Alternate Director to Council For Industrial And Commercial Development, CT Chairman Lai Wenxiang was born to a farm family located in the Dalin Township of Chiayi City. Without rich parents and high educational background, Chairman Lai has started out his career by working as an iron window apprentice to accumulate enough hands-on experiences. First founded by Chairman Lai, Century Iron & Steel Corporation located in Guanyin Industrial Park has been the only iron & steel company listed on Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) in the past 10 years. High-tech automated production equipment has been introduced to the company to produce all kinds of steel structures, which has in turn builds up a good business image for the company.

Birth is Much but Breeding is More

In order to reduce the financial burden for his family, Chairman La has found a job as an iron window apprentice in Sanchong District after graduating from junior high school. At that time, the business scale of the iron factory was rather small, often a domestic OEM hidden in an alleyway without complete equipment as can be seen in the factories today. 

Chairman Lai, Wenxiang explained that a typical domestic OEM is often composed of "one master and two apprentices", with the master responsible for providing not only room & board but also passing on professional skills to the apprentice. As an apprentice, Chairman Lai has to learn from scratch and take on all the responsibilities including everyday cleaning and heavy duties. As was recorded in the Fourth Quarter of 2010 National Association of Young Entrepreneur, Chairman Lai once said, "I feel somehow bitter whenever I look back on those old days working as an apprentice, but it was indeed due to those years that I have accumulated plenty of hands-on experiences."

"The early stage of our entrepreneurship at Sanchong District is the most helpless period of my life," Chairman Lai explained. At that time, his eldest daughter has just started learning to walk. However, she always walked unsteadily. Under his friend's suggestion, Chairman Lai took his daughter to the hospital. The doctor diagnosed his daughter as suffering from the congenital hip joint dislocation. It was not until the completion of medical surgery, 6 months of plaster casting, and 1 year of rehabilitation process that his eldest daughter was able to gain recovery and walk steadily. Chairman Lai's eldest son was suffering from the congenital cleft lip and cleft palate (CLP), which is also known as the orofacial cleft. Although some postoperative scars were left after 6 major and minor surgeries, his son is now no different from other ordinary people in appearance.

While his wife was receiving postpartum confinement and his daughter was undergoing rehabilitation process at the hospital, Chairman Lai was involved in a major car accident on his way to work from Sanchong District to Xinzhuang District. By the time he was sent to the hospital, Chairman Lai has exhibited dilated pupils and a minor concussion. Afterward, he was transferred to the Mackay Memorial Hospital to receive intensive care. "Fortunately, I was young and strong back then. After one week of hospitalization, I have gained full recovery from my injuries. However, since all our family members were staying at the hospital during that period, we have to deplete our saving to pay for the electric and water bill. I always feel quite sentimental whenever looking back on those days."

Fortunately, Taiwan Economic Miracle has given rise to the massive construction projects. With construction projects emerging one after another, customer demand for iron windows also increased accordingly. Under his friends' invitation, Chairman Lai has joined venture with his friends to open up an iron factory, taking his first step towards his entrepreneurship. Since both capital and manpower were not sufficient enough at the beginning, in order to save personnel cost, Mrs. Chen would always carry their child with her and work alongside with Chairman Lai when the business turned busy. Under an era where all kinds of resources are largely deprived, the young couple has to work for their factory and family at the same time. By working side by side, the young couple has laid a very solid foundation for Century Iron and Steel Industrial Co. Ltd.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

In 1987, Chairman Lai and his friends have joined venture and started up the "Century Iron and Steel Industrial Co. Ltd" at Guanyin Industrial Park. Chairman Lai explained that CT is the most typical kind of business that is started completely from scratch. Without rich parents or high educational background, Chairman Lai is able to uphold the spirit of a "Taiwanese Canine" to overcome several obstacles resulted from the economic crisis. He has also devoted a great amount of time and effort to make up for the lack of aptitude and exhibited great resolution to make up for the lack of physical capability. Such perseverance and diligence to strive for perfection have become the greatest soft power of "Century Iron and Steel Industrial Co. Ltd".

From semiconductor fabrication plant to TFT-LCD panel plant, CT has accumulated a lot of experiences and capabilities in becoming one of the largest steel structure companies to establish the greatest amount of technical factories. In addition, CT has been actively involved in the public works and has spared no effort in the construction of steel structural bridge as entrusted by the local government. Hence, CT was provided with a stable developmental opportunity despite the prevalence of financial crisis from around the world. From semiconductor fabrication plant to steel structural bridge, each architecture has shown the sign of CT's effort and growth. In order to expand his business scale, Chairman Lai has relocated his factory to Taoyuan Plant 1 (with a total area of 36,000 pings). At the same year, Steel Structure Plant 2 (with a total area of 13,600 pings) was also built close to his hometown in Yunlin County. Above all, Chairman Lai has been actively involved in the public work and private engineering within his hometown Chiayi County to provide local residents with new job opportunities.

In 2008, CT has formally become one of the listed companies of Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), which is the first steel & iron company that was admitted as a TWSE listed company in the past 10 years. Chairman Lai smiled as he looked back on those old days applying for the company listing. Money always remains the biggest problem during his early stage of entrepreneurship. Since fundraising is never a long-term solution to address the financial problems, Chairman Lai decided to print stocks in exchange for cash. He started entrusting professional institution with counseling and marketing services to apply for the company listing. At that time, his friends all laughed at him by saying, "Mr. Lai must be insane! How can an iron factory ever be admitted as a listed company?" As expected, his application form was rejected by the authority in charge. However, Chairman Lai never gave up. After 8 years of hard work, CT was finally admitted as a TWSE listed company in 2008.

Although faced with great obstacles, Chairman Lai was never defeated, "CT is an enterprise operating on the business spirit of a Taiwanese Canine. The reason for the Taiwanese Canine to become the greatest hunter is its perseverance and diligence." Chairman Lai decided to provide his clients with services and value-added technologies that exceed their expectations. The key to the rapid growth of Century Iron & Steel Industrial Corporation is the steel structural project of the 8-inch semiconductor fabrication plant as entrusted by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in 1994. Despite the strict requirements of the high-tech company in terms of high technical threshold and short working hours, CT has completed the steel structural project on time and built a good business reputation in the steel structure industry. Afterwards, factory construction project of the industrial park has followed in one after another, including United Microelectronics Corporation, Winbond Electronics Corporation, Nanya Technology Corporation, Inotera Memories Incorporation, and AU Optronics, taking CT to the next level.

In 2000, the administrative building of New Taipei City Government was completed, laying a solid foundation for CT to gain expertise in the field of public works. "CT's greatest advantage lies in its capability of vertical integration and great responsiveness. From semiconductor fabrication plant, residential building to public works, you can see the signs of CT's growing progress in each architecture."

Talent Cultivation

Talents are the major driving force that motivate CT to stride forward. In the past, traditional industry always appears to be more vulnerable than high-tech industry in terms of employee development. In order to prevent brain drain and corporate faults, CT has been actively promoting company listing and building great business image to attract talents with higher educational backgrounds. Full subsidies were provided to motivate employees to receive educational training while supervisors of higher ranks were also assisted to receive project management certification. In addition, China Productivity Center were invited over to deliver lectures, so that integration capabilities of each business level and systematic management of different learning approaches can be further improved to enhance employees’ professional knowledge and technology towards the industry, further creating a new era for the steel industry.