Halifax Fan in China

It’s 4 years since Halifax Fan established their factory in Shenzhen and the business has gone from strength-to-strength. The 2000 m2 factory is just over the border from Hong Kong and is under the control of Mr Li Yong, Manager for Chinese operations.  An additional unit has been opened adjacent to the main factory and finishing processes have been added, such as bead blasting and a paint shop.  All processes are audited to the relevant BSI standards.

Explaining the rationale behind the bold decision to expand into China, managing director Malcolm Staff explained: "There is a strong demand for high quality, high specification fans within the S E Asian market. Despite there being a strong fan manufacturing sector in China, for historical reasons the products do not offer the variation or design expertise that Halifax Fan brings to fan manufacturing. Most of the locally produced fans are to the same design and are even the same colour.”

Although the cost of raw materials is about the Chineese Engineersame for the Shenzhen and West Yorkshire factories, Chinese labour costs in China can be as low as one fifth of British labour costs, so manufacturing costs are greatly reduced by building the fans in China. That initially led to concern at Halifax’s home factory that jobs might be lost to China but having a base in China has actually led to more business for the Brighouse factory — particularly for the more sophisticated fans that cannot be made in Shenzhen.  Additionally, the substantial costs involved in transporting such enormously heavy equipment, effectively to the other side of the world, are slashed and delivery times are substantially reduced.

Over the past three years, the company’s Shenzhen factory has grown to more than 30 workers from five. Staff turnover has been low and this in a city where labour shortages are common and workers switch jobs frequently to get more pay, Halifax Fan expects revenues in excess of £7.5million this year, with about 20 percent of that coming from China. The Shenzhen factory is now capable of making about 80 percent of the types of fans that are produced at the Brighouse factory.  Last year, 60 percent of the products Halifax made in Shenzhen were for use in China, while the rest were exported to other S E Asian markets. Mr. Li said he expected 70 percent of the factory’s fans to go to China this year.

A great deal of time and effort has gone into getting the quality of the Chinese products to the same level as those from Brighouse.  Only by establishing modern quality practices has Halifax been able to achieve this.  Chinese management have spent time training in Halifax’s plant in Yorkshire and have implemented 5S lean manufacturing procedures and BSI standards in Shenzhen so that fans manufactured in China are to the same quality as those from the Brighouse factory.   


As Malcolm Staff put it "there can be no compromise on quality, nor is there is any need for it.  By implementing our UK standards in the Shenzhen plant and fastidiously maintaining them, our Chinese product is of the highest quality and this has been proven at our customer’s plants across the Far East. I spend a significant amount of time in China, maintaining contact with the factory but also visiting our customers and they are very happy with our quality and reliability and demonstrate this by continuing to do business with us.”  


Halifax has further responded to customer needs in the region by opening a new sales and service office in Bangkok. Regional Sales Manager Eng Wai Ong, previously based in Shanghai, will now be more conveniently located in Bangkok and able more quickly to offer fan consultancy services to their customer and potential customers across South East Asia. The Bangkok office will be strengthened by the addition of engineering support staff, for which Halifax is actively recruiting. Halifax has also recruited a replacement full-time Shanghai sales manager, Mr Simon Li, who will be focused on supporting and developing the customer base in this dynamic area of China.