Huangshi City Friction Material Raw Material Association | Voice of Friction Materials, Issue 3, 2016

Regarding the visit to the Wuhan exhibition hall

(Wang Jian, Wangping Company)

On May 27, Zhao Zhipeng from Duxin Company, Zhao Lihua from Qifa Company, and Wang Jian from Wangping Company went to Wuhan to understand the situation of the Wuhan exhibition hall, hotels, and other supporting facilities. The following report is made:

1. Wuhan International Exhibition Center.

The Wuhan Exhibition Center is located at 696 Jiefang Avenue, Hankou District, Wuhan. Due to its proximity to Xiehe and Tongji Hospitals, there is a large flow of people, and it is in the city center of Hankou District, where traffic is relatively congested. Due to the long construction time and average specifications, the overall area of the exhibition hall is not large. The specific situation is as follows:

(1) Exhibition Hall: The exhibition hall is divided into 5 floors, with floors 1-3 as exhibition halls, the 4th floor as meeting rooms, and the 5th floor as the Sunshine Hotel. According to on-site inspection, only the 1st floor exhibition hall meets our association's exhibition requirements. The total area of the 1st floor exhibition hall is 10,540 m2 (Central Hall + East Hall + West Hall), with a height limit of 5.5m and an area of 3,700 m2 for the Central Hall. The East and West Halls are symmetrical structures with a height limit of 13 meters, each hall being 2,000 m2. The remaining areas are mezzanine and connecting layers with a height limit of 3 meters. The area meets the exhibition hall requirements. However, all floors from 1 to 5 need to be accessed through the 1st floor, and the South Hall on the 1st floor is a talent market recruitment venue all year round, so the personnel are quite mixed. The cost is determined based on the schedule, with the current quote being 10 yuan/m2/day (half a day counts as a full day), which can be discounted to 9 yuan, but it depends on the month.

(2) Meeting Room: The meeting room is located on the 4th floor, suitable for 100 participants in the meeting, called Qingchuan Hall (classroom style), with a cost of 5,000 yuan/day (8 hours) and 2,800 yuan/half day (4 hours). The specific price needs to wait until the person in charge returns on May 31 to determine the discount.

(3) Banquet Hall: The dinner is located on the 5th floor of the exhibition hall. It is the lobby of the Sunshine Hotel, which can accommodate 70-80 tables, and with private rooms, it can accommodate about 100 tables. The cost needs to be negotiated with the hotel, and it is currently not finalized!

(4) Hotel: The Wuhan Exhibition Center has its own hotel, which is a 3-star standard, with a negotiated price of around 200. There is a New World Hotel 761 meters away from the exhibition center, which is a 5-star standard, with a negotiated price of over 700. Opposite the New World is the Yangtze River Hotel, which is a 4-star standard, with a negotiated price of over 400, and next to it is a Ramada Hotel, which is a 5-star standard, with the price not yet determined. These prices are negotiable, and currently, pricing cannot be finalized.

(5) Transportation: Due to being in the city center, the roads are relatively narrow, and the traffic flow is large. The total distance from the exhibition center to the New World Hotel is 1 km, taking about half an hour due to significant congestion. Personally, I recommend walking as it is faster.

2. Wuhan International Expo Center
The Wuhan New City International Expo Center is located at 619 Parrot Avenue, Hanyang District, Wuhan. The scale of the exhibition hall is relatively large, divided into Hall A (A0-A6) and Hall B (B0-B6), with smooth traffic due to its proximity to the third ring road, facilitating entry and exit.

(1) Exhibition Hall: The exhibition hall has 2 floors. The 1st floor is a parking area, and the 2nd floor is the exhibition hall. Each exhibition hall has the same area of 8,500 m2, and there is a connecting hall (e.g., B0-B1) between each hall, covering an area of 2,000 m2, totaling 10,500 m2.

Rental cost: In May, the unit price is 7.5 yuan/m2/day, and in June, the unit price is 7 yuan/m2/day. Charges start from the beginning of the setup, including ordinary lighting.
Booth cost: If the standard booth is arranged by the National Exhibition Center, the cost is 400 yuan/unit (including management fee). If a third party arranges it, an additional management fee of 50 yuan/unit is required for each (3*3). Special booths must be arranged by a third party, and a management fee of 10 yuan/m2 must be paid for each booth.
Carpet management fee: 2 yuan/m2 (can be selected by oneself)
Advertising release: 72 yuan/m2/exhibition period (advertising outside the leased area)

(2) Meeting Room: The second floor of the exhibition hall is the meeting room, with each hall (e.g., B6) having two meeting rooms (B6-1, B6-2). The charging standards are as follows: B6-1 has 120 m2, costing 6,000 yuan/day, and B6-2 has 160 m2, costing 8,000 yuan/day. Each hall is the same.

(3) Banquet Hall: The nearest hotel to the exhibition hall is the Intercontinental Hotel (between B6 and A6), which is a 5-star standard. The 5th floor lobby covers an area of 6,000 m2, with a standard table costing 3,800 yuan/table/10 people. It can be adjusted to 3,500 yuan. The specifications are very high, and currently, no banquet hall that can accommodate 1,000 people (including within hotels) has been found nearby.

(4) Hotel: The hotel 5 km away from the International Expo Center (with star rating) is the Shimao Hilton Hotel, which is a 5-star standard and has not yet opened, scheduled to open in August this year. The hotel 7.8 km away is the Qingchuan Holiday Inn (4-star standard), with a negotiated price of 400-500, which will be confirmed when finalized.

(5) Transportation: The traffic is relatively smooth, but there is construction for the subway in the direction of the hotel, requiring a detour.

Suggestions on product pricing and sales scope for the branch association

(Zhu Chunping, Duxin Company)

In order to unify thoughts and actions, standardize the business work of the branch association, achieve unified management, unified procurement, and unified sales, and stabilize our footing in market competition to maximize our interests.

1. Unified management. Although we are a voluntarily joined social organization, our thoughts within the association must be unified to protect our maximum interests, and we must not damage each other's corporate reputation or engage in harmful behaviors that hurt others while benefiting ourselves, effectively reversing the passive situation of mutual destruction in the past and handing over benefits.

2. Unified procurement. Each season, we will centrally procure raw materials once, with each company listing the names, quantities, and qualities of the materials needed for centralized procurement. The advantages of centralized procurement are obvious: first, the volume is large, and the purchase price naturally decreases, benefiting all of us; second, the product quality of each company can be consistent, allowing users to recognize the quality of our products and enhancing the credibility of our product quality.

3. Unified sales. Whether self-produced or procured, each company should quickly list the first, second, and third quality and prices (no inferior products) of their products to the branch association, which will negotiate and decide on a unified sales price. Each company must sell according to the price determined by the branch association, with a discount not lower than 2% and no upper limit. For example: Company A sells antimony sulfide at a price of 48,000 yuan/ton for 60% grade, while Company B lowers it to 45,000 yuan/ton; the difference is compensated by the company that lowered the price to the company that was undercut.

4. The branch will sign a breach of contract sales price agreement with each enterprise, and each enterprise will pay the association a penalty deposit of 100,000 yuan (including acceptance). The contract will be executed with the signature and seal of the legal representative of the member unit and will be fully refunded without interest upon the dissolution or termination of the enterprise. If the enterprise encounters economic difficulties, it can issue a loan note to the association, and borrowing is allowed only with consent, with a maximum loan of 80,000 yuan.

Product sales will be developed by each enterprise independently for new users and maintaining old users, and the association will not interfere. Each enterprise will decide on sales and services independently and will inform each other about users with outstanding payments to prevent us from being passive in sales.

Each company will determine a product divided into three levels and new products that exceed the scope specified by the branch, and the association will not obstruct or intervene.

How to effectively analyze lessons learned and share experiences.

(Wangping Company, Shidai Family)

We need to summarize the experiences and lessons learned from the work of our friction materials raw materials branch and other enterprises in the industry. First, we must identify our own reasons, find shortcomings in quality control and sales work, and continuously strengthen learning in future work. Enhance communication and understanding among enterprises in the branch to accurately handle and absorb the experiences and lessons of each enterprise. Taking this opportunity, I would like to share my experiences; please take the essence and discard the dross.

1. For old and fixed customers, maintain regular contact, and when time and conditions permit, send small gifts or invite customers to meals to stabilize customer relationships.

2. While having old customers, continuously obtain more customer information from various media.

3. To achieve good performance, strengthen business learning, broaden horizons, enrich knowledge, and adopt diverse forms to combine business learning with skill exchange.

4. Conduct a small summary weekly and a major summary monthly to identify any work mistakes and correct them in a timely manner to avoid repeating them.

5. Before meeting with customers, understand their status and needs as much as possible, and prepare well to avoid losing the customer.

6. Do not conceal or deceive customers; this will not create loyal customers. In some matters, you and the customer should be aligned.

7. Continuously strengthen learning in business, read more books, search for relevant information online, communicate with peers, and learn better methods from them.

8. Maintain the same work attitude towards all customers, but do not be overly subservient; give customers a good impression to establish a better image for the company.

9. When customers encounter problems, do not ignore them; make every effort to help them solve the issues. First be a person, then do business, so that customers can trust our work capabilities, which will help us complete tasks better.

Continuously learn and improve oneself during work; learning has no end, and asking questions is not shameful. Being eager to learn makes us the best teachers. There are no shortcuts to success; instead of scheming on how to take shortcuts or avoid difficulties, it is better to gradually improve our shortcomings and ultimately achieve perfection.