WENZHOU AIHAO PEN TRADE (温州市爱好笔业有限公司) is a Chinese
multinational company
A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...
known for manufacturing stationery goods, specially
pen
PEN may refer to:
* (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI)
* PEN International, a worldwide association of writers
** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International
** PEN America, located ...
s.
History
AIHAO was created in 1995 by Zang Hanping.
Both AIHAO and Wenzhou Tianjiao Pen Industry originated from Longwan Changsheng Pen Factory, founded in 1986.
In 1998, AIHAO had a retail store in
Yiwu
Yiwu () is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jinhua, in central Zhejiang province, China. It is best known for hosting the Yiwu International Trade City, the world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities.
History
Y ...
, China's largest market for small products. AIHAO sold an estimate of
¥ 40 million in products at the commodity market.
In 2002, the local government developed the ¥ 600 million and 480,000
m2 industrial site in
Wenzhou
Wenzhou; Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in China's Zhejiang province. Wenzhou is located at the extreme southeast of Zhejiang, bordering Lishui, Zhejiang, Lishui to the west, Taizhou, Zheji ...
, known as China's Pen Capital. 45 companies from the sector, including AIHAO, relocated to the site. The company was selected by the Wenzhou Pen Manufacturers Association as a pilot for
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
for the segment and received government sponsorship. To modernize its factories, AIHAO invested in advanced foreign technology from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries. Companies involved in the construction of the manufacturing site included GF AgieCharmilles, Erowa AG, Fadal Machining Center, and
Mitutoyo. AIHAO was benefited with low tariffs due China's entrance in the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
in 2001. The workforce was initially local, but AIHAO suffered from work shortages due the low wages, and the locals were substituted by immigrants that are trained in local universities since 2007.
As the company grew, in 2008 AIHAO launched their own
R&D center for ¥ 90 million and in 2010 AIHAO launched China's largest
stainless steel
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
ball-point pen workshop for ¥ 30 million. AIHAO changed it's focus to the design of the pens and until 2013 had more than 200
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
s.
Products
In 2013, AIHAO fabricated nearly 400 varieties of pens, including
gel ink pens,
ball-point pens,
fountain pen
A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply Fountain pen ink, water-based ink, or special pigment ink—suitable for fountain pens—to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal r ...
s,
roller ball pens, carbon pens, highlighting pens,
marking pens,
fluorescent pens,
crayon
A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder (material), binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a ...
s and
felt-tip pens.
Most of AIHAO's products are for exportation, reaching more than 100 countries, and the company is respected internationally. In 2013, the company reached the production of 1.8 million pens a day. Their most famous product is the ball-point pen, which uses pen tips from Premec (Switzerland) and ink from Mikuni Corporation (Japan) and National Corporation (United States).
In 2014, AIHAO was world's largest producer of roller
ball pens.
Awards
AIHAO received many awards and titles over the years, including "China's Master of Pens" and "Famous Zeijiang Brand".
See also
*
List of multinational corporations
This is a complete list of multinational corporations, also known as multinational companies in worldwide or global enterprises.
These are corporate organizations that own or control production of goods or services in two or more countries other ...
*
List of pen types, brands and companies
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
{{reflist
Multinational companies headquartered in China
Chinese companies established in 1995
Companies based in Wenzhou
Manufacturing companies of China