Solar powered

Proposed design of the conference center for the 2010 International Solar City Congress

There are two things that make people in Dezhou most proud of their hometown. One is Dezhou braised chicken, famous across the country. The other is known even more widely - China Himin Solar Energy Group, the world's top maker of solar water heaters.

"My slogan is: 'Let every Chinese use solar energy'," says Huang Ming, chairman of Himin.

It is not hard to tell why the 49- year-old Huang is so confident. In less than 10 years he has turned his once-obscure factory into the largest solar water heater manufacturer in the world, with revenue of 2 billion yuan last year. Of the other 3,000 solar heating companies in China, only 10 earn 200 million yuan annually.

It took a relatively short time, but it was a long way to go. Though one day he would be an industry leader in renewable resources, Huang started out working with traditional energy.

He landed a job at a petroleum institute as a researcher in Dezhou in 1982 after he graduated from China University of Petroleum. But he knew it is a sunset field. He was well aware that petroleum resources might last only another 50 years. He did not want to end up with a career that was a dry well.

Twenty years ago, Huang had a dream that his relatives and friends could enjoy hot showers made possible by solar water heaters. That motivated him to intensely research solar technology.

In 1987, he read a book about solar energy and became passionate about the free and endless energy resource. He made his first solar water heater by copying the process outlined in the book and gave it to a relative as a wedding gift. Encouraged by enthusiastic feedback, he made more for other relatives and friends.

Self-made fame

Huang Ming

His self-made heaters brought Huang's fame around the neighborhood and beyond. The director of a State-owned factory heard about the man who could make hot water from the sun and placed an order for a unit that could enable 100 people to shower using solar-heated water. It was Huang's first deal and earned him 50,000 yuan, a large amount of money at the time.

As his ideas took form, he worked as designer, engineer, porter, plumber and salesman to support himself. He knocked on a lot of doors in the first few years.

"I personally sold more than 1,000 solar hot water heaters to customers face to face," Huang recalls.

But before 1992, he could only spend his spare time on solar heaters as he still had a day job. He was frustrated with the varying roles he played at different times. He tells China Business Weekly that he called himself "half and half" - half State-owned worker, half self-employed individual, half expert, half rookie.

The big break came in 1992 when Deng Xiaoping made his southern tour and reinvigorated the reform process. To end the dichotomy of his professional life, and also discouraged by the difficult self-employed environment in northern China, Huang poured in all his cash to set up a company called Xinxing, despite the fact he indeed had found some success in the petroleum field by selling a patent for oilfield equipment.

Although he had shares in the new company, it was more or less State-controlled. Huang and his colleagues only received 30 percent of the profit and had many restrictions. Three years later, he quit and established Himin with some friends.

"At that time I put all my eggs in one basket. The only thing we had was our own intelligence. Research and development (R&D) innovation gave birth to Himin," Huang recalls.

Expanding the business

Himin became the domestic market leader in less than three years. Huang says it all came from different dreams, big and small.

Another dream was that everyone in Dezhou could enjoy solar hot water, so Huang began promoting his heaters at a stall at the local amusement park. While his business gradually developed, his vision expanded.

He wanted solar water heaters to permeate the whole of Shandong Province, so he focused on Jinan, capital of Shandong, and set up sales outlets.

Part of the effort was a campaign to raise the public's overall environmental awareness.

All the long and varied efforts seemed to come together and Huang's business snowballed, registering revenue of 500 million yuan in 2000.

But like so many businesses that find initial success, mapping the next step was crucial - and controversial.

One former top executive said the company should focus on cheap prices to win market share, while Huang said he couldn't agree.

He was in dilemma. He was privately close to that person and if the executive was angered and scouted by competitors, it would be a great loss to Himin.

For three years, Himin's business bogged down because top managers could not agree and employees were uncertain.

"One day, I read a book by Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric," recalls Huang. "He said someone who has ability, good performance and influence, but has different values from the company, should not be used. I suddenly realized that it was time to put my foot down."

Insiders say some 1,000 employees left when Huang decided to focus on quality.

Huang stopped producing cheap, low-capacity heaters in 2003, and turned to high-quality units, raising prices from 1,500 yuan to 3,000 yuan for basic models. Now the price can be as high as 20,000 yuan for a luxury home.

Huang's decesion was proven right. Even though Himin has the most expensive solar water heaters on the domestic market, the company sells the most and has 14 percent of the market.

His clarity of purpose now extends to other solar products, and he remains sure of the path he wants to take. While many companies are enthusing about producing solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, Huang declines to follow.

"The success of Chinese solar PV companies in overseas markets depends on incentives by foreign governments. But the development of solar water heaters is totally driven by the market," he says.

"I am a newcomer in PV. If I am not good at making them why should I do it?" he asks. "So I chose to produce solar-powered light systems," he says. "A solar panel is just a part of the light, but how to make the whole system highly efficient is the most important. I have my own business model to make profit from that. Now I get the lion's share of solar lights in China."

But it is his dreams rather than business models that continue to inspire him and his employees.

(China Daily 12/08/2007 page12)