Craftsmanship Chasing Dreams to Build a Brand, Mission-Bound as a Road Marking Professional

——An Interview with Wang Xinhong, Chairman of Shenzhen Sanwin Traffic Equipment Co., Ltd.

 

There is such an entrepreneur who, bathed in the spring breeze of reform and forging ahead in a new era, refused to be ordinary and embarked on her entrepreneurial journey from scratch with hard work. In an overlooked industry, she pressed forward with unwavering dedication, building a distinctive enterprise and living an extraordinary life. Her emergence is like a rose among thorns, blooming fully in the sunshine of the new era.

There is such a "gentle woman", weighing less than 45 kilograms, yet shouldering the heavy burden of entrepreneurship. She treats her enterprise as her life's work, building a brand with the craftsman spirit and promoting products with a conscience. She stays true to her original aspiration, adheres to the bottom line of quality, pursues innovation, insists on quality-first and service-oriented principles; she is committed to leading the development of China's road marking industry and safeguarding traffic safety.

There is such a dream chaser who, from her youthful years to her forties, has spent two decades of her youth interpreting what it means to "ride the wind of dreams and live up to one's prime". With her practical actions, she has demonstrated the beauty of forging ahead against the tide, the power of perseverance, and the breadth of responsibility. She is Wang Xinhong, Chairman of Shenzhen Sanwin Traffic Equipment Co., Ltd.


Living Up to Youth with Dreams as Steeds, Forging Ahead Through Trials and Tribulations to Start a Business

From a beautiful and simple small county to Shenzhen, a luxurious and avant-garde special economic zone, she is truly a golden phoenix flying out of the black soil. Wang Xinhong's hometown is Lindian County, Heilongjiang Province. In 1991, she was admitted to a Normal University with excellent grades and became a glorious middle school politics teacher after graduation, fulfilling her dream.

To stimulate students' interest in learning and effectively implement moral education into their daily behaviors, she rejected the traditional three-stage teaching method and adopted an informative and vivid teaching style with extensive quotations. She did not require students to memorize by rote but asked them to answer questions based on their own understanding. She combined students' family performance scores with their school grades as the final subject scores. Such an ingenious approach to politics teaching was extremely popular among students, and even female students imitated her dressing style. Every time there was a school celebration, when Teacher Wang, who taught 10 classes across 3 grades, stepped onto the stage, there would be a burst of cheers from the audience. However, a teacher popular with students is not necessarily a good teacher in the eyes of leaders. In that era, people firmly believed that scores, rankings, and promotion rates were the only criteria for evaluating a good teacher. When her passion and ideal of imparting knowledge and solving doubts clashed with harsh reality, Wang Xinhong, who stubbornly stuck to her beliefs and refused to be constrained, made a decision that shocked all school leaders and teachers: to resign from her job.

In 1997, Wang Xinhong came to Beijing alone. After careful consideration, she decided to hide her bachelor's degree and take a job at a Korean restaurant opposite Beijing Yuyang Hotel, because there were more opportunities to learn Korean and practice oral English. Unexpectedly, it only took Wang Xinhong a few short months to go from greeting guests at the door, taking orders as a waitress, working at the bar to acting as the manager. One day, a regular Korean customer sincerely invited her repeatedly to take a few days off from her busy schedule to help him attend an important traffic facilities exhibition held in Beijing. Being warm-hearted and fond of challenges, she agreed without hesitation. Then she prepared overnight, reviewed English product manuals, communicated earnestly with the Korean boss about product advantages using the Korean she had learned plus gestures, and studied the equipment principles. As a result, at this promotion event, Wang Xinhong sold 7 road marking machines in one go with her sincerity, enthusiasm, teacher's eloquence and extraordinary wisdom. This achievement shocked not only the Koreans but also insiders who knew the situation.

After her initial success, Wang Xinhong declined the high-paying job offer from the Koreans that followed and decided to register her own company to act as an agent for road marking machines. In 2000, Shenzhen Sanwin Traffic Equipment Co., Ltd. was officially established. Since then, Wang Xinhong has truly embarked on a tough entrepreneurial journey, a journey that she has persisted in for twenty years.

As the general agent of Korean road marking machines in China, Wang Xinhong occasionally visited and studied in Korean factories. She found disassembled British road marking machines in Korean factories, and back in China, she discovered that Chinese factories were researching Japanese and Korean road marking machines. She calculated that China's road marking industry, which had just shifted from manual brushing to mechanical construction, was more than 20 years behind Europe and America. This sight made Wang Xinhong, who has a strong sense of national honor, feel deeply uncomfortable. She secretly made up her mind to realize her life value through entrepreneurship and strive for the revitalization of China's road marking industry in the future.

Hard work hones wisdom, and perseverance prevails over trials. Starting a business is always full of hardships, and Wang Xinhong's entrepreneurial path is even more bumpy. When she first entered the industry, Wang Xinhong lacked funds, connections, experience and technical knowledge. But none of these could defeat the determined Wang Xinhong. She secured more credit support with her performance and credibility when short of funds, learned personally at the construction frontline when lacking experience, humbly consulted production and technical personnel when not understanding technology, and gradually accumulated connections from scratch.

Learning from overseas inspections to identify gaps, and making up her mind to contribute to the industry. In 2000, Wang Xinhong had the opportunity to contact a renowned German enterprise producing a new type of road marking coating, namely two-component road marking coating. Later, the challenge-loving Wang Xinhong outperformed three other distributors in fierce competition and became the general agent of this German coating in China. During a business trip to Germany for a meeting, Wang Xinhong's car was speeding on the highway. As dusk fell, she was surprised to find that the seemingly ordinary roads during the day became extremely exciting to drive on at night. It turned out that ahead of the flickering car lights, bright marking lines guided the traffic like ribbons of light. While marveling at this, she fell into deep thought — if marking lines could be made luminous, how many traffic accidents could be reduced and how many lives could be saved. However, the reality in China at that time was that the formula of traditional hot-melt road marking coatings had only been imported from abroad a few years earlier and was still in the process of popularization and improvement. The adhesion and skid resistance of marking lines, as well as their visibility at night and in rainy days, were basically ignored and unconcerned. With the current performance of coatings, to achieve the same luminous effect as in Germany, Chinese road marking professionals still had a long way to go.

After returning from this inspection trip to Germany, Wang Xinhong said her greatest gain was bringing back the dream of reflective road markings.


Only Time Tests the True Worth, Forging a Brand Through Ten Years of Persistent Efforts

In 2004, two-component road marking coatings were added to the national standard for road surface marking coatings. Learning this news made Wang Xinhong so excited that she couldn't sleep all night. She originally thought the promotion and popularization of new coatings would then go smoothly. However, inferior products falsely claiming to be new coatings sprang up like mushrooms in the market. Cut-throat competition and price wars led to the German brand coating represented by Sanwin being shelved due to high costs. Moreover, the so-called two-component coatings with low price and poor quality caused heavy losses and great disappointment to leaders and customers who had high hopes for new materials. Therefore, the long-awaited new coatings and new standards did not bring new vitality and impact to the road marking industry. After the upsurge, the market began to cool down.

Faced with this situation, the calls from Sanwin and a few other high-quality enterprises were too weak to reverse the market downturn. Watching the years of investment and hard work in promotion go to waste, Wang Xinhong felt extremely regretful. However, the more setbacks she encountered, the more courageous she became. Wang Xinhong decided to develop Sanwin-branded two-component coatings with more competitive cost performance, striving to be a "vanguard" in regulating and developing the industry.

"Social awareness needs to be raised gradually, and industry order needs to be standardized slowly, but I am an impatient person. When I see something that needs to be done, I have to do it. I will act as a pioneer to promote the development of the industry," said Wang Xinhong.

In the current sluggish market, Wang Xinhong once again showed her courage to face challenges head-on. In 2008, Wang Xinhong restructured the enterprise framework, hired R&D personnel at a high cost, personally led the core members of the technical team to study and inspect relevant institutions at home and abroad, and firmly embarked on the road of independent R&D of two-component road marking coatings. Although people from Northeast China are known for their bold and generous personality, Wang Xinhong was extremely meticulous and rigorous when it came to her products. Sanwin's technical department continuously tried various raw materials, adjusted formulas repeatedly, conducted thousands of road tests, and spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources. After several years of hard work, the Sanwin series of two-component road marking coatings finally stood out in the industry. This is a coating that has been developed to adapt to China's roads with heavy traffic, frequent cross-line driving, poor road conditions and severe pollution. It can stand the test of inspection in terms of durability and reflective performance.

Despite having high-quality products, it was still uncertain whether the market would accept them. Everyone in the industry knew that Sanwin's coatings were excellent, but very few people were interested in the durability and night reflectivity of road markings. As time went by, the company's internal morale began to waver. As the leader of the enterprise, Wang Xinhong encouraged her employees on the one hand, and on the other hand continued to concentrate resources and fully invest in promotion.

In 2011, Sanwin's two-component coatings were put into use at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with Wang Xinhong herself serving as the project manager. In 2014, Ningxia Lujia Testing Center conducted follow-up testing, and found that the retroreflective coefficient on the highway was basically the same as the initial value after one year. The actual application effect of the coatings fed back from the airport and roads exceeded Wang Xinhong's expectations, which made her extremely delighted.

Wang Xinhong has persisted in promoting and researching two-component coatings for so many years. Those who know Sanwin say she is "holding a golden rice bowl and begging for food". Deep down, she also wants her painstakingly developed high-quality materials to be more widely used on roads and create more value for society. Durable reflective marking lines will greatly improve the safety of night driving, have a long service life, and save a lot of capital for taxpayers. Wang Xinhong believes that two-component road marking materials are particularly important for remote and economically underdeveloped areas, where funds are scarce, construction frequency is low, construction risks are high, and road conditions are unsatisfactory. Only by using high-quality two-component road marking coatings can one construction ensure years of protection, saving manpower and financial resources for the country and making travel safer for rural residents. "If these poor areas need them, I am willing to support them even if I don't make money or even lose some money," Wang Xinhong said.

With these thoughts in mind, Wang Xinhong became more determined than ever. Years of exposure to wind and sun at construction sites have transformed the gentle Teacher Wang into a valiant warrior like Hua Mulan going into battle with a spear. At this time, she has already seen a new mountain peak in the distance and deeply feels that a new era for China's road marking industry is coming.

Forge ahead against the tide without slackening, aspiring to reach the goal even if it seems unattainable. Having an ideal product does not mean being able to take big strides forward — ideals are full, but reality is always harsh. Sanwin's two-component coatings adhere to green and environmental protection, with nearly 100% solid content, and use high-quality imported raw materials throughout. The company provides equipment support, professional after-sales personnel, and even full-process follow-up training and guidance for customers. All these require huge investment both economically and energetically, resulting in seemingly high prices but actually meager profits. The super strong adhesion means that construction units cannot reapply markings every year, which is equivalent to cutting off their source of income. Standing out alone invites jealousy and attacks. The advent of Sanwin's coatings has triggered exclusion, various suppressions and numerous obstacles from traditional coating suppliers and engineering firms. Sanwin has been the consistent winner in years of two-component coating sample comparisons, but very few construction units purchase Sanwin's coatings. Even so, Wang Xinhong remains high-spirited and full of hope for the future of the industry. She firmly believes that all these difficulties are temporary and will surely improve as people's awareness of traffic safety increases and the industry becomes more standardized. In 2018, she purchased imported retroreflective testers and organized a small team to conduct quality follow-up visits to construction sites across the country, hoping to show more peers the excellent performance of Sanwin's coatings after one, two and three years of use.

Wang Xinhong said: "Facts speak louder than words. Our Sanwin Company will use the model projects we have built with our own hands to prove to society and the industry that high-quality, durable and high-brightness two-component road marking coatings are the future trend of road marking development. I know this process will be arduous and long, and Sanwin is willing to persist and wait. The road ahead is long and winding, but we will keep searching high and low. All Sanwin employees will never abandon or give up, pursuing our ideals with all our hearts and putting them into practice with all our actions."

Innovation with three pillars, persistent pursuit to build a brand. In 2000, Sanwin became a professional agent of Graco road marking machines from the United States. In 2003, Sanwin modified American Graco equipment to be compatible with two-component road marking construction. Since the birth of China's first modified two-component equipment, Wang Xinhong has been walking on the road of innovation and has never stopped. The design plan for the colored pavement construction at OCT (Overseas Chinese Town) was grooving, so Wang Xinhong led her team to develop a grooving machine within one day and one night. In 2005, leaders of the airfield operations department of Shenzhen Airport put forward a research topic requiring runway lines and taxiway lines to be completed in one pass, and Wang Xinhong led her team to complete the modification in three months. One generation plants the trees so that the next can enjoy the shade. Should the construction firms and two-component coating manufacturers who benefit from two-component construction thank Wang Xinhong, the first person to "eat the crab"? Do Chinese airport construction personnel know that it was a delicate woman who solved their construction problems? In fact, Wang Xinhong knows very well that developing equipment is a money-burning endeavor, and she is well aware that her successes may be quickly copied. But she also understands better that "to do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools". Someone has to step forward in the face of difficulties. Since she chose to promote new products, she has embarked on an irreversible path. There are always more solutions than difficulties — don't be afraid, just do it. That's what Wang Xinhong said.
   However, having high-quality coatings and equipment is not enough without a good construction team to build quality projects. Therefore, Wang Xinhong believes that nurturing the industry is imperative. Through years of sample comparisons and assisting customers with construction, Sanwin's technical team has accumulated quite mature construction experience. Thus, from 2011 to 2019, over nearly a decade, Wang Xinhong spared no expense to organize public welfare on-site demonstrations and technical exchange training sessions multiple times. In Wang Xinhong's words, this is "repaying the kindness when one's wings are full". Sanwin has come a long way and it hasn't been easy, so it's necessary to be grateful and repay the support and love from peers. In this way, Wang Xinhong's perseverance, dedication, and selfless spirit of giving back to the industry have won more and more respect from peers. Sanwin's good reputation has spread far and wide in the industry. A number of responsible construction firms that value quality and long-term development have expressed their willingness to support and learn from Sanwin. Teams trained by Sanwin have built numerous quality projects not only on roads and airports across China but also overseas. In 2018, Sanwin's coatings were applied at Maldives Airport and China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, once again demonstrating the strength of the Sanwin brand.

Wang Xinhong said she is extremely grateful to the positive and uplifting peers around her. It is their earnestness, hard work and dedication that are pushing the entire road marking industry step by step towards a bright spring.


  Charging Forward Like a Steed Without Letting Up, Striving for Shared Success with a Sense of Responsibility

Faith is as firm as a rock, and success does not have to be achieved in one's lifetime.. Striving and persisting in adversity, not shrinking back in the face of suppression, and not being troubled by the irregularities in the industry, Wang Xinhong approaches the world with a detached mindset, doing what others think is impossible. Like a path-breaking pioneer, she marches forward towards victory; like an indefatigable fighter, she runs hard towards the bright future in her heart. "Last year, a netizen in Guangzhou uploaded photos of the colored bicycle lane we constructed at OCT 12 years ago to the Internet, calling it the most beautiful bicycle lane in Shenzhen. Our marking lines are still bright and vivid after more than a decade of wind and rain, and still receive recognition from society. We are very satisfied, and this is the motivation for our perseverance," said Wang Xinhong.

"Doing solid work and being a low-key person" is Wang Xinhong's personality trait. As the founder, her unassuming and pragmatic style has shaped the cultural genes of Sanwin Traffic, making it a responsible enterprise that quietly safeguards the travel safety of citizens. However, in the face of vicious low-price competition in the industry, Wang Xinhong stands out firmly against it. Lowering prices means lowering quality, and product quality must never be taken lightly. She advocates that road marking is different from other industries and cannot be simply commercialized or capitalized. The entire industry should be a united whole, focusing on innovation, improving quality, and setting standards. For the sake of people's travel safety and lives, acceptance inspection should not be the end — long-term accountability for projects and thorough spot checks and supervision must be implemented. As qualified road marking professionals, we should build each marking line with excellence and achieve success with each customer we cooperate with. Making good marking lines, making reflective marking lines, is saving lives — this is a meritorious cause. That's what Wang Xinhong said.

Striding forward in the new era with vigor and vitality, showing sincere feelings with a sense of mission. What one keeps in mind will eventually come to fruition. After the 2018 3·15 Gala exposed the profit-driven and short-sighted behaviors of some enterprises in the industry, it triggered reflection among many peers, and the standardized development of the industry has made considerable progress. Wang Xinhong said she once again saw the future and hope. At the end of 2017, her company was honored to become a standing director unit of the China Communications and Transportation Association, and she herself was named an expert committee member of the association. It is said that craftsmanship should be recognized and rewarded. Finally, in February 2019, the "Craftsmanship" program on CCTV's Old Story Channel broadcast a documentary titled "Road Marking Professionals" about Wang Xinhong and her Sanwin team's journey of craftsmanship. However, Wang Xinhong used half of the documentary's time to introduce the road marking industry that she has devoted half her life and all her youth to. Here, we really want to thank Wang Xinhong on behalf of all road marking professionals — thank this woman who has dedicated nearly half her life, approaching her fifties, for using all her perseverance to quietly influence this industry.

Enterprises should take responsibility when the industry has needs. Talking about future plans, Wang Xinhong said: First, we must increase publicity efforts, because even good wine fears being hidden in a deep alley. The first thing many customers say when they meet me is: Why did you come to me only now? To prevent more customers from paying the price for their wrong choices, Sanwin needs to make more peers understand our products and let more customers experience them. At the same time, we have established an overseas market department to further explore the international market. Sanwin people have the confidence and strength to light up the nights of the world. Second, we plan to establish the first public welfare training base in China's road marking industry. She said that although she does not dare to be overconfident, having focused on one thing for 20 years, she can indeed leverage her advantages as a graduate of education major. She will combine the large amount of construction data accumulated through personal engineering practice on roads and airports over the years with engineering practice videos, striving to train more responsible and versatile construction personnel for the industry, support the building of branded construction teams, and do her best to contribute to promoting the healthy, standardized and regular development of the road marking industry. As the saying goes, "Giving someone a rose leaves fragrance on your hand". Wang Xinhong's Sanwin team is willing to work with all road marking peers to help each other, benefit each other, share and win together for the future of the industry.

In her 2019 New Year speech, Wang Xinhong said —

Thank you to the 2018 3·15 Gala, which brought a spring breeze of policy overnight. Thank you to CCTV's "Craftsmanship" program for vindicating us, making Sanwin people more convinced that we are on the right path.

This year, we continue to uphold the enterprise tenet of honesty and trustworthiness, being kind to others, acting with a conscience, and benefiting the general public. We remain committed to the original aspiration of making marking lines durably reflective, determined to produce high-quality coatings, use high-quality glass beads, adopt advanced marking equipment, and strictly grasp construction quality. We do not seek to be the largest, but only to be the best.

This year, we continue to adhere to our industry norms and moral bottom line, cherishing our brand as we cherish our own eyes. "Word of mouth is the 'mouth' in the character 'pin' (brand) of a brand" — this is the unwavering awareness of Sanwin people. Even if we become the target of public criticism, we will have no regrets. We will fight against all unfair practices and persist until we see the light of day after the clouds disperse.

Over the years, we have been running hard on the road, vowing to be dream chasers in the road marking industry. Over the years, I have continuously had two dreams: one is to pray that the glass beads will not fall off, and the other is to dream that my coatings have become mobile phones, held in people's hands.

Once you enter the Sanwin family, you must become a conscientious road marking professional. Sanwin is determined to strive for making marking lines luminous across China and even the world. I will place two banners on the shoulders of every Sanwin employee: one is responsibility, to safeguard life safety; the other is mission, to lead the healthy development of the industry. No matter the storms and challenges, we will unite as one with positive and like-minded peers, and advance the great cause of durable reflective marking lines step by step.

  Justice prevails, so Sanwin will prevail.

Yes, we also firmly believe that justice prevails, so Sanwin will prevail.

Craftsmanship chases dreams to build a brand, and mission fulfillment shows sincere feelings. Rather than saying that Sanwin Traffic wins with products, quality and service, it is better to say that it wins with brand, perseverance and feelings. We have reason to believe that under Wang Xinhong's leadership, Sanwin Traffic will continue to stay true to its original aspiration, keep pursuing dreams, persist unremittingly, and continue to interpret the craftsman spirit and the love for people through practice. We also have reason to believe that the future of Sanwin Traffic and even the entire road marking industry will be as vast as the stars and sea. She and a group of positive peers around her will surely make China's and even the world's marking lines luminous, safeguard traffic safety, and ensure that everyone returns home safely.

 

 


Sanwin Exclusive Interview

Craftsmanship Chasing Dreams to Build a Brand, Mission-Bound as a Road Marking Professional

——An Interview with Wang Xinhong, Chairman of Shenzhen Sanwin Traffic Equipment Co., Ltd.

 

There is such an entrepreneur who, bathed in the spring breeze of reform and forging ahead in a new era, refused to be ordinary and embarked on her entrepreneurial journey from scratch with hard work. In an overlooked industry, she pressed forward with unwavering dedication, building a distinctive enterprise and living an extraordinary life. Her emergence is like a rose among thorns, blooming fully in the sunshine of the new era.

There is such a "gentle woman", weighing less than 45 kilograms, yet shouldering the heavy burden of entrepreneurship. She treats her enterprise as her life's work, building a brand with the craftsman spirit and promoting products with a conscience. She stays true to her original aspiration, adheres to the bottom line of quality, pursues innovation, insists on quality-first and service-oriented principles; she is committed to leading the development of China's road marking industry and safeguarding traffic safety.

There is such a dream chaser who, from her youthful years to her forties, has spent two decades of her youth interpreting what it means to "ride the wind of dreams and live up to one's prime". With her practical actions, she has demonstrated the beauty of forging ahead against the tide, the power of perseverance, and the breadth of responsibility. She is Wang Xinhong, Chairman of Shenzhen Sanwin Traffic Equipment Co., Ltd.


Living Up to Youth with Dreams as Steeds, Forging Ahead Through Trials and Tribulations to Start a Business

From a beautiful and simple small county to Shenzhen, a luxurious and avant-garde special economic zone, she is truly a golden phoenix flying out of the black soil. Wang Xinhong's hometown is Lindian County, Heilongjiang Province. In 1991, she was admitted to a Normal University with excellent grades and became a glorious middle school politics teacher after graduation, fulfilling her dream.

To stimulate students' interest in learning and effectively implement moral education into their daily behaviors, she rejected the traditional three-stage teaching method and adopted an informative and vivid teaching style with extensive quotations. She did not require students to memorize by rote but asked them to answer questions based on their own understanding. She combined students' family performance scores with their school grades as the final subject scores. Such an ingenious approach to politics teaching was extremely popular among students, and even female students imitated her dressing style. Every time there was a school celebration, when Teacher Wang, who taught 10 classes across 3 grades, stepped onto the stage, there would be a burst of cheers from the audience. However, a teacher popular with students is not necessarily a good teacher in the eyes of leaders. In that era, people firmly believed that scores, rankings, and promotion rates were the only criteria for evaluating a good teacher. When her passion and ideal of imparting knowledge and solving doubts clashed with harsh reality, Wang Xinhong, who stubbornly stuck to her beliefs and refused to be constrained, made a decision that shocked all school leaders and teachers: to resign from her job.

In 1997, Wang Xinhong came to Beijing alone. After careful consideration, she decided to hide her bachelor's degree and take a job at a Korean restaurant opposite Beijing Yuyang Hotel, because there were more opportunities to learn Korean and practice oral English. Unexpectedly, it only took Wang Xinhong a few short months to go from greeting guests at the door, taking orders as a waitress, working at the bar to acting as the manager. One day, a regular Korean customer sincerely invited her repeatedly to take a few days off from her busy schedule to help him attend an important traffic facilities exhibition held in Beijing. Being warm-hearted and fond of challenges, she agreed without hesitation. Then she prepared overnight, reviewed English product manuals, communicated earnestly with the Korean boss about product advantages using the Korean she had learned plus gestures, and studied the equipment principles. As a result, at this promotion event, Wang Xinhong sold 7 road marking machines in one go with her sincerity, enthusiasm, teacher's eloquence and extraordinary wisdom. This achievement shocked not only the Koreans but also insiders who knew the situation.

After her initial success, Wang Xinhong declined the high-paying job offer from the Koreans that followed and decided to register her own company to act as an agent for road marking machines. In 2000, Shenzhen Sanwin Traffic Equipment Co., Ltd. was officially established. Since then, Wang Xinhong has truly embarked on a tough entrepreneurial journey, a journey that she has persisted in for twenty years.

As the general agent of Korean road marking machines in China, Wang Xinhong occasionally visited and studied in Korean factories. She found disassembled British road marking machines in Korean factories, and back in China, she discovered that Chinese factories were researching Japanese and Korean road marking machines. She calculated that China's road marking industry, which had just shifted from manual brushing to mechanical construction, was more than 20 years behind Europe and America. This sight made Wang Xinhong, who has a strong sense of national honor, feel deeply uncomfortable. She secretly made up her mind to realize her life value through entrepreneurship and strive for the revitalization of China's road marking industry in the future.

Hard work hones wisdom, and perseverance prevails over trials. Starting a business is always full of hardships, and Wang Xinhong's entrepreneurial path is even more bumpy. When she first entered the industry, Wang Xinhong lacked funds, connections, experience and technical knowledge. But none of these could defeat the determined Wang Xinhong. She secured more credit support with her performance and credibility when short of funds, learned personally at the construction frontline when lacking experience, humbly consulted production and technical personnel when not understanding technology, and gradually accumulated connections from scratch.

Learning from overseas inspections to identify gaps, and making up her mind to contribute to the industry. In 2000, Wang Xinhong had the opportunity to contact a renowned German enterprise producing a new type of road marking coating, namely two-component road marking coating. Later, the challenge-loving Wang Xinhong outperformed three other distributors in fierce competition and became the general agent of this German coating in China. During a business trip to Germany for a meeting, Wang Xinhong's car was speeding on the highway. As dusk fell, she was surprised to find that the seemingly ordinary roads during the day became extremely exciting to drive on at night. It turned out that ahead of the flickering car lights, bright marking lines guided the traffic like ribbons of light. While marveling at this, she fell into deep thought — if marking lines could be made luminous, how many traffic accidents could be reduced and how many lives could be saved. However, the reality in China at that time was that the formula of traditional hot-melt road marking coatings had only been imported from abroad a few years earlier and was still in the process of popularization and improvement. The adhesion and skid resistance of marking lines, as well as their visibility at night and in rainy days, were basically ignored and unconcerned. With the current performance of coatings, to achieve the same luminous effect as in Germany, Chinese road marking professionals still had a long way to go.

After returning from this inspection trip to Germany, Wang Xinhong said her greatest gain was bringing back the dream of reflective road markings.


Only Time Tests the True Worth, Forging a Brand Through Ten Years of Persistent Efforts

In 2004, two-component road marking coatings were added to the national standard for road surface marking coatings. Learning this news made Wang Xinhong so excited that she couldn't sleep all night. She originally thought the promotion and popularization of new coatings would then go smoothly. However, inferior products falsely claiming to be new coatings sprang up like mushrooms in the market. Cut-throat competition and price wars led to the German brand coating represented by Sanwin being shelved due to high costs. Moreover, the so-called two-component coatings with low price and poor quality caused heavy losses and great disappointment to leaders and customers who had high hopes for new materials. Therefore, the long-awaited new coatings and new standards did not bring new vitality and impact to the road marking industry. After the upsurge, the market began to cool down.

Faced with this situation, the calls from Sanwin and a few other high-quality enterprises were too weak to reverse the market downturn. Watching the years of investment and hard work in promotion go to waste, Wang Xinhong felt extremely regretful. However, the more setbacks she encountered, the more courageous she became. Wang Xinhong decided to develop Sanwin-branded two-component coatings with more competitive cost performance, striving to be a "vanguard" in regulating and developing the industry.

"Social awareness needs to be raised gradually, and industry order needs to be standardized slowly, but I am an impatient person. When I see something that needs to be done, I have to do it. I will act as a pioneer to promote the development of the industry," said Wang Xinhong.

In the current sluggish market, Wang Xinhong once again showed her courage to face challenges head-on. In 2008, Wang Xinhong restructured the enterprise framework, hired R&D personnel at a high cost, personally led the core members of the technical team to study and inspect relevant institutions at home and abroad, and firmly embarked on the road of independent R&D of two-component road marking coatings. Although people from Northeast China are known for their bold and generous personality, Wang Xinhong was extremely meticulous and rigorous when it came to her products. Sanwin's technical department continuously tried various raw materials, adjusted formulas repeatedly, conducted thousands of road tests, and spent a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources. After several years of hard work, the Sanwin series of two-component road marking coatings finally stood out in the industry. This is a coating that has been developed to adapt to China's roads with heavy traffic, frequent cross-line driving, poor road conditions and severe pollution. It can stand the test of inspection in terms of durability and reflective performance.

Despite having high-quality products, it was still uncertain whether the market would accept them. Everyone in the industry knew that Sanwin's coatings were excellent, but very few people were interested in the durability and night reflectivity of road markings. As time went by, the company's internal morale began to waver. As the leader of the enterprise, Wang Xinhong encouraged her employees on the one hand, and on the other hand continued to concentrate resources and fully invest in promotion.

In 2011, Sanwin's two-component coatings were put into use at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, with Wang Xinhong herself serving as the project manager. In 2014, Ningxia Lujia Testing Center conducted follow-up testing, and found that the retroreflective coefficient on the highway was basically the same as the initial value after one year. The actual application effect of the coatings fed back from the airport and roads exceeded Wang Xinhong's expectations, which made her extremely delighted.

Wang Xinhong has persisted in promoting and researching two-component coatings for so many years. Those who know Sanwin say she is "holding a golden rice bowl and begging for food". Deep down, she also wants her painstakingly developed high-quality materials to be more widely used on roads and create more value for society. Durable reflective marking lines will greatly improve the safety of night driving, have a long service life, and save a lot of capital for taxpayers. Wang Xinhong believes that two-component road marking materials are particularly important for remote and economically underdeveloped areas, where funds are scarce, construction frequency is low, construction risks are high, and road conditions are unsatisfactory. Only by using high-quality two-component road marking coatings can one construction ensure years of protection, saving manpower and financial resources for the country and making travel safer for rural residents. "If these poor areas need them, I am willing to support them even if I don't make money or even lose some money," Wang Xinhong said.

With these thoughts in mind, Wang Xinhong became more determined than ever. Years of exposure to wind and sun at construction sites have transformed the gentle Teacher Wang into a valiant warrior like Hua Mulan going into battle with a spear. At this time, she has already seen a new mountain peak in the distance and deeply feels that a new era for China's road marking industry is coming.

Forge ahead against the tide without slackening, aspiring to reach the goal even if it seems unattainable. Having an ideal product does not mean being able to take big strides forward — ideals are full, but reality is always harsh. Sanwin's two-component coatings adhere to green and environmental protection, with nearly 100% solid content, and use high-quality imported raw materials throughout. The company provides equipment support, professional after-sales personnel, and even full-process follow-up training and guidance for customers. All these require huge investment both economically and energetically, resulting in seemingly high prices but actually meager profits. The super strong adhesion means that construction units cannot reapply markings every year, which is equivalent to cutting off their source of income. Standing out alone invites jealousy and attacks. The advent of Sanwin's coatings has triggered exclusion, various suppressions and numerous obstacles from traditional coating suppliers and engineering firms. Sanwin has been the consistent winner in years of two-component coating sample comparisons, but very few construction units purchase Sanwin's coatings. Even so, Wang Xinhong remains high-spirited and full of hope for the future of the industry. She firmly believes that all these difficulties are temporary and will surely improve as people's awareness of traffic safety increases and the industry becomes more standardized. In 2018, she purchased imported retroreflective testers and organized a small team to conduct quality follow-up visits to construction sites across the country, hoping to show more peers the excellent performance of Sanwin's coatings after one, two and three years of use.

Wang Xinhong said: "Facts speak louder than words. Our Sanwin Company will use the model projects we have built with our own hands to prove to society and the industry that high-quality, durable and high-brightness two-component road marking coatings are the future trend of road marking development. I know this process will be arduous and long, and Sanwin is willing to persist and wait. The road ahead is long and winding, but we will keep searching high and low. All Sanwin employees will never abandon or give up, pursuing our ideals with all our hearts and putting them into practice with all our actions."

Innovation with three pillars, persistent pursuit to build a brand. In 2000, Sanwin became a professional agent of Graco road marking machines from the United States. In 2003, Sanwin modified American Graco equipment to be compatible with two-component road marking construction. Since the birth of China's first modified two-component equipment, Wang Xinhong has been walking on the road of innovation and has never stopped. The design plan for the colored pavement construction at OCT (Overseas Chinese Town) was grooving, so Wang Xinhong led her team to develop a grooving machine within one day and one night. In 2005, leaders of the airfield operations department of Shenzhen Airport put forward a research topic requiring runway lines and taxiway lines to be completed in one pass, and Wang Xinhong led her team to complete the modification in three months. One generation plants the trees so that the next can enjoy the shade. Should the construction firms and two-component coating manufacturers who benefit from two-component construction thank Wang Xinhong, the first person to "eat the crab"? Do Chinese airport construction personnel know that it was a delicate woman who solved their construction problems? In fact, Wang Xinhong knows very well that developing equipment is a money-burning endeavor, and she is well aware that her successes may be quickly copied. But she also understands better that "to do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools". Someone has to step forward in the face of difficulties. Since she chose to promote new products, she has embarked on an irreversible path. There are always more solutions than difficulties — don't be afraid, just do it. That's what Wang Xinhong said.
   However, having high-quality coatings and equipment is not enough without a good construction team to build quality projects. Therefore, Wang Xinhong believes that nurturing the industry is imperative. Through years of sample comparisons and assisting customers with construction, Sanwin's technical team has accumulated quite mature construction experience. Thus, from 2011 to 2019, over nearly a decade, Wang Xinhong spared no expense to organize public welfare on-site demonstrations and technical exchange training sessions multiple times. In Wang Xinhong's words, this is "repaying the kindness when one's wings are full". Sanwin has come a long way and it hasn't been easy, so it's necessary to be grateful and repay the support and love from peers. In this way, Wang Xinhong's perseverance, dedication, and selfless spirit of giving back to the industry have won more and more respect from peers. Sanwin's good reputation has spread far and wide in the industry. A number of responsible construction firms that value quality and long-term development have expressed their willingness to support and learn from Sanwin. Teams trained by Sanwin have built numerous quality projects not only on roads and airports across China but also overseas. In 2018, Sanwin's coatings were applied at Maldives Airport and China-Maldives Friendship Bridge, once again demonstrating the strength of the Sanwin brand.

Wang Xinhong said she is extremely grateful to the positive and uplifting peers around her. It is their earnestness, hard work and dedication that are pushing the entire road marking industry step by step towards a bright spring.


  Charging Forward Like a Steed Without Letting Up, Striving for Shared Success with a Sense of Responsibility

Faith is as firm as a rock, and success does not have to be achieved in one's lifetime.. Striving and persisting in adversity, not shrinking back in the face of suppression, and not being troubled by the irregularities in the industry, Wang Xinhong approaches the world with a detached mindset, doing what others think is impossible. Like a path-breaking pioneer, she marches forward towards victory; like an indefatigable fighter, she runs hard towards the bright future in her heart. "Last year, a netizen in Guangzhou uploaded photos of the colored bicycle lane we constructed at OCT 12 years ago to the Internet, calling it the most beautiful bicycle lane in Shenzhen. Our marking lines are still bright and vivid after more than a decade of wind and rain, and still receive recognition from society. We are very satisfied, and this is the motivation for our perseverance," said Wang Xinhong.

"Doing solid work and being a low-key person" is Wang Xinhong's personality trait. As the founder, her unassuming and pragmatic style has shaped the cultural genes of Sanwin Traffic, making it a responsible enterprise that quietly safeguards the travel safety of citizens. However, in the face of vicious low-price competition in the industry, Wang Xinhong stands out firmly against it. Lowering prices means lowering quality, and product quality must never be taken lightly. She advocates that road marking is different from other industries and cannot be simply commercialized or capitalized. The entire industry should be a united whole, focusing on innovation, improving quality, and setting standards. For the sake of people's travel safety and lives, acceptance inspection should not be the end — long-term accountability for projects and thorough spot checks and supervision must be implemented. As qualified road marking professionals, we should build each marking line with excellence and achieve success with each customer we cooperate with. Making good marking lines, making reflective marking lines, is saving lives — this is a meritorious cause. That's what Wang Xinhong said.

Striding forward in the new era with vigor and vitality, showing sincere feelings with a sense of mission. What one keeps in mind will eventually come to fruition. After the 2018 3·15 Gala exposed the profit-driven and short-sighted behaviors of some enterprises in the industry, it triggered reflection among many peers, and the standardized development of the industry has made considerable progress. Wang Xinhong said she once again saw the future and hope. At the end of 2017, her company was honored to become a standing director unit of the China Communications and Transportation Association, and she herself was named an expert committee member of the association. It is said that craftsmanship should be recognized and rewarded. Finally, in February 2019, the "Craftsmanship" program on CCTV's Old Story Channel broadcast a documentary titled "Road Marking Professionals" about Wang Xinhong and her Sanwin team's journey of craftsmanship. However, Wang Xinhong used half of the documentary's time to introduce the road marking industry that she has devoted half her life and all her youth to. Here, we really want to thank Wang Xinhong on behalf of all road marking professionals — thank this woman who has dedicated nearly half her life, approaching her fifties, for using all her perseverance to quietly influence this industry.

Enterprises should take responsibility when the industry has needs. Talking about future plans, Wang Xinhong said: First, we must increase publicity efforts, because even good wine fears being hidden in a deep alley. The first thing many customers say when they meet me is: Why did you come to me only now? To prevent more customers from paying the price for their wrong choices, Sanwin needs to make more peers understand our products and let more customers experience them. At the same time, we have established an overseas market department to further explore the international market. Sanwin people have the confidence and strength to light up the nights of the world. Second, we plan to establish the first public welfare training base in China's road marking industry. She said that although she does not dare to be overconfident, having focused on one thing for 20 years, she can indeed leverage her advantages as a graduate of education major. She will combine the large amount of construction data accumulated through personal engineering practice on roads and airports over the years with engineering practice videos, striving to train more responsible and versatile construction personnel for the industry, support the building of branded construction teams, and do her best to contribute to promoting the healthy, standardized and regular development of the road marking industry. As the saying goes, "Giving someone a rose leaves fragrance on your hand". Wang Xinhong's Sanwin team is willing to work with all road marking peers to help each other, benefit each other, share and win together for the future of the industry.

In her 2019 New Year speech, Wang Xinhong said —

Thank you to the 2018 3·15 Gala, which brought a spring breeze of policy overnight. Thank you to CCTV's "Craftsmanship" program for vindicating us, making Sanwin people more convinced that we are on the right path.

This year, we continue to uphold the enterprise tenet of honesty and trustworthiness, being kind to others, acting with a conscience, and benefiting the general public. We remain committed to the original aspiration of making marking lines durably reflective, determined to produce high-quality coatings, use high-quality glass beads, adopt advanced marking equipment, and strictly grasp construction quality. We do not seek to be the largest, but only to be the best.

This year, we continue to adhere to our industry norms and moral bottom line, cherishing our brand as we cherish our own eyes. "Word of mouth is the 'mouth' in the character 'pin' (brand) of a brand" — this is the unwavering awareness of Sanwin people. Even if we become the target of public criticism, we will have no regrets. We will fight against all unfair practices and persist until we see the light of day after the clouds disperse.

Over the years, we have been running hard on the road, vowing to be dream chasers in the road marking industry. Over the years, I have continuously had two dreams: one is to pray that the glass beads will not fall off, and the other is to dream that my coatings have become mobile phones, held in people's hands.

Once you enter the Sanwin family, you must become a conscientious road marking professional. Sanwin is determined to strive for making marking lines luminous across China and even the world. I will place two banners on the shoulders of every Sanwin employee: one is responsibility, to safeguard life safety; the other is mission, to lead the healthy development of the industry. No matter the storms and challenges, we will unite as one with positive and like-minded peers, and advance the great cause of durable reflective marking lines step by step.

  Justice prevails, so Sanwin will prevail.

Yes, we also firmly believe that justice prevails, so Sanwin will prevail.

Craftsmanship chases dreams to build a brand, and mission fulfillment shows sincere feelings. Rather than saying that Sanwin Traffic wins with products, quality and service, it is better to say that it wins with brand, perseverance and feelings. We have reason to believe that under Wang Xinhong's leadership, Sanwin Traffic will continue to stay true to its original aspiration, keep pursuing dreams, persist unremittingly, and continue to interpret the craftsman spirit and the love for people through practice. We also have reason to believe that the future of Sanwin Traffic and even the entire road marking industry will be as vast as the stars and sea. She and a group of positive peers around her will surely make China's and even the world's marking lines luminous, safeguard traffic safety, and ensure that everyone returns home safely.

 

 


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