Inside a Chinese Chrome Plating Facility

China Wheel runs four chrome-plating factories with an overall annual capacity of 945,000 units. In Taian (Shandong province) approximately 240 employees produce 240,000 units; in the Donghua chrome-plating factory 120 co-workers make 300,000 units; in Donghui 80 people make 105,000 units; and in Zengcheng 200 produce 300,000 wheels annually (all three locations can be found in Guangdong province).

Due to the fact that this simply not enough capacity, soon China Wheel will also outsource some of its chrome-plating needs to Oriental Uma (Zhong Shan) Automotives Décor Ltd. The reason behind the capacity bottleneck is the fact that almost all of China Wheel’s exports (90 per cent) are destined for North America, where chrome plated wheels are extremely popular. This company’s new chrome wheel factory was constructed last year costing approximately US$10 million and belongs to Peter and Philic Yau.

The brothers made their money through their Hong Kong jewel business, and are straightforward about the fact that prior to this venture they had not been in touch with the wheel business before. So with the funds available and believing in the demand for the product (without any specific contracts!) they decided to press forward with their investment.

Producing anything with a highly poisonous heavy metal like chrome is very sensitive for environmental reasons. However, anyone thinking that chroming wheels in China is simply a way of circumnavigating environmental concerns, would be wrong in this case.

Oriental Uma’s new factory, which will have a monthly capacity of 40,000 units, will exclusively use new equipment available on the world market. The Yau brothers, naturally, also consider the environmental requirements, and their business operates at a standard that is hardly inferior the European business. Fish can be seen swimming in the waste water that leaves the manufacturing process, a particularly sensitive indicator water quality. From the Yau brothers point of view, it doesn’t make any sense why one should try and cut corners on the environment as part of such a large investment – particularly since there are strict sanctions for those breaking environmental regulations. Nevertheless, Peter Yau concedes that European controls may be more strictly and more regularly controlled.