I’m very honoured to receive this award,” says Ms Mavis Tang, Executive Director of Town Ray Holdings Limited (1692.HK), and winner of the Directors Of The Year Award 2022 in the ‘Listed Companies Categories’. “It is a testament to our endeavour to be the premier leading enterprise in the electrothermic household appliances industry by providing Best design, Best value, Best quality, Best communication and Best service to our customers and, ultimately, continuously improve people’s quality of life.”
Town Ray is an advanced product developer, industrial designer, manufacturer, and supplier for a broad range of mid-to-high-end electrothermic household appliances. Their products are grouped into two categories, namely garment care appliances, including steam generator irons, garment steamers and steam irons; and cooking appliances, including coffee machines, steam cooking appliances and other cooking appliances. With over 80 invention and utility patents, Town Ray offers an advanced one-stop solution from product design, engineering, research and development, quality assurance to manufacturing. Their products are exported to over 30 countries and regions with most of their customers being internationally renowned brands.
“Town Ray has, for a long time, had a strong presence in the electrothermic household appliances manufacturing industry. We pride ourselves on strict compliance with IEC and other international standards, and our extensive operational, managerial and technical expertise.” says Ms Tang. “We have a broad range of patented products well-designed by our highly experienced R&D team. Our products are specifically developed for our customers’ different requirements and preferences. Multiplied by our well-established relationship with reputable customers and suppliers, we stay as the leading market player that propels industrial technologies and know-how forward.”
A board that takes honesty, integrity and fairness seriously
The Standard Channel
Ms Tang underscores the importance of the board of directors in effectively running a business. “The decision-making role of our board has been amply demonstrated recently by a number of serious challenges, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown of cities in China, the lingering global supply chain disruption and the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has aggravated global inflation,” she explains. “With the leadership of the management, we have demonstrated a strong resilience and performed outstandingly in the first half of 2022.”
Insisting on honesty, integrity and fairness in all aspects of its business, and upholding a high standard of business ethics, Town Ray has developed a series of policies on anti-fraud and anti-bribery as an integral part of its corporate governance. For example, under the company’s whistleblower policy, employees may anonymously report any suspected or actual event of bribery and corruption to their supervisor or management of higher level.
Award-winning sustainability practices
“As one of the recognized electrothermic household appliances manufacturers in the industry, we believe that taking responsibility for the environment and society is the key to enhance the sustainability of the business and bring long-term value for both its shareholders and stakeholders,” Ms Tang emphasizes.
She points out that, in addition to an overall leadership and control of the Group’s performance and policies, Town Ray’s board also takes overall responsibilities for overseeing sustainability matters and their integration into the Group’s strategies. A Sustainability Committee is set up by the board to manage and monitor sustainability performance, targets, and implement improvement processes, while operation management teams initiate, drive and monitor the sustainability practices in their respective departments.
Ms Tang explains how Town Ray regularly follows the latest national and regional environmental protection laws and regulations to minimize the impact of their business on the environment. With the clear goal of achieving a 15% reduction of emission, hazardous and non-hazardous wastes, water and energy consumption per production unit by 2025 from the base year of 2020, the Group has formulated relevant rules for a sound and effective management of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission as well as discharge of domestic waste and sewage.
Ms Tang is pleased to reveal the Group’s ESG performance: “Our ongoing efforts to develop and deploy excellent total quality management earned us the Merit Award in Hong Kong Management Association’s 2021 Quality Award. Also, in 2022 we won the Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Award (ACES Awards) – “Industry Champion” by our first nomination this year, and became the first Hong Kong company to receive this prestigious award.”
Staying committed throughout the global crisis
Despite the pandemic outbreak in multiple cities in China that resulted in stringent lockdown and temporary suspension of economic activities from February to May 2022, the production in Town Ray’s factory in Huizhou continued to operate as usual to meet its delivery schedule. Furthermore, during the second quarter of 2022 when military hostilities between Russia and Ukraine escalated, leading to disruption in the supply of commodities, raw materials and energy, Town Ray was only minimally impacted by this unexpected geopolitical incident, as it managed to secure bulk orders and sufficient raw materials due to the Group’s excellent operational protocols and prompt communication with customers and suppliers.
Ms Tang stresses that the Group remains committed to product delivery in face of difficult situations that caused serious disruption to logistics and raw material supply. “It was achieved only through our plan-ahead strategies, rigorous pandemic management measures, as well as close and effective communication with local government, customers, and suppliers.”
Dedication to core values to achieve excellence
Ms Tang expresses every confidence in leading Town Ray to become the world’s leading advanced product developer and industrial designer as well as manufacturer and supplier, as the Group upholds five core values that set them apart and pave the way to achieving excellence: Best design with technical innovation and excellent accomplishment; Best value with superior technologies and appreciated experience; Best quality with premier management and tailored professions; Best communication with care and confidence; and Best service with commitment.
“We ever strictly adhere to these corporate values,” she concludes. “It is through sensible management direction and close employee relationship that we continue to strive for excellence and devote untiring effort into building a trustworthy brand in the business.”
