Double Dynasty Aims to Equal World-leading Toolmakers

Frank Wang, president of toolmaker Double Dynasty Co., Ltd., has been pursuing an ambitious goal-turning out products comparable to those from world-leading suppliers like Bosch and B&D-since he opened business some 10 years ago.

"We have never moved production to mainland China and never engage in reckless underselling. In fact, our products are even pricier than those from some top-grade suppliers," Wang stresses.

Putting aside Wang's adamant attitude towards Taiwan independence, he says that the mainland Chinese have stolen several pages from Taiwanese manufacturers in various industries and are competing against Taiwanese suppliers by exploiting their low production costs.

Double Dynasty supplies over 10,000 models of hand tools, pneumatic tools, electric power tools, and hydraulic power tools. "We have won over 100 patents. Each year, we spend around US$2 million on R&D, patent applications and brand name promotion. So, we never copy things," Wang claims.

"Our products underline low noise, environmental protection and power conservation, the merits we have long pursed," Wang reports.

Among his company's patented products are an impact wrench, dubbed DD-2101-8; its Z-family cleaning sprayer, its HVLP-family spray guns; a spot drill; and an air compressor.

The DD-2101-8 wrench is noted for its quietness, working at only 88 dBA. "Usually, an impact wrench produces 105 to 115 dBA. Despite low noise, our tool is as powerful as the noisier tools," Wang says while demonstrating patented tools at his company's laboratory.

Grabbing a spray gun from a shelf in the lab, Wang crouched down immediately to reach the gun in a concealed part under the shelf. He turned rightward the lacquer container 90 degree so that the gun could reach the concealed strip without much difficulty.

In addition to special functionality, the company has applied composite materials to its impact tools to reduce weight. Engineering plastic is the most notable alternative to traditional metals. To make its products compliant with European toxic-free regulations, his company uses non-chromium electroplating material to replace the poisonous hexavalent chromium.

Its spot drill easily completes a neat hole on a 5-mm metal sheet in only few seconds. "It's all about the rotate speed and materials you use to make the cutter," Wang says. "Our drilling speed is 1,000-1,200 revolutions per minute and we use special alloy steel to make the drill bits," he boasts.

Due to its unique design, the Corner Grinder permits optimal work in hard to reach places in vehicles and in general mechanical work.

Rusted and striped screw joints can be easily cut off: cross rods and stabilizing bars, tie rod ends, supporting ball joints and exhaust system screw joints can be separated just as quickly as the hard to reach wheel arches or the bolt joints on many rear axle bushings.

Spinning Water Jets are the Secret

After the impressive demonstration, Wang was hasty to let his visitors know why the sprayer can clean the stained carpet so thoroughly. He turned off all the lamps in the laboratory and placed the sprayer under a high-density flashlight. When he turned on the sprayer, light beam clearly exposed the secret-spinning, powerful water jets. "Spinning jets of spray enable the removal of stains from all angles, which is much better than one-angle cleaning," Wang explains.

In no time after showing the sprayer, he retrieved a compressor to show what its merits are. He emphasized the compressor does not directly output spent air. "Instead, our machine lets out the air only after cleaning," Wang says. The compressor comes with one inlet and one outlet, which allow compressed air to drive tools through inlet pipe and exhausted air to be cleaned via filters. Wang put his hand over the outlet where filtered air is discharged. Few seconds later, his hand was greasy. "Usually, our rivals design only inlet pipe and directly let exhausted air out. The exhausted air usually contains dust and lubricant oil, which tend to pollute environment," he notes.

Behind these impressive products is the company's substantially strong research and development capability-an army of 25 R&D engineers and a fully equipped laboratory. Wang says his company has spent more than NT$10 million (US$303,000) on the laboratory, which is now equipped with various instruments including a tension testing machine, a salt-spray tester, life-span tester, precision instrument, torque tester, hardness analyzer, and insulation tester. "No one at home like me has ever spent so much money on building R&D capability. That's because I believe we cannot come up with our own products without R&D capability," Wang says.

The R&D team introduces over 100 new designs each month and spends around NT$40-50 million (US$1.2-1.5 million) on mold developments a year. "New products enable my company to grow at 20-25% each year," Wang reports.

In recent years, Wang has set up external R&D backup by winning permission to use laboratory at Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, Wang's own alma mater, from where he did his mechanical engineering degree.

Currently, the company produces its tools mostly for car repair and maintenance purposes and makes them available only at professional shops instead of hyper stores. According to Wang, it has signed up over 100 customers throughout the world and most of them are in Europe and the United States. "We are planning to expand into tools for industrial uses," he says.

In the West, Double Dynasty mostly shoots for OEM and ODM orders. Its "Double Dynasty" brand plus a green D-like logo is only promoted in emerging markets. "Promoting brand name globally is a hard job for Taiwanese toolmakers. But that is the only way that we have to go now since underselling has made OEM and ODM operations profitless," he comments.

Wang urges the government to set up a dedicated fund to help the island's traditional industries develop brand names globally. "Capital shortage has hamstrung the ability of domestic traditional manufacturers like my company in promoting brand names overseas," he says. "Warehouse is another crucial factor in deciding success or not of brand-name promotion because the storage facility impacts your shipment and service efficiency, especially in major markets,"

Although a traditional manufacturer, Wang has made his company's working environment as comfortable as possible to staff. The company's five-story headquarters in Keelung, northern Taiwan, has a bright, square and neat look, making it like a high-tech building. Most of all, the building is surrounded by a well-decorated green garden. The building's flat roof is also carpeted with manicured grass and ponds. "I'm very Europeanized because most of my customers are European buyers. So, I make my company's working environment consistent with European style to make them feel at home," Wang explains.

Wang says that his English ability and trading experience give him an edge over other domestic rivals. He started the company some 10 years ago to focus on trading in the beginning, giving him the chance to practice English. "No one in this sector in Taiwan knows as much about marketing, machinery and English as I do," he boasts.