Tin Hing Sin, Sam

Migrating from Indonesia to Hong Kong. Tin Hing Sin (Sam Tin) was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1949. His father Tin Ka Ping put great emphasis on Chinese language education and so enrolled his children at Chinese schools. The Tins had many children. Most of Sam Tin’s childhood was spent in a large residence and he hardly had any contact with the outside. Tin Ka Ping communicated with his children in Hakka and discouraged them from speaking the Indonesian language. In 1959, the whole family moved to Hong Kong, and settled in Alhambra Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui at the beginning. Sam Tin and his siblings were enrolled in the adjacent missionary school, Lock Tao Primary School. The Tins often received their relatives from the mainland, who made the house cramped. To improve their living condition, the Tins had moved home four times, and eventually settled down at the residence at 16 Somerset Road, Kowloon Tong in 1965. The mansion was expanded to an area of 6,000 sq. ft. in the 1980s.

Learning Experiences in Hong Kong and the USA. Sam Tin started to learn Cantonese after enrolling at Lock Tao Primary School, and started to learn English only after entering secondary school. His father Tin Ka Ping regarded him as introvert and so lodged him at Lingnan Secondary School at Stubbs Road. Lingnan Secondary School adopted Chinese as the medium of instruction and English was not emphasized there. Having completed Form 3 at Lingnan, Sam Tin went to Tai Tung Middle School in Kowloon Tong to study Form 4. Tai Tung’s medium of instruction was Chinese, too. Upon graduation from Form 5, he enrolled in Junior Division, Baptist College, as arranged by his parents, who, encouraged by Sam Tin’s English teacher in 1969, agreed to have their three children study abroad at younger ages. Sam Tin’s younger brother and sister respectively went to Switzerland and Canada for secondary education, whereas Sam Tin studied at Ottawa Technical College in Canada. The next year, he went to Houston University in the USA.

Houston was a city of chemical industries, and Houston University was reputed for the profession Chemical Engineering. Tuition fees in Texas were rather low in those years. Only US$14 was charged for every credit unit. Brought up in a family running a business in chemical engineering and imperceptibly influenced by what he constantly saw and heard, Sam Tin majored Chemical Engineering at university. During so, his parents did not explicitly announce that he should inherit the family business, and such an idea never popped up in his mind either. Sam Tin’s foundations in the English language were weak as he first studied at schools that taught in Chinese. In his private home tuition, greater emphasis was put on Chinese. When studying in the USA, the biggest hurdle he found was the English environment. He returned to Hong Kong upon graduation in 1974.

Summer Internship at Chemical Factory: In his summer vacations in Form 4 and Form 5, Sam Tin underwent internship at the Tuen Mun factory of Tin’s Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. His first deployment was at the Allocation Department, where he learned to allocate PVC raw materials in the right proportions for production purposes. He was then transferred to the Technical Department, where he learned from the masters the principals of PVC and how to formulate the proportions of raw materials. While many of his brothers and sisters were still young, Sam Tin had quite many internship opportunities at the chemical factory, where local workers wrote the prescriptions and engineers who were hired from Japan and Britain on short contract terms passed on the skills, checked qualities and developed the prescriptions. The productions of resin films and plastic films were similar in a way that both were made on a rolling drum. When Tin’s switched to produce PVC films, its raw material supplier provided technical staff and the basic prescription. It then hired operators from Taiwan and Japan. After the charge hands and production officers from Hong Kong had familiarized themselves with the workflow, they were promoted to managing and training positions.

Returning to Hong Kong and Joining Tin’s after Completing Studies. After graduating from university, Sam Tin first planned to further his studies, but the idea that his father was getting old drove him to resolve to succeed his family business, and so he went back to Hong Kong in 1974, a time of rapid growth for Tin’s Chemical Industrial Co. Ltd. (Tin’s). It had a factory in Castle Peak and Ping Shan respectively in addition to offices and outlets located at Jervois Street, Tsim Sha Tsui and Ap Liu Street. His father was in a dire need for someone who could help manage his company. When Sam Tin joined Tin’s, there was a global slump. Tin’s was having insufficient orders and thus insufficient cash flow. Sam Tin was the one with the best academic qualifications in Tin’s, the department heads of which used to be promoted from a lower level, and were less educated. What’s more, the remote location of Tin’s factory made it difficult to attract local university graduates to join it.

Tin’s was heavily tinted with family characters. Shareholders were relatives to one another on the whole. Sam Tin humbled himself to get along with the elderly. He already held a management post similar to Assistant Manager when first joining the company. He rotated from department to department and learned from various department heads. In those years Tin’s had three major products, namely, PVC plasters, PVC pellets and transparent plastic chips. Pellets were used for the production of injection moulded products whereas plasters were for the production of packaging materials.

Restructuring of shareholders and distribution of factories in 1976. In 1976, Tin’s shareholders were reconstructed as some of them went on retirement. Some shareholders focused on pellets and chips while Tin Ka Ping and his son were fully in charge of the production of films and synthetic leathers. In the old days, plasters and synthetic leathers were respectively made in the Castle Peak factory (Thian’s Plastics) and the Pingshan factory (Tin’s Chemical). Since 1976, production lines were centralized in Pingshan and the Castle Peak factory was transformed into an industrial building for lease. Here’s a list of Tin’s properties: Tin’s Building No. 1 in Jervois Street, Building No. 2 in Kwun Tong, Building No. 3 Lai Chi Kok Road, Building No. 4 in Kwai Chung, Building No. 9 in Castle Peak (the whole block was sold by storey). Building No. 5 and 9 were self-built properties. Building No. 1 was purchased and used as Tin’s office.  

Modification of Tin’s PVC Films and Synthetic Leathers. When Tin Ka Ping ran his factory in Hong Kong, he bought used machines from Japan and reassembled them by himself to make them fit for use. When Sam Tin took charge of the factory, he felt that obsolete and outdated machines affected product quality. So, just when he joined Tin’s Chemical Co. Ltd.(Tin’s), he made tremendous efforts to improve the equipment and modernize production in order to improve workflow and product quality. PVC had been widely used since the 1950s without undergoing any revolutionary change or being replaced by any alternative. Tin’s strived to improve the performance of PVC films, e.g. develop fluorescent colour pigments, improve plaster’s stability and malleability and make materials more corrosion resistant, in order to facilitate manufacturers in enhancing their PVC-made products and reduce scrap materials at the same time. To modify PVC, the first job was deal with its formula followed by stabilizers, oil additives, paints and other raw materials. The quality of Tin’s synthetic leathers also kept improving in such areas as soft texture, simulation effect, durability, and adaptability to climate. The factory had also to follow the fashion by coming up with newly designed patterned fabrics such as the ones used for the advertisements put up on buses and MTR trains.

Applying Chemical Engineering Know-how. Sam Tin hardly had any chance to go on internships at a local chemical factory throughout his study in the USA, where overseas students, for the most part, worked part-time in restaurants or on campus. The university’s chemical engineering syllabus covered the fundamentals of such fields as chemical principles, applications of basic facilities and others, but rarely touched chemical processing. His professional knowledge had no direct applications in practicality but helped him better understand production workflow and chemical materials.

Technical Department of Tin’s Chemical: Tin’s had no research department but a development department, which dealt with market development, product design and production skill enhancement. In the early period, the Development Department hired skilled workers with chemical backgrounds and had them fill prescriptions and test new raw materials for customers. In the latter stage, given the rapid development of the trade, the Development Department faded out of the daily operations and designated staff to follow development projects. Chemical engineering professionals were hired from Taiwan and overseas. Local graduates of Chemical Engineering or Chemistry were also hired, of which the former were more in number.

Tin Ka Ping had focused on industrial building development since 1974, and had gradually handed over the factory operations to Sam Tin. Back in 1965, Tin’s already bought lots of land in Kwun Tong and Kwai Chung for developing industrial buildings and thus strengthening their financial status. The second generation had solid professional knowledge and helped Tin’s to survive in the new era by improving product quality. When first joining Tin’s, Sam Tin devoted himself in the technical area and had lesser participation in the managerial and financial areas. The second generation of Tin’s was faced with more new situations, e.g. lack of labour, new opportunities presented by the mainland and transformation of the family’s business. Sam Tin gradually took more consideration on the overall strategy of Tin’s and paid more attention to market trends, product design, etc.

Here is a comparison between the first and second generations: Tin Ka Ping, the founder, was an entrepreneur of great enterprise. He was bold in developing new businesses, e.g. switching to the PVC business and borrowing from banks for building factories. Sam Tin deemed himself a keeper of developed businesses faced with the need to enhance production technology, empower management and compete with new rivals. When he first joined Tin’s, Tin’s was still in the establishment stage. The Pingshan Factory then was only 60,000 sq. ft., and productions lines were expanded gradually. Since the 1970s, Sam Tin had kept visiting exhibitions held for the same trade in Germany and Japan with a view of acquiring advanced overseas technology. Since he took over, he had been introducing new equipment which relieved the dependence on personal experiences, and had been fostering production automation and systematization.

Tin’s started off in about the same period as its Taiwan counterparts. Wang Yung Ching started up South Asia in 1956/57, and produced low-quality PVC in the early period. The PVC industry in Taiwan gained government support and South Asia grew rapidly. Its products sold cheap and its Hong Kong agents had thrifty businesses. It posed great threat to Tin’s. Tin’s advantage lay in its close relationship with clienteles, suppliers and machinery vendors. Tin’s stuck to customer needs. Tin Ka Ping and Sam Tin kept contact with lower-end manufacturers and built strong friendships with them. When raw materials were short, Tin’s did not take the chance to raise prices so as to help its clients make ends meet. Tin’s had been in a long-term partnership with a German company. Even the German company had been sold many times, its comments on Tin’s had remained favourable. Japanese suppliers treated Tin’s with enthusiasm and was always willing to update Tin’s on quotations. Despite the slightly higher pricing of Tin’s products, clients’ supports remained unchanged, which left Tin’s competitors convinced.

Emphasizing human sympathy was a fine tradition of Tin’s, and was inherited by the second generation when they took over.  They did not neglect quality and customer relationship, but they needed to understand the layout of the market and clearly position Tin’s in the market. In the early period, films made by Tin’s had multi functions. Tin’s used to make low-class films used in toys, red packets, inflatables, etc. As competitions intensified, Tin’s produced high-class films used in stationery, plasters and advertising products in the 1990s. The technological requirements were lifted. In view of the fact that product diversification actually affected the professional standards, in the production of synthetic leathers, Tin’s focused on middle and high class handbags after doing intensive market research which dug into the trend and customer needs. In the 1990s, handbag leathers became its core products. Sam Tin often contacted fellows in the same trade from Japan and Europe with a view to keeping Tin’s products abreast of the international standard. Sam Tin lamented over the long period of time it took him to understand the field in deep, ‘It's not until the 1980s have I got a bit more clear-headed.’

Production lines moving to mainland. In the 1980s there occurred a shortage of labour. It was a time when Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry was still robust, and its development coincided with mainland’s economic reform. The chemical engineering industry was not a labour-intensive one. Chemical factories required heavy physical work and the temperatures were high. Tin’s Chemical Ltd. employed only 200 workers in total, and was not immediately affected by the labour shortage. However, the workers were skilled workers, and lots of time was needed to train them. Labour loss caused significant impacts on the company. The surge in land costs in Hong Kong drove Tin’s customers to set up factories in the mainland. For the sake of supplying them with plastics in their vicinity, not to mention the competition with the Taiwan counterparts, Tin’s decided to move to the mainland in 1990.  At first Tin’s was concerned with the business environment in the mainland and was cautious about the decision. It had considered setting up factories in other countries, and visits to Malaysia were made. Careful considerations were made when Tin’s chose its site in the mainland. Many visits had been paid to various cities in the Pearl River Delta. It finally resolved to set up its factory in Humen due to the easy transportations there. Mass productions began there in 1992.

Tin’s moved the machines from the Pingshan plant to Humen, which was completed in 1994. New machines were added to the Humen factory, which occupied 450,000 sq ft. Films and synthetic leathers had different markets. Tin’s took the professional approach and located the two major productions lines in different factories. The Humen factory was dedicated to the making of synthetic leathers. A factory was set up in Guangzhou in 1999. It specialized in making films. To Tin’s, the business environment in Humen was unregulated and government management was personal. As a result, it set up another factory in Guangzhou, where the system was more sound. The factory’s area was 1 million square feet. The Pingshan factory employed over 200 workers at its peak. The Dongguan and Guangzhou factories together employed over 600 workers at their peaks. After Tin’s had set up a factory in Guangzhou, productions in the mainland grew nearly 5 times as the Pingshan factory.

Transfer of the family enterprise. Sam Tin believed that running an enterprise needed entrepreneurship. This applied to both the first and second generation industrialists. The first generation industrialists were good at capturing opportunities and were full of adventure. But they were less educated and short of expertise, and thus were unable to keep up with new trends. They started from scratch, which required an entrepreneurial spirit that was different from that of the second generation. Sam Tin did not think he had fully inherited his father’s adventure and was thus unable to bring about breakthroughs for the family enterprise.

To him, the 1990s, the early period of setting up factories in the mainland, was a time that allowed greater room for entrepreneurship. Tin’s had few competitors and had superiority in technology, while the business environment was sound. As the market matured, the situation was no longer the same, and Tin’s had to face competitors who were not really well regulated. At first Tin’s only managed to maintain its businesses with caution, and soon realized that the market was beyond its reach. After a few years of struggles, Tin’s was transferred to another party. Its Guangzhou film factory was transferred to a German company in 2006, while its synthetic leather factory was transferred to a Foshan private enterprise in 2009, which marked Tin’s exit from the manufacturing field.

Background and Progress of Tin’s Production Lines Moving to Mainland(2).The Taiwan counterparts had a strong sense of survival and set up factories in mainland China at quite an early stage. If Tin’s had not followed suit, it might have lost the lead and put itself at an inferior position in the competition. Processing factories, which were labour intensive, were set up in the mainland first, followed by factories producing industrial raw materials. In the early period of China’s economic reform, the system in the mainland was poor, which drove many low-end manufacturers to set up factories in Southeast Asia or Africa. When the system in the mainland was gradually formalized, these low-end manufacturers returned to the mainland for productions. At the present, there were too many competitors, not to mention tightened government controls. If small factories had not undergone transformations on time, e.g. entering the national market as well, they would have found it hard to survive. As the small factories transformed themselves, Tin’s followed their steps closely, tapping into the unfamiliar national market and cooperating with mainland enterprises.

Tin’s Clienteles. The PVC industry was well-developed in Southeast Asia. Only a small part of Tin’s products were exported to the processing factories there. Tin’s focused on the Hong Kong market. Many of their products were tailor with portions specified by customers. Tin’s clienteles fell on various levels including trading companies, designers and processing companies. Tin’s sometimes contacted overseas customers directly, e.g. meeting with New York designers. Having grasped the designers’ needs, Tin’s produced the plastics for the low-end processing factories to finish the products. Tin’s had been in close contact with both raw material suppliers and customers.

Involvements in Plastics Industry Association. In the early period, Sam Tin was active in the Plastics Manufacturers Association. To Sam Tin, commercial associations in Hong Kong lacked professionalism. They were more socially and politically functional, and fellows from the same trade lacked interactions on the level of their own professions. The Federation of Hong Kong Industries and The Hong Kong Plastics Manufacturers Association were two such examples. In contrast, Hong Kong Management Association was more profession-focused. Meetings with a thesis were frequently held. Being a plastics factory, Tin’s was one of its kind in the field, and was a sole plastics manufacturer. Others manufacturers’ products were made with not just plastics, e.g. electronic parts in toys. In the plastics field, plastic manufacturing was not high tech. Powder-like raw materials were coloured and granulized before they were used for making a product by injection moulding. Common plastic granules included PE, PP, PS, PC and PET, and they were widely used for different purposes, e.g. PET was used for making coke bottles.

Personal Career in Retrospect. Retrospecting to his 35 years’ career, Sam Tin took the biggest success to be the inheritance of the very essence of Tin’s Chemical Co. Ltd. without having to deliberately working on it, and thus maintaining Tin’s brand and the sound relationship with competitors. Tin’s was the Shao Lin Temple of the trade, producing talented professionals who worked as managers or technicians, who set up plastic factories in the mainland or who traded plastics. Many enterprises in Southeast Asia took Tin’s successful operation mode for reference.