Tins’ Chemical and low-end manufacturers

When KP Tin first ran his factory in Hong Kong, he produced only plastic films but no more resin products. The cost of opening and operating the factory mainly came from his savings. Although he had the support from raw material vendors and banks, he relied mainly on his own finance. In 1962, Tins' Chemical Industrial Co Ltd (the former company of which was Thian’s Plastic Factory, referred to as Tins’) erected an industrial building at Lai Chi Kok Road, Cheung Sha Wan and rented it to the processing factories that purchased Tins’ films. Warehouses for plastics were on the lower floors while workshops for material preparation and silk printing were on the upper floors. With all the supporting facilities combined transport and storage costs for low-end manufacturers were reduced, and thus facilitating the development of low-end industries as well as their competition against their Taiwan counterparts.
Hong Kong Government’s industrial and commercial representatives promoted for Tins’ overseas. At the same time, Tins’ ran a showroom at Bonham Strand East, displaying the products and contacts of low-end manufacturers. On a cheap price, Tins’ provided middle-man services to help the processing factories promote their businesses. Prior to the set-up of the Tins’ plant, local plastic processing factories imported films from Japan and Taiwan. The plastics produced locally by the Tins’ benefited the local plastic processing industry. The films KP Tin produced in Hong Kong had been greatly improved from the ones made in Indonesia. Tins’ films were slightly better than the Taiwan products and slightly poorer than the Japanese ones. Local manufacturers were not demanding over plastics (except for gas-filled dolls). What really mattered was the processing procedures themselves.

Interviewee
Company Tins Chemical Corporation Ltd.
Date
Subject Industry
Duration 10m6s
Language Cantonese
Material Type
Collection
Source Hong Kong Memory Project Oral History Interview
Repository Hong Kong Memory Project
Note to Copyright Copyright owned by Hong Kong Memory Project
Accession No. LKF-PLS IND-SEG-001
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