Gree： Service is more important than quality.
On March 1st, Gree, the global air-conditioning giant, announced: From January 1st, 2011, anyone who buys Gree inverter air conditioners will be replaced free of charge within one year. As soon as the initiative was introduced, it received enthusiastic response from the industry. Midea’s "one-year replacement" comes with "cleaning service", and "10-year unconditional repair" continues to be effective; Galanz launched the service promise of "two-year replacement of inverter air conditioners". The industry predicts that the inverter air conditioner service war initiated by Gree will accelerate the inverter air conditioner to the consumer public. Frequency conversion is expected to surpass constant speed and become the most mainstream product of air conditioning in 2013.
However, in the face of the increasingly long service commitment of air-conditioning enterprises, some consumers are worried: does the longer service cycle of enterprises mean that consumers pay the price of product quality decline?
In this regard, Dong Mingzhu, president of Gree, made it clear that Gree’s promises of "changing the inverter air conditioner in one year" and "maintaining the fixed-speed air conditioner for six years" are measures that have been scientifically and strictly calculated, and are high value-added services based on ensuring product quality. She said that commitment is not as long as possible, and rationality is the best.
Gree air-conditioning requires itself to the highest standards in the world from parts procurement, production management to product inspection and delivery, and every link embodies the industrial spirit of "quality first". The standard connecting pipe length of air conditioners produced by most enterprises is 3 meters, while that of Gree air conditioners is 3.5 meters. For air conditioners with the same power, the average weight of Gree products exceeds that of other enterprises by more than 10%-15%. The reason is that Gree insists on using the best materials and never cuts corners and opportunistic.
As a leading air-conditioning enterprise in the world, Gree took the lead in "one-year replacement of frequency conversion", not for the service itself, but to prove that its frequency conversion technology has reached maturity, and finally promote the frequency conversion to "fly into the homes of ordinary people". Its confidence comes from breakthroughs in many core technologies such as G10 low-frequency control technology, high-efficiency centrifugal water chillers and new ultra-efficient fixed-speed compressors.
During the "two sessions" this year, Dong Mingzhu, a deputy to the National People’s Congress, wrote in the proposal, "If China’s manufacturing industry can’t master the core technology and independently develop technology, it will become a pure processing factory. For Gree, it is precisely because we have our own technology and don’t rely on others that our brand has been upgraded, and our profit tax increased by 45% in the year of the financial crisis. It can be seen that independent innovation is crucial to the development of China. "
In recent years, Gree Electric’s operating income and profit and tax indicators continue to grow at a high speed, which is regarded as the inevitable result of enterprises mastering core competitiveness. It is hard to imagine that Gree could achieve an average annual growth rate of more than 20% from 2008 to 2010 when the global financial crisis was severe without the support of its core competitiveness.
At present, some air-conditioning enterprises have responded to Gree’s call and launched similar frequency conversion services. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Gree said: Gree is willing to work with its peers to promote the development of inverter air-conditioning industry in China, and he also reminded peers that quality is more important than service, which is the fundamental interest of both enterprises and consumers, so we should not lose sight of one thing and lose sight of another.
Liu Buchen, a senior observer of home appliance industry, said that service is an extension of product quality, and it serves for product quality. Serving for service may lead to misguided service. He said, "service should not be a’ fig leaf’ for enterprises to cover up product defects." This is not an alarmist. If an enterprise makes a promise hastily without being ready, it is likely that consumers will pay the double price of service and products, and ultimately harm the interests of the enterprise itself.
Securities analysts pointed out that investors are full of confidence in Gree Electric in 2011. Since the beginning of the year, Gree Electric (stock code: 000651) has continued to rise, with a cumulative increase of more than 10%.
In an interview with the media, Dong Mingzhu pointed out: Gree will make a big move this year. It is reported that setting up a factory in the United States is considered to be one of the big moves. The industry predicts that Gree will achieve the goal of selling 40 million sets of air conditioners annually in the next three years, and the sales of independent brands in the international market will be basically the same as that in the domestic market.