Source: CCTV.com

09-11-2007 09:00

Household appliance maker Haier has become one of the best known Chinese brands. Haier's success dates back to 1985, when manager Zhang Ruimin and his employees hammered 76 substandard refrigerators into pieces. The dramatic practice spurred the company's product quality. It has grown from a small business into the world's fourth largest producer of white goods.

22 years on, Haier is still torturing its products as part of the "graduation formalities."

At Haier's quality supervision center, refrigerators are tossed down slopes. Keyboards are knocked thousands of times over. Washing machines are pounded with 130-kilo hammers. Staff members say the destruction testing is to maximize product quality.

Zhang Shaojun, Manager of Certification of Haier Quality Supervision Center says "In fact, Haier's products have no quality problems and are up to international standards. But we can only feel they are good enough when customers are satisfied. We have to analyze customers' complaints to further improve quality and meet their demand."

This commitment has helped Haier's products stand the test of time.