“China has a long history and 40 years should be not a long time. I think these 40 years is just a warm-up for China and major achievements are ahead.” said Darbinyan Hrayr, an Armenian expert from Shanghai Kunjek, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Germany-based KUNJEK WERKZEUGE GmbH. As the R&D director of the subsidiary company, Darbinyan started working in Shanghai in 2001 and has witnessed the development of “Made in Shanghai” over these 17 years.

Darbinyan Hrayr receives an interview from Eastday.com

Developing with Shanghai society

Kunjek entered the Chinese mainland market in 2001 to set up its wholly-owned subsidiary in Shanghai and develop its business in China and the Far East.

“That time Shanghai has only one Jinmao Building, then against my eyes you see the other two -- the Financial Center and the Shanghai Tower rise up. You see the subway lines coming one to another, all these things appear against your eyes.” Speaking of the changes Shanghai has experienced in the last decades, Darbinyan used the word “rapidly” several times.“The Minhang [district] where I live, there was a bridge which is facing a large field and that field before was garden. Later the garden is removed. Every day every new action, every new project is going to happen. Now several high buildings are there, everyday you see the difference. Like I was buying a ticket to a long time movie and just think what will happen next?”

In Darbinyan’s eyes, it’s not just the city that is changing rapidly, but also the people who live here.“The city becomes more international and open. Chinese people has become easier to communicate. For example, before maybe someone would ask his friend to communicate, but now all the people are very open and friendly and ready to communicate. For example, now if he is a small kid and he’s very interested to ask me a question and check his English. This is very nice. That means also people have been changed and become much easier to communicate. I enjoy this communication.”

He compares Shanghai to a person who is becoming more fascinating after being more deeply understood.“My love with Shanghai started and it was going on and on all these years without any stop. I’m learning Chinese letters, which are just fascinating. What would be next, I’m still questioning.”

More opportunities brought by reform and opening up

This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up."Reform and opening up not only opens the door for China to the world, but also provides a better platform for Chinese companies to integrate into the world market." In recent years, with the continuous advancement of supply-side reforms, China's hardware industry has also undergone a profound transformation. The annual output value of the industry exceeds 1.5 trillion yuan, and the annual import and export volume amounts to 120 billion US dollars."It is precisely with the support of various government policies that China's hardware industry can make great progress. This development has also attracted more international counterparts to invest in China."

Benefiting from China's reform and opening up, Kunjek has also gained recognition in the international market while entering the Chinese market. In 2005, Kunjek ushered in a brilliant moment: forming an industrial alliance with a top hand tool brand in the world, adding more than 3,000 products in 6 categories. He introduced that the company’s products are now exported to the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia and other countries and regions. Without China's reform and opening up, all this would not have been possible.

Darbinyan is awarded the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award

Innovation injects new vitality

Today, Shanghai is making every effort to build the “four brands”. The development of the hardware and tools industry is a key part of “Made in Shanghai”, one of the four brands.

In terms of the innovation of “Made in Shanghai”, Darbinyan frankly expressed his concern. In his words,“in old days, there was interest to the world but there was no mean to satisfy that interest, that means there were no modern designs, no modern projects but there was very big willing to do it. Many years passed on, the situation changed in the direction that the companies become very powerful, they got the means to produce the products. But for the same time I notice some tendency of losing the interest against the new products. Because they got the markets and the chance to sell those products, now they are satisfied, they are not so interest in the new items.”

At present, it is the stage of upgrading China's hardware products. How to move from the low-end to the high-end is the primary issue facing the enterprise. In his opinion, Chinese companies now have advanced equipment and wide markets. They should conduct more cooperation with overseas companies and R&D institutions to transform to high quality and high technology. He suggested that Chinese companies should put more energy into the research of high-technology. He emphasized that after entering the Chinese market, he has put more time into the research and development of products. The company has set up an R&D center here. Thanks to the supportive environment of Shanghai, he can freely explore more areas.

In China, under Darbinyan’s leadership, the company has achieved more than 600 patents and ranks first among domestic peers. He was therefore awarded the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award in 2015.

Darbinyan encouraged more foreigners to come to Shanghai to look for opportunities.“I encourage the professional people and skilled people to invest and come to China to make Shanghai and China more beautiful and build their life in the way they like.”