Re-Dai Precision Dedicated to Building

It's obvious that the management and CEO S.C. Yu at Re-Dai Precision Tools Co., Ltd. believe that the socket tool business need not be all steely-hard serious-everybody's business cards are printed with the catchword "Happy Torque Torque." Those who are pun-savvy would know right away that somebody spun the conversational phrase often used in trading companies, more often taken for granted in Taiwan than likely elsewhere, from "happy talk talk." On a less-than-obvious note, CEO Yu would like to, via the witty phrase, tell all those interested that his firm is dedicated to making "friendly" tools for professional applications.

"Friendly design is seen in all our 500 items," stresses Yu. One recent case is a patented design enabling slip-free sockets to easily loosen square-head bolts, hex nuts and the like whose heads are 85% stripped. "Usually, trying to undo such damaged fasteners is a major pain because slip-free sockets now available on the market do not grip the fasteners as tightly as ours," Yu touts. The firm's highly practical design is already patent protected in Germany and the United States.

A special forging methodology makes the company's tools user friendly. The company forges the housing structure of all of its sockets in one direction from one open end of the tools, compared with most of its industry peers forging the structure in head-on-head directions from both ends. "When you forge in one direction in this case, you get a precise concentric point in the socket. But when done the other way, luck rules in achieving a precise point," Yu says.

An imprecise point, Yu stresses, makes socket working on a fastener a very hard work and tend to damage tools and fastener as a result of having to use excessive force. "Damage is more likely when using the substandard socket connected to impact tools than when connected to manually operated ratchet wrenches. Plus working manually with imprecise sockets is generally unpleasant due to the loose contact of stock housing against fasteners," Yu adds.

The Re-Dai's top executive concedes that the special forging methodology is costly for its complicated process. "It's worth the trouble when you see a swarm of customers who lavish praise on our products," he says.

Perfectly Finished

The company's ratchet wrenches also feature smooth finish. Inside the ratchet mechanism is a forged gear, on which threaded holes are drilled synchronously. "Forged piece is more durable than pieces made of powder metallurgy technique and synchronous drillings increase precision of operation," he analyzes. The metal piece for capping on the mechanism to protect the gear is perfectly ground so that the surface of the mechanism looks and feels pleasantly smooth.

The company's magnetic series sockets and its lockable extension rods are edge tools for reaching dangerous and narrow places like a deep spot behind a heating car engine. "Sockets for spark plugs and sockets for utility-pole repairers are of magnetic type because magnetism eliminates the need for car technicians to reach their hands to hot spots and utility-pole repairs to reach their hands to distant spots at top of the poles to fix the sockets on fasteners," Yu says. By being firmly connected to magnetic sockets, lockable extension rods prevent the sockets at work from dropping, Yu adds.

Other friendly products include angled pipe wrench whose curved arms can be pierced through so that sockets can easily turn lengthy nuts. The company's products are friendly not only to users but also ecologically for their green packaging.

So far, the company has won 50 to 60 patents for unique designs. "None of the designs is merely cosmetic, but for practical, structural reasons concealed underneath, just like Mr. Yu's no-nonsense style," comments Candy Yu, a marketing manager at the company.

Yu started out his business in 1984 and has since been determined to make top-notch tools for professional users. In the fourth year, his company won German VPA approval, the most stringent European validation system. Since then, the company has continued to measure up to global standards-being ISO9001 and GS certified so far and designing products to DIN and ANSI standards.

Today, Re-Dai turns out 80,000 sockets sorted into six categories-hand tool, impact tool, auto-repairing tool, construction tool, stainless tool and insulation tool. Europe and the United States each absorb 30% of the company's exports, with Japan, Australia, Brazil, India, Russia and others buying the rest; while the tools are generally used by factory workers, tradesmen and garages.

For cost efficiency, the company has set up computerized warehouse management. "We would have faced bottleneck in cost management if we had not had started computerized warehousing management. We have over 500 socket wrenches in over 10,000 specifications to manage," Yu says. His company began computerization around eight years ago and now enters orders into its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system after receipt.

Before shipment, the tools are closely inspected by an array of pricy instruments, including a US$62,500 (US$1:NT$32) automatic system for measuring precision, and one for testing surface coarseness.