Plastics News Daily Report - May 9, 2018 - 52

52 ‹ PLASTICS NEWS DAILY REPORT ‹ May 9, 2018

Cosmos eyes U.S. market, rebranding
Remember three years ago
when Google Inc. reorganized
under a new parent company, Alphabet Inc.?
Something similar is afoot
at the NPE2018 booth of longtime Hong Kong-based injection
molding machine maker Welltec
Machinery Ltd.
Welltec's parent, Cosmos Machinery Ltd., is in the midst of a
three-year rebranding exercise,
said Cosmos CEO and Executive Director Freeman Tang. It's
phasing out the Cosmos brand
of injection molding machines
and replacing it with Welltec,
which it started in 1982.
"A couple of years ago when I
was acting GM of Welltec, I was
confused, our sales agents were
confused, our customers were
confused," Tang said. "Now for
our injection molding machines,
our branding is very clear: Welltec. The Chinese name is Dong
Hua.
"Hopefully, none of our customers or potential customers
are confused now," Tang said.
The parent company, Cosmos,
was founded in 1958 to trade in
Chinese-made machine tools.
Speaking in a late April interview at Chinaplas in Shanghai,
Tang likes the opportunities he
sees at NPE2018.
Eighty percent of the compa-

Plastics News photo by Kent Miller

By Kent Miller
Plastics News Correspondent

Freeman Tang, Cosmos Machinery
Ltd. CEO and executive director.
ny's sales are to the mainland
Chinese market, Tang said.
While Southeast Asia is its leading export market, in Orlando,
Fla., this week, the company is
keen to catch up with customers
from the Western Hemisphere
and make some new ones.
"We serve a lot of our South
American market at NPE," Tang
said.
Staying in touch is crucial in
these perilous times, Tang said.
"Before Brazil basically collapsed, we were very strong in
serving automotive customers
[there]," he said. "We sold 30
big, two-platen machines. But

BOOTH W7771
WELLTEC MACHINERY LTD.
since the economy is not doing
well, all that came to a screeching halt."
Sales have also taken a tumble in Venezuela, which Tang
dubbed "a catastrophe." But up
north, sales have been sturdy.
"We've been selling to Canada,
especially the automotive industry. The past two years, the
growth has been substantial,"
Tang said.
Cracking the U.S. market is a
big motivation for the company
to show in Orlando.
"We started later than our
competitors, and we didn't shift
enough resources to the U.S.
market," Tang acknowledged.
"We will be starting almost from
scratch in the U.S.
"We need to do it step by step.
We need to identify and work to
the strength of new partners in
the U.S.," he said.
Tang said he's confident of the
company's products.
"On the quality front, we're
definitely on track, and I like
where we are. Our customers have a lot of confidence in
our machines, especially our
two-platen machines," Tang said.
"For the past two years, the
sales growth of our two-platen
machines is very satisfactory,"

he added.
But talk of a possible China-U.S. trade war has already
cast a pall on mainland Chinese
buying decisions, Tang said.
"I can feel things are different
from last year," he said.
Like many plastics executives
on both sides of the Pacific, Tang
voices concern about the impact
of tariffs on the industry.
"We haven't been selling much
volume in the USA. So, any direct
impact on us is very limited. But
you never know," he said. "It
doesn't help us to grow the U.S.
market.
"I'm actually more concerned
about my domestic customers
who are in China whose products they export to the U.S.,"
the Canadian-educated executive said. "As of right now, from
what we can see on the list, the
products hit with tariffs are
mainly parts or components,
so it [won't] affect our customers that much. But I can already
sense [a change in] the confidence of our customers in various industries."
"I'm less optimistic about the
second half of this year compared to last year," he said.
For its own competitiveness,
Cosmos is upgrading its factory
near Shanghai, Tang said.
"We're going to expand our
production capacity in Wuxi for
smaller-sized machines," Tang
said. "Wuxi will be even more of

a focus and growth spot for us."
Cosmos's other factory, in
Dongguan, near Hong Kong, will
continue to focus on custom and
industry-specific machines.
At ChinaPlas, Tang touted the
company's Industry 4.0 software, dubbed iSee, a cross-platform cloud-based system that
links up with a user's manufacturing execution system.
"We offer cloud service so
customers have very limited
upfront investment. They don't
need a server anymore," Tang
said.
"Live data is transmitted back
to us. With that data, we can
help our customers with preventive maintenance," he said. "We
can alert a customer when a part
needs to be replaced."
Launched in 2011, iSee has
been implemented by major
mainland manufacturers, including Haier Group Corp., Semk
Electronics (Huizhou) Co. Ltd.
and Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
"We are quite happy, quite
sound on that front. We have a
lot of expertise there," Tang said.
Customers that a few years
ago were taking a wait-and-see
attitude toward Industry 4.0 are
rapidly embracing it now, Tang
said.
"Everyone wants to increase
their efficiency, decrease their
down time and cut down on
their labor costs," Tang said.

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