From the get-go after passing through its security gates, PW sees that things are done differently at the Leo Paper Group (Heshan). From the golf carts used to ferry visitors between its various production buildings and the cafe, which doubles as a reception hall, to the three chefs serving the management-level dining area (and 30 others working the main cafeteria), the vast complex is a self-contained mini-township. It even has its own clinic, ambulance and fire brigade. "Leo is not known just for being the biggest employer in Heshan; we are equally famous for our community service and non-profit-related activities for our staff and those living in the surrounding areas," explains group co-sales director Kelly Fok.
At the risk of sounding Orwellian, Leo truly believes that its greatest asset is its staff, and the management philosophy is always to do right by them. "We continuously upgrade their skills through various training programs, not just job-related ones but also seminars on general life skills and personal development. We want them to be happy, productive workers who take great pride in their work and in their lives," Fok says. Leo's 106-acre Astros Greenfield Garden, for example, will eventually contain 13 buildings, mainly dormitories and worker facilities/entertainment center, plus football fields and basketball courts. Another 100 acres have recently been acquired to build more facilities.
Our stop at the vast showroom—where some 17 product categories are exhibited and which would have done Santa and his elves proud—attests to Leo's seemingly unassailable repute and branding in children's products and complex paper-related items. Fok says, "If that's what we have achieved in the marketplace, that's great. What's more important to us is that we are instrumental in helping to create the awareness, profile and image of the Hong Kong/China printing industry as a quality-conscious, service-oriented and innovative entity. That would go a long way in ensuring the industry's leadership and longevity." Looking at one of the shelves, PW is struck by a recent project using very intricate and extensive flocking process, as well as by several 600-lpi lenticular samples in four different formats (flip, 3-D, morphing and animation).
PW won't even go into details on Leo's machinery line-up or the number of people manning the various divisions except to do a quick summary: five CtP systems; more than 100 Macintoshes; three color-management rooms; three high-end scanners—two drum and one flatbed; two Iris Proofer and one Epson Stylus Pro; six wet-proof presses; 49 presses; five inline case-binding machines; 18 lamination machines, 75% of them water-based; three dormitories; and two waste-water treatment facilities. For Fok, a strong proponent of the digital workflow, it would be unthinkable not to adopt and capitalize on the advantages of CtP. "With the technology, you have no dot loss and you get cleaner printing plates with more quality impressions per plate, you obtain better registration with less manpower, and you use less raw materials. But that's not to say it is without problems. On and off, we'll experience file output issues, such as PostScript errors, misplaced text, missing images or fonts, etc. It's fair to say that, while CtP isn't perfect, it's so much better than the analog process."
Leo's Heshan facility continues to grow as more phases of development get underway. "On the business front, our 2004 plan is to install a factory-wide ERP system that will enable us to provide accurate and real-time information to clients anytime, anywhere. In turn, this will enable better control of the whole production floor as well as improve the cycle time. The ultimate goal is always the same: to serve our clients better," Fok says. "For example, to meet increasing demand for complex foil and acetate printing, we brought in a $3-million 7-color Komori Lithrone 40, which enables quality special printing on such materials. Our manual production capacity has also been expanded to meet increasing demand for even more handwork products. With new products continuously being conceptualized or developed, and secondary processes added, the complexity level of each product has gone up significantly. At Leo, we aim to grow in tandem with the market and the customers."
While touring its inspection/QA division, where perfectly manufactured items are torn apart or cut into tatters, Fok says, "Quality control is of prime importance because it ultimately saves costs and time. We have a three-tier testing procedure in which QC checks are carried out at the preproduction, in-production and post-production stages. At preproduction, our technical quality assurance inspectors test all incoming materials, such as paper and ink, and approve them for the next process. We want to catch any irregularities, defects or substandard deliveries at the earliest possible moment. At the in-production stage, we check every process on the production floor and randomly select pieces to go through the 'destruction' process to test their durability."
In the warehouse, rolls of paper are stacked ceiling-high and the representation is wide-ranging, from Scandinavian and American to Japanese and, of course, Chinese. Fok says, "We keep roughly 60,000 tons in here and we use on average 10,000 tons per month, so there's enough surplus to meet any sudden increase in demand. To a certain degree, this excess stock reduces the impact of the current price gains of Chinese grades."
At the production scheduling room, PW watches in amazement as we come face-to-face with a wall-to-wall electronic board that seems to have been taken from the airport arrival or departure hall. "It's the same technology and we utilize the same principle to record the arrival and departure of each project on the different production floors. This way, we know almost immediately where we are in terms of making the delivery, in which area we may miss the target deadline and where to close up the gap. It's great for monitoring the 800-plus projects being manufactured at any given time." For PW, that electronic board reminds us to hurry and catch the last ferry back to Tsimshatsui—a comfortable, hassle-free 2.5-hour journey along the Xijiang River, which we highly recommend to those planning to visit Leo's Heshan facilities in the near future.
