Speaking with Daniel Chen at Pin Mao, we learned that the secret to their steady success has been the ability to pull out the right solution for the right brand. By offering a staggeringly wide array of standard items, Pin Mao always seems to have the right configuration available for its customers, no matter what sort of personal care product they're launching.

Daniel, what do you do at Pin Mao?

I work at the company's primary location in Taiwan. I work closely with the production team and sales teams to make sure all our projects are well-organized. It’s very important to me to make sure all our customers are provided with excellent service. My role is to ensure every project goes according to plan. I make sure that each project is completed efficiently within the agreed-upon timeframe.

What exactly is Pin Mao all about as a company?

We focus on providing professional plastic packaging to a number of beauty and cosmetic companies. In 1989, Pin Mao started as a simple OEM company for brands in those sectors. Gradually we began to develop our own designs and to focus on creating innovative packaging. We felt we needed to create items that had not been seen previously to satisfy the rapidly growing market demand and to differentiate ourselves from other companies in our space.

What differentiates Pin Mao from other packaging providers?

In Pin Mao’s catalog, we have an incredibly wide range of standard products in numerous materials. The sheer number of moulds we own is far and away the largest collection in our region. Thus, we provide original innovative designs to companies looking for unique branding. We believe this is what makes Pin Mao the first choice for the international companies with which we work, and we make sure we always provide the most advanced packaging designs.

What sort of manufacturing do you do?

We provide OEM and ODM packaging production services. Our OEM lines are the bulk of our catalogue, where companies take standard products and then use our myriad decoration options to make their packaging unique. We've built an advanced facility to offer product development and design services, customized moulding, and tooling services to round out our offering. We're different from most mid-sized packaging factories, we have our own packaging assembly and decoration workshop, it makes it easier to provide one-stop service and prevent unnecessary transit or waste costs.

In 2016 we introduced several new PP tottle packaging designs, we updated our thick wall PET bottle designs, and incorporated new PETG bottle designs. We will continue to provide more options in 2017, and there will be two new product types announced in 2017.

Internationally, what markets does your company target?

Most of our customers are in Europe and North America, and we have successfully established a position in our domestic market with many Taiwanese companies. However, most of our Taiwanese business partners are either distributors or trading companies. For us, there’s no difference in quality, price, or lead time when we fulfil domestic orders or orders overseas.

Have you made headway with large firms over the last few years?

Yes, of course. Having started out with standard OEM lines, we have continued our relationships with large companies, some of whom have entrusted us with their ODM projects, including Estée Lauder, LVMH Group, L’Oréal, Disney, and many others.

What changes has your firm undergone over the last decade?

When we started, Pin Mao worked with Taiwanese trading companies, we provided OEM packaging manufacturing. In 1999, we established our own R&D team and started to create original packaging designs. We introduced ourselves to the global market, and went to several international professional exhibitions. We also invested in Suzhou Yuga in China, started our multi-national network, and worked with color cosmetic brands beyond skin care companies. For years, we had focused on catching up with international standards by improving our facilities. Pin Mao factories are ISO9001, SA8000, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified. By continuously updating our production equipment, we are now able to provide one-stop service for moulding, tooling, production, and packaging decoration.

How has integrating ODM into your offering worked out thus far?

Pretty well, it has opened up a lot of business for us, and will continue to do so in future. Based on our recent observations, the consumer market is changing rapidly and Pin Mao will certainly be a part of it. We can fulfill the current demand by providing more cost-effective and eco-friendly packaging solutions. We have a big project going on right now and we will introduce two new product lines in 2017. They're totally different from what we offer now (PET, PP, PE, PETG packaging), and we are confident that this will certainly be a positive change for all beauty and cosmetic companies by providing better packaging solution and service.

What is Pin Mao's greatest professional challenge, currently?

Due to Taiwan's population declining significantly in recent years, we are constantly facing the issue of a shortage of human resources. However, this was already foreseen, and we had a solution well-planned. We will soon upgrade all our facilities in order to drive full automation very shortly.

How is Pin Mao doing in the digital marketing space?

We’ve been working with Webpac team since 2012 when we started to use Webpackaging as our web marketing tool to put ourselves in the international market. In 2014, we decided to update our web site with Webpac as well. Everything has turned out quite well, we now have a user-friendly online catalog, an excellent web site, and a great digital marketing tool. We’ve gotten promoted regularly and enjoy a lot of positive visibility worldwide. For us, being a professional packaging supplier, Webpackaging is the right place to drive exposure and generate business. We plan to explore more possibilities with the Webpac team and on Webpackaging.