Through its technical expertise, Sunrise Pumps' reputation for being the best in precision mold tooling is cemented as customers benefit from defect-free products time and time again. Stanley Wang provides some insight into the importance of precision when creating products of distinction.

Stanley, please can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at Sunrise Pumps...

My name is Stanley Wang and I'm the Sales Director for Sunrise Pumps. I've been with Sunrise for a number of years now and have a lot of experience in a number of departments so that I know the company extensively. I joined the sales team in 2001 and have progressed, working in marketing as well as research and development before becoming the Director of Sales in 2010.

As Sales Director it is my responsibility to manage both the domestic and international sales plans. I work proactively with the sales team on sales projects, so that we can both implement and execute plans effectively in order to achieve targets.

What does Sunrise Pumps produce?

As you can tell from the company name, Sunrise Pumps, the company produces pumps. However, there is far more to it than that.

We've been working as a specialist in the production of lotion pumps and airless packaging since 1979 and in those four decades we have methodologically progressed and continued to develop, ensuring that we can augment the development our product range into the future.

As a company we are specialized in precision mold tooling and the pump engine that we designed can be a separate offering from the entire pump component. We work with many Chinese companies, providing the pump engine for them to use in their dispensing pump solutions. The dispensing pump design is our unparalleled expertise affording us the reputation for being the best in precision mold tooling.

Because of this expertise, our pump engine service is one in which one-on-one consultancy with local suppliers is required. We offer this and direct solutions for packaging suppliers. Since 2015 we have been targeting plastic injection companies and brands in China. In addition to providing a pump engine replacement consultancy, we also provide the entire facility as well as quality management updates. Now, as well as China, most ASEAN countries have this service available to them so that they can take advantage of our pump engine service.

Sunrise Pumps works closely with S-Pack. How does the relationship work?

It's a supportive partnership between the two companies. Most of the customers which approach Sunrise Pumps also require bottles, jars and other products that we do not produce, therefore we work with S-Pack who can provide this offering so that the customer can benefit from a total solution.

S-Pack has its own product development department which can make products which complement those of Sunrise Pumps.

How does Sunrise Pumps differentiate itself from other packaging companies?

In Taiwan and China, it is a very small minority of packaging companies that have a high precision tooling facility. Plus Sunrise Pumps has notable quality management setting the company further apart from common packaging companies.

For example, there is a particular customer who has been working with Sunrise Pumps for over ten years. Throughout the entire period of working together there has not been a single incident of a malfunctioning product. The company has ordered millions of our products and continues to do so because of the high level of functionality and quality of all the components that it orders.

We believe that because we focus on dispensing, it makes us a better supplier as our customers know that pump functionality is achieved.

What is the greatest challenge for management at Sunrise Pumps?

Trends and tastes across the industry have been changing ever more rapidly in recent times. A particularly noteable observation within the packaging industry has been that of individualization. Brands no longer have requirements for such large quantity batches: Their needs are now fulfilled through smaller MOQs and wider product variations.

There are also challenges due to our products being made entirely in Taiwan. International competition and trading treaties add to the complications and challenges of the business in order to maintain competitive prices.

As a manufacturer, we need to balance costs in order to fulfil the requirements of brands whilst ensuring that the members of our engineering team are motivated and encouraged to continue developing their potential with us. Qualified packaging engineers are becoming increasingly difficult to find, so one of the recent challenges for management has been to enhance the promotion system within the company, offering good working conditions and benefits to staff.

Is there a special focus that Sunrise Pumps is working towards?

Sunrise Pumps is always developing new products and one of the strategies that the company has been focusing on at the moment is airless. Airless packaging is not 100% airless and that is something which is important to enhance, rather than new structures or updated shape designs. We see this as the forthcoming future of airless: The focus being improving product shelf life, using less preservatives so that the packaging can be claimed as "green" in addition to the product.

Enhancing the airless state to achieve an almost 100% airless packaging is our current goal. At the moment we are conquering a technical issue related to this, but we are seeing developments which are bringing us ever closer to achieving our goal.

We also believe that consumers should not be spending money on packaging, but rather the actual product within. Green products are an important factor for this consideration.

How can customers and new clientele find out more about the company?

Webpackaging has provided us with the opportunity to really enhance our presence in the digital marketing space so that when people search online, the company and our products can be more easily found.

Visitors to MakeUp in New York and Cosmoprof Asia in Hong Kong this year can meet with us in person to find out more about us and our products. By talking to people at these events we get a great feel for future endeavours and development, plus it's always nice to put a name to a face! Meeting customers is important and we truly appreciate it when we are recommended.