunately, this project came about through an introduction from a customer who recognized our sincerity.
Since the machines were installed at a large factory in Beijing, customers in or near Beijing are welcome to come and test them.
Through this export, we saw first-hand the high wall that is China’s CCC certification.
Selling goods in reverse to a country that is overflowing with products and lives off exports turned out to be really difficult.
Now then, let’s begin our rough-and-tumble China export story~
Without a doubt, the wood packing standard of Korea, an advanced country, is superb. It’s no accident that it is an advanced country~
Wood packing done, and off to China~
The scale of China’s industrial parks is truly beyond imagination.
It’s no accident that it is called the world’s factory.
The installation site is a HACCP-certified company with an enormous scale and cutting-edge facilities.
We have helped customers obtain HACCP certification in Korea several times and have seen the finished results many times, but to be honest, the level of China’s HACCP facilities is tremendous.
They are by no means inferior to ours, and in terms of rigor they even seem better in some respects.
First of all, we were fortunate to break through the wall of CCC certification and clear customs without a hitch!!
We removed the packing and lifted the machines from the first floor to the second for installation.
But there was no freight elevator!!
Two 30 kg sets is a workload that takes at least 4 people two full days, but since it would be difficult for the Chinese side to cover the costs of a large crew traveling from Korea, it was decided that the local factory staff would carry the machines up to the second floor themselves.
But how were they going to do this without even a crane truck…..
Then as now, the answer is human-wave tactics! Hahaha
Because this is a newly set up second factory, there are clear traces of the considerable effort they put into everything from the layout design to the equipment transport line.
They also plan to add a 60 kg machine in the future, so the second floor was cut through and finished with steel plate!
Simply astonishing!!!
The hoist idea was a good one….. but a manual pulley, not an electric one!!! Wow
I had never seen a manual one either.
But what now? There isn’t enough space.
The angle just won’t work.
What are we going to do with this….. total meltdown
Wow… they pulled it off~
The two 30 kg roasters safely made it into the roasting area!
We had crossed a big mountain, so something like this is nothing.
I was taught to sweep the easy things aside into a corner, like this~~~
With all the machines and components up on the floor, it was finally our turn to step in. But……
We found that the side of one of the 30 kg roasters was dented like this (sigh)
The bigger problem is that nobody saw it happen, so there is no way to tell where it got like this.
Since every machine had shown no abnormalities at the preliminary inspection, we ended up agreeing to treat it as damage incurred during transport.
I had heard that unloading on the mainland is no joke, and it seems quite possible that it happened then.
Anyway, all the responsibility falls on SIEBENSTER -_-;
Problems can always arise in anything people do.
What matters is how reasonably and quickly we deal with the problem, and whether we take responsibility with integrity.
In its business to date, SIEBENSTER has admitted what it should admit, and where responsibility is unclear, we take 100% responsibility ourselves, even at a loss.
It is simply because we want to continue this work for a long time.
It is because we want to establish ourselves as a company that customers can trust and rely on even more.
That said, since we are not in Korea, should we have the side panel shipped by air…… but the freight cost is too expensive and there isn’t enough time either…
But
this is China, the factory of the world!
In the end, we decided to order SUS304 from a local laser-cutting company.
For now, we finished installing all the machines and called it a day!
When we arrived at the site the next morning, the side panel we had ordered just the day before was already there.
That’s mainland class for you~!
The on-site staff were also very sharp and worked seamlessly with us.
I heard there are trees in China that grow tablets, so is that why they’re so smart??
The first thing we did was replace the side panel right away!!!
Because we simply couldn’t let a brand-new product stay dented!
We completed all installation and functional testing.
But, as the title says, it was a rough-and-tumble installation story!!!
China’s gas is different from Korea’s.
This industrial park uses CNG, and since the composition ratio and the pressure regulation method are different, we had agreed in advance to deal with it on site.
SIEBENSTER holds gas safety management qualifications, after all. Of course, those aren’t valid in China, though~
The technical approach isn’t difficult!
That’s because CNG is the gas that manufacturers like us use with consumption-measuring equipment. However, since pressure and composition ratio are the issue, on-site handling is essential.
Anyway, on day 2 the gas still wasn’t connected.
We decided to carry out the gas piping work inside the factory.
According to the person in charge, external gas piping had to be laid underground from quite a long distance away, and the construction cost alone reportedly came to nearly 200 million Korean won….
Wow, that’s staggering~~~~~
For today, we decided to finish only up to the functional test.
Since we had known about the gas situation in advance, we planned to spend the weekend here, finish everything on Monday, and head back!!
And then Monday came……
We got news like a bolt from the blue.
The gas work was unfinished.
And Labor Day got in the way on top of that!
Labor Day is one of China’s biggest holidays.
The most important gas work right after installation was left unfinished, and with Labor Day in the way, everything came to a complete stop.
Which means a return visit is now confirmed~ (sigh)
Honestly, this is maddening in terms of both cost and time, yet strangely I don’t feel bad about it.
It wasn’t only because the hospitality and kindness of our mainland friends during our stay were so, so, so overwhelming.
And it wasn’t only because the baijiu was so delicious either….
You could call it a kind of big-hearted pride, not wanting to be outdone on the mainland. Hahaha
Anyway, the truth is that I wanted to do even one more thing for them. As expected, guanxi!!
On the other hand, we also had to get off on the right foot!
The reality is that the Chinese market is currently very difficult to enter because of CCC certification.
Considering the situation in Korea, it is plain as day that exporting is the only way forward, so we have to do well~
And then we visited again after Labor Day!
After the 5-day holiday, the gas and duct work was complete!!! Good!
With all the equipment now complete, we begin the full-scale checks~
We adjusted the gas pressure and lightly ran a 150 kg test batch~
The result: all is well!!
To be honest, I was as worried about China’s gas as I was about CCC certification, but we’ve crossed every mountain.
With this, we’d like to wrap up SIEBENSTER’s first China export story.
P.S.) Back at the China factory!
It now truly feels like a stable production plant! Absolutely excellent.
They run two 30 kg machines all day without a break.
Green coffee prices are scary, yet what a flex~
So there’s no need to doubt SIEBENSTER’s crazy-good durability! Haha
The purpose of this visit was to match the heating power (gas volume) of the two machines.
Those who don’t know may ask whether that’s really so hard, but it is an extremely difficult task. Haha
What surprised me on this return visit, after quite some time had passed, is that the layout and workflow design here are better than those of any large HACCP roasting facility in Korea.
That design was not done in China.
If, after reading this post, you are curious about the layout of an ideal large HACCP-standard factory – green coffee transfer – production – storage – packaging – please contact us.
If you come and see it with us, your jaw will drop.
The real end! Haha
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