"The Capital of China's Knives and Scissors" Yangjiang Hardware Tool & Shear Industry Three Jumps

With regard to the history of Yangjiang Hardware and Knives and Scraps, it is well known in the hardware industry. Yangjiang hardware and scissors have experienced three leapes in more than two decades, because Yangjiang, known as the "capital of China's knives and scissors," largely represents the history and trend of the domestic knife and scissors industry.

The first leap: From 1990, from manual production to semi-mechanized production.

Before 1990, although Yangjiang hardware products were mainly export-oriented, the production scale was small and the product structure was single. Basically, only folding knives were produced. At the time, Yangjiang Farm Machinery Factory was inspired by the two foreign machines of the state-owned knife factory to produce its own grinders and polishers. The price was equivalent to only one-fifth of the foreign equipment, but the performance was not much worse than the foreign equipment. In this way, dozens of hardware companies throughout the city have changed from manual production to semi-mechanized production, and the entire industry has achieved its first revolutionary leap. Due to the small export volume at that time, the industry was not fiercely competitive, the export efficiency was at the highest point in the history of industry development, and with the application of machinery and equipment, the production and management backbones in the state-owned and collective enterprises were induced to jump or leave the factory.

The second leap: In 1997, product diversification, the rise of private enterprises.

By 1997, the group of people who changed jobs had finally opened up a world of their own. It also played a more reputable reputation for the Yangjiang hardware and scissors industry. At this time, the municipal party committee and the municipal government sent them a generous gift: encouraging the development of private enterprises and commending a group of private enterprises. This favorable policy enabled private enterprise owners to raise their heads and stimulate their entrepreneurial enthusiasm. Yangjiang Hardware & Knives and Scissors Industry thus ushered in its second leap. It is also around this year that Taiwan’s hardware and scissors companies have shifted capital and technology to Yangjiang, both due to the rising costs and the powerful challenges of their peers in Yangjiang. Since then, Yangjiang Hardware & Knives & Cuts Co., Ltd. has begun mass production of kitchen knives, Western knives, and tool pliers. Folding knives have become supporting actors. Small technological innovations have also come one after another, accelerating the rhythm. Since 1998, Yangjiang has successively included national brands such as the “Chinese Cutter Center”, “China Scissors Center”, “China Sword Center”, and “China Knife and Punch Machinery Manufacturing Center” into its arms. In addition, it was awarded the title of "China's Capital of Knives and Scissors", "China's Hardware Products (Cutting Tools) Export Base" and "China's Knives and Scissors Industry Base" by state authorities.

The third leap: In 2001, the production capacity was generally enhanced.

The Yangjiang hardware and knives and scissors industry made a third leap forward around 2001. The feature of this leap was the obvious increase in the number of factories, the general expansion of business scale, and the general increase in production capacity in the industry. The main force to promote this leap is that the state has liberalized the right to import and export private enterprises. By 2005, the number of private enterprises with this right in Yangjiang ranks among the top in Guangdong Province.

However, it is undeniable that in recent years, industry competition has begun to intensify, raw material prices, employee wages, and transportation costs have risen. The impact of international trade barriers on the industry and the weakness of the brand is also increasingly evident. All this has led to a sharp decline in the profits of the nationwide hardware knife and scissors industry. The Chairman of the Yangjiang Hardware and Shears Industry Association, Mai Qiao, said that together with the association's team, the government will pay great attention to the good opportunity of the development of the hardware knife and scissors industry and vigorously carry out work on resource integration, technical exchange, comprehensive innovation, and industry solidarity to guide the industry. Enterprises abandon the bad habits of single price competition, take a road than management, marketing, and quality, and consolidate and promote the initially formed industrial coordination and development situation as a mechanism to promote the truly stable entry into the age of industrial clusters.