Li Cheng, the helm of Shining Sunway: From a self-employed cloth seller to a tech tycoon, his entrepreneurial life

Life is made up of countless choices. Many years ago, Li Cheng made two choices, which changed his life drastically. At the age of 21, Li Cheng made his first choice. He left the Wenzhou mountain area and moved to Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. He caught up with the trend of the traditional textile industry. In 2013, the Yongsheng New Material he created was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ( 03608.HK).

At the age of 42, Li Cheng made the second choice to get involved in the 3D Printing industry and established Shining 3D to seize market opportunities in China’s 3D industry, and was listed on the New Third Board on August 8, 2014 (830978). From the traditional industry to the emerging high-tech industry, Li Cheng caught up with the two waves of the times, and finally built a huge Yongsheng Group.

Shining 3D: Li Cheng 01. Journey of a Thousand Miles In 1983, 21-year-old Li Cheng saw a business opportunity in chemical fiber cloth. He and his brother and friends collected 4,000 yuan and left Wenzhou to look for opportunities. They first arrived at Keqiao, Shaoxing, and then rushed to Guali, Xiaoshan overnight, where they became self-employed in cloth trading. It is only 4,000 yuan, which makes it difficult to do big business. Li Cheng negotiated with the factory owner to buy fabrics on credit first, and make up the payment immediately after receiving the payment. In the environment of that era, it was basically impossible to do business on credit, but Li Cheng built up his personal credibility by virtue of several sincere cooperation, and allowed the factory owner to agree to credit. After purchasing the fabric from the local cloth factory, it is printed and dyed, and finally sold to five provinces including Henan, Hebei, Shandong and Yunnan. Li Cheng quickly started his business, and his sales in the first year reached 10 million yuan! In 1993, Li Cheng ended his 10-year self-employed career and created his first company: Xiaoshan Yongsheng Trading company.

“Yongsheng” is always prosperous, and it is not difficult to see Li Cheng’s ambitions from this name. Subsequently, Li Cheng established Yongsheng Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. in 1997 and Hangzhou Yongsheng Textile Co., Ltd. in 1999. From raw materials to processing to sales, Li Cheng built a complete textile industry chain in 6 years. On August 2, 2000, Li Cheng founded Hangzhou Xiaoshan Yongsheng Foreign Trade Co., Ltd. to further expand the industrial chain to foreign countries. Because of the import and export business, Li Cheng noticed that many developed countries moved many processing industries to developing countries due to rising labor costs. “The chemical fiber textile industry is a labor-intensive industry, first in the United Kingdom and the United States. Because of rising labor costs, these industries were first transferred to Japan in batches, and then to South Korea, Taiwan, and China.”

At that time, China’s chemical fiber textile industry was developing very rapidly, but Li Cheng saw the serious homogeneity competition in the industry and began to look for a suitable way out. “I want to do some differentiated high-end industries, that is, industries with lower labor costs and higher technological content.” On November 19, 2004, Li Cheng established Hangzhou Yongsheng Investment Co., Ltd., while getting involved in some small investments, while seeking A suitable entry point.

In the same year, under the introduction of a professor at Zhejiang University, Li Cheng experienced a three-dimensional camera, just like taking a picture, pressing the shutter, the photo is carved out of the crystal, three-dimensional and lifelike. Li Cheng was very excited. Although China’s 3D printing industry was still in its infancy at the time, he firmly believes that this industry will have a big market in the future. Li Cheng decided to invest in the 3D printing industry and established Shining 3D on December 3, 2004.

The appearance of the Xianlin 3D building 02. Seize the trend of the times and arrive first. Entering into the 3D printing industry in 2004 fully proves Li Cheng’s forward vision and the foresight of the times. Although 3D printing technology appeared in the world as early as the mid-1990s, China’s 3D printing has been in the research stage and there is almost no market application. “China’s first 3D printer was born in 2008.”

It was not until 2012 that Obama proposed to attach importance to the 3D printing industry in order to revive the US manufacturing industry, and the 3D printing industry gradually entered the field of vision of more people. In the second half of 2013, China also issued documents on 3D printing. With the support of the state, the 3D printing industry has set off a wave of development. Many entrepreneurs and large companies have set foot in the 3D printing industry, and the application scope of 3D printing has rapidly expanded. But at this time, Shining 3D has been deeply involved in the 3D printing industry for nearly 10 years, and was listed on the New Third Board on August 8, 2014, becoming China’s first 3D digital and 3D printing stock.

In 2016, Shining 3D’s operating income exceeded 310 million, ranking first in the industry. Li Cheng has no doubt about the development prospects of 3D printing. △3D printing case: private custom ring (jewelry and jewellery) “In 2016, the 3D printing industry in the United States had 35 billion yuan in sales, while China only had 3.5 to 4 billion yuan last year. The population gap between the two countries is very large. There is still a lot of consumption potential that has not yet been developed.” In the market environment where demand exceeds supply, large companies such as HP and Siemens have entered the 3D printing industry. These two points strongly support Li Cheng’s prediction of the broad market prospects of China’s 3D printing industry. . In addition, 3D printing also has unmatched advantages in traditional industries. “Traditional manufacturing uses subtraction, and a lot of leftovers are wasted. 3D printing uses digital modeling, and then piles up the materials layer by layer to print. This is an addition, which will not waste raw materials and will not pollute the environment. , It can also be customized. Unlike traditional manufacturing, only mass production can reduce costs.”

Because of the additive production characteristics of 3D printing, this industry is also known as additive manufacturing. At present, 3D printing technology has been widely used in industrial manufacturing, aerospace, biomedicine, consumer education and other fields, ushering in the spring of vigorous development. But before the advent of the tuyere, Shining 3D had been deeply involved in the industry for 13 years. In the next big game of 03.13, the 3D printing industry is very large, and it is difficult for a company to occupy the entire industry chain. In order to remain invincible in the competition, how to layout becomes the key. ”

The 3D printing industry can be divided into three parts:

The first is the production of 3D printing equipment. Different printing materials have different requirements for equipment;

The second is the production of 3D printing raw materials;

The third is service application. ”

△3D printing cute version “Hulk According to Li Cheng, the leading 3D printing industry in the United States has initially shown the development trend of this industry: first, the increase in demand for a large number of services and applications has led to an increase in the demand for printing materials, which requires more Many printing equipment. According to the development trajectory of the 3D printing industry in the United States, Li Cheng has formulated the development strategy of Shining 3D in a targeted manner: firstly focus on the R&D and production of 3D printer equipment, and at the same time pay attention to service applications. At present, Shining 3D has More than 600 employees, of which R&D technicians account for 40%, doctors and masters account for 30%, and 175 authorized patents have laid a solid foundation for improving production technology and better R&D and design of 3D printers. Not only that, in order to enable 3D printing Entering hundreds of millions of families, Shining 3D is still investing in research and development of desktop printers, “small equipment, small materials, families can even print food”. △Desktop 3D printer “A large printing device requires millions, but it may It is used once or twice a month, and most of the time is idle. “For this reason, Shining 3D began to deploy 3D printing service centers nationwide to serve surrounding enterprises.”

Enterprises can print online through the Internet. They can choose to scan and print without going to the service center, or they can choose to let the designer design and then print. “Currently, Shining 3D has 15 printing service centers across the country, and it is actively negotiating cooperation with the government and enterprises to open up more service centers and expand the scope of services. “If you want to develop the 3D printing industry, you need to cultivate talents. Starting from education to cultivate students’ exploratory and practical skills, the Ministry of Education has issued a policy to add intelligent manufacturing courses to school curricula. “Through the 3D printing innovation classroom and the 3D printing innovation physical examination center, combined with the 3D cloud platform, through online and offline, on-campus and off-campus education and influence, it is rapidly replicated and promoted nationwide, stimulating students’ interest in 3D printing products. , To link families with students, and then drive the public’s enthusiasm for the consumption of 3D printing products, forming a virtuous circle.

Shining 3D 3D cloud printing platform At present, Shining 3D has reached cooperation with 10,000 schools. According to Li Cheng, all schools in Hangzhou Xiaoshan area will also be covered by cooperation within 3 years. The growth in demand for application services will inevitably drive equipment sales. At the same time, equipment sales will also promote the demand for application services. Shining 3D has built a good ecological industry chain from the uppermost and lowermost reaches of the entire production chain. 04. The spirit of the older generation of entrepreneurs initially set foot in the 3D printing industry from the traditional textile industry, and Li Cheng has also gone through many detours. “There is a big difference in age between talents in traditional industries and high-tech industries. The average age of traditional industries is 35-40 years old. The average age of Shining 3D is less than 30 years old, and the income levels of the two are also poor. Many.” In the beginning, Li Cheng still followed the management experience of traditional enterprises, which led to “the employee’s income is not up to the level, and he does not agree with the company’s management model”, and a large number of talents are lost. After realizing the problem, Li Cheng began to visit a large number of high-tech companies, investigate and learn from experience, and adjust management strategies step by step. This has achieved Shining Sunway’s current status in the industry. “I am a person who can endure hardship.” Li Cheng, born in 1962, summed up lightly. In his opinion, “enduring hardship” should be the basic quality of an entrepreneur, not worthy of a big book. The day before the interview, he had just rushed back to Hangzhou from South Korea, and Li Cheng spent one-third of his time on business trips in a month. Every morning at 6 o’clock, regardless of cold or heat, get up on time, walk for nearly 50 minutes, thinking about some company affairs while walking, if he goes to the company, Li Cheng will work until more than 10 o’clock in the evening before going home. “My time is spent on three pieces, one on traditional chemical fiber textiles, one on Shining 3D, and the other on small investment and cooperative real estate projects.”

Although Li Cheng no longer cares about specific matters, he still has to wait for him to make big decisions. There are only three or four days spent in meetings every month. Li Cheng has only one hobby, which is golf. Basically, he will play golf once or twice a week, but when he is busy, he has no time to play golf. Despite this, Li Cheng still spares a lot of time to study: “I graduated from a junior college and didn’t read many books before. Later, I attended five or six presidential classes, finance classes, and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and kept learning from others. The company’s business model and culture will not be eliminated by the times.” In addition to innovation and learning ability, Li Cheng also included integrity, cooperation, and mutual benefit in the company’s culture and implemented it. “Entrepreneurship is not all smooth sailing, you must sink your heart.” Li Cheng has already built a blueprint for the future in his heart, and everything he has done now is just one step at a time, making the blueprint a reality.