Sun White Stands Out in Global Furniture Market with Constant Pursuit of Continuous Improvements

Sun White Industrial Co., Ltd., founded in 1990 in central Taiwan by a group of mechanical engineers, makes four categories of knock-down furniture—home-office furniture, accent or occasional tables, entertainment centers and others.

In the home-office furniture category, the main products include desks, bookcases, storage carts, work stations, height- adjustable desks. The accent-table category consists of coffee tables, end tables, console tables and nesting tables. The products in the entertainment-center category include TV stands, TV wall installation, and media towers. And the "others" category include magazine stands, coat racks, and storage shelves.

The company is renowned for its capacity to make furniture in composite materials, including iron, aluminum, wood, and glass.

Sun White is a contract manufacturer providing products on an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and original design manufacturing (ODM) bases, with 90 percent of output being based on its own designs and the remainder bearing original designs from customers.

The company has built an R&D team that skillfully meets ever-changing customer tastes with a multitude of brand-new designs each month. These designs, featuring streamlined style and unique finish, are well received among buyers.

Each year, the company spends around NT$10 million (US$303,030) on R&D to boost added-value of its products, instead of relying on moving production offshore to cut cost like many of its industry peers on the island.

Well honed design capability enables the furniture maker to cooperate with world-known brands, chain stores, and hypermarkets in the U.S. and Europe to distribute its innovative, ergonomic, marketable products.

Initially, the company was only a subcontractor providing coating, welding, and surface treatment processes on furniture parts. A few years later, it began making finished furniture based on its own designs and backed by ISO-9001 certification.

Several years ago, the company began working with the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in southern Taiwan in a personnel training program, which helps to cultivate potential workers from the school, especially when many of its employees are reportedly college graduates. Company president, Tseng A-ju, says the company's hiring of such a high-caliber workforce reflects its determination to move upmarket.

In addition to the training program, Sun White offers weekly in-house training courses that include cost analysis and material analysis, with the aim of helping the company's workers explain specifically the advantages of its product line to customers.