Oliver Lu, Sales Manager of Dowson’s Fasteners Co., Ltd. really impressed CFI reporter a lot by his steady speed, sound voice, concise answers and hopeful words. At the beginning of the interview, he stressed Dowson’s Fasteners, with annual sales of over 10 million US dollars, has specific goals like these: always commitment to the top-end fasteners market and eternal promise of quality fasteners, including carbon steel wood screws, carriage bolts, U-bolts, hex bolts, brass bolts, nuts, stainless steel thread rods and so on, in order to build up unique image around the world covering countries and regions in Europe, America, Africa and Middle-East.

Dowson’s Fasteners mainly engages in exports for top-end markets. To excel in top-end market among many competitors from all over the world, it never gives up its pursuit of product quality. With three technicians and two inspectors, it keeps stringent control on product quality and does not allow any unqualified products; it also introduces advanced equipment to ensure excellent products during production process, including cold headers, punches, lathes, thread rolling machines, etc. Made-in-China fastener products are popular among buyers for its cost effectiveness, but a large number of manufacturers, however, are still producing low-end products, which results in antidumping measures launched by some countries. And the coming of the financial storm triggers the waves of global antidumping. In response to this, Lu said, “A coin has two sides. So does antidumping. The negative is that it will greatly impact the fastener industry in exporters’ country, while the positive is that it will drive domestic fastener industry to upgrade and help transform the strategy from low-price competition to quality competition.” It chooses the top-end market not only for its long-term development, but also for making a contribution to change the world’s attitudes towards made-in-China fasteners. “The higher you stand, the further you’ll see; the deeper the roots are, the more stable the tree is.” Lu said. It is its continuous reach to the top-end market that makes it stand steadier. The sales in 2008 is better than 2007 and it is expected that there will be some sales improvements in 2009.

Dowson’s Fasteners not only focuses on top-end in terms of quality, but also has smart vision on promotion. To overcome the financial crisis, the company is developing new clients to stabilize production based on the big and regular orders. To explore new clients, on the one hand it is time-consuming; on the other hand there will be no opportunities to establish business relationships with the prospective clients unless the corporate image is known by them. Dowson’s Fasteners builds up its recognition and obtains new client resources through B2B business platform, international exhibitions and specialized fastener magazines. This year, Dowson’s Fasteners will prepare for registering its mark “DLS” in the US to further promote its products. Lu said, “If our customers feel good when using the products with our mark, they will chronically buy our products with our mark.” Lu anticipated that the mark registration in the US will attract more and more American customers, which becomes its key to enter the US market.

As the corporate culture of Dowson’s Fasteners, “integrity first” is applied to every detail of the company. Although the increasing costs such as soaring price of raw materials last year brought in great pressures to the company, it still insisted on carrying out the contracts, fulfilling production with teamwork spirit, and promising on-time delivery. Furthermore, its fine packing design is highly appreciated by customers, and they keep good business relations with Dowson’s Fasteners. In addition to integrity first, Dowson’s Fasteners also delivers its unique customer services. The company segments the market into different areas; for each area it has service personnel. For instance, America, Korea and Japan belong to one area; Europe another; Middle-east, Africa and South-Asia, West-Asia another. Lu explained the aim of area segmentation is to better serve the local customers, have an in-depth understanding of the local areas, as well as provide quick responses and effective solutions.

As for the hopes in 2009, Lu expected that the economy will turn good in the second half of the year. In 2009, Dowson’s Fasteners will continue to do lots of investment, which is strongly supported by its stable cash flow, and Lu found it confident to face any changes.

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