Foreword:  

The year 2019 witnessed Keli, under the leadership of its chairman Nie Peng, build a group-based operations model and achieve industrial transformation and upgrade. At the group’s annual conference, the chairman pointed the direction for the future development of the group. Below is the full version of his speech. 

Dear Keli colleagues, guests, ladies and gentlemen, 

Good evening!

Today marks the first time that Keli Motor Group has ever held its 2019 Annual Awards & Conference in the vibrant city of Shenzhen. First of all, please allow me, on behalf of Keli Motor Group, to extend a warm welcome to all the present guests, friends, and Keli colleagues! And congratulations to all the teams and individuals to receive awards for year 2019! 

Keli Motor Group started in1992 in a small, remote town in Qiyang County, Hunan Province. Under the leadership of my father, the group has striven and overcome various setbacks and difficulties to grow step by step; today it has successfully been listed as a public company and traded on the stock exchange. My father has established an excellent platform for the development of Keli. In November 2018, he offered to resign from the company’s leadership and persuaded the senior members of the board of directors and board of supervisors to follow suit in order to pave the way for me; I was then elected the chairman of a new board of directors. 2019 has been the first year for me to serve as chairman and also the first year for Keli’s effort to “start all over”. Therefore, I have set the theme of this annual conference as “Gratitude, Inheritance, and Win-win” – an epoch-making annual event that emphasizes inheritance and passing-on. 

“Gratitude” is my underlying life principle. I will always remember those who have provided me and Keli with support, care, and help! Now, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my father, founder of Keli Motor Group. Without his relentless efforts and striving, Keli as an excellent platform would be impossible today. Again, I must express my appreciation to him, my great father! Please applaud for him!

And I would like to thank all leaders from various fields and my friends and relatives who have offered support and help during the development of Keli. 

Please allow me to thank the first generation of top management and entrepreneurs, represented by Tang Yi, Liu Zhongguo, and Tang Xinrong, who worked with father in the early years of great hardship and who have set a good example for us all at Keli! 

And also let me say thank-you to all Keli people who have striven together for so many years. You have silently made contributions at different posts; you have sweated and shed tears. Keli’s success today would be impossible without you. You have all upheld the belief “Commitment, Result-orientation, and Perseverance” at different posts. This is the formula for our success and we must incorporate it into our corporate DNA. 

After close to three decades of growth, Keli has developed its valuable corporate spirit and accumulated managerial experience. For the company, the spirit of striving is the soul driving its growth; “forgetting history is equivalent to betrayal;” only through inheritance and innovation-driven development, can an enterprise become a “hundred-year-old company”. Corporate Planning is to build a Keli Cultural Hall this year at the old headquarters in Hunan; it will serve as an educational base for the corporate history of development and culture and become a “Yan’an” for Keli where group after group of newcomers will be educated to remember the history of tough early years of Keli as a startup, so that they can better understand the corporate spirit and culture of Keli. This will, in turn, encourage and inspire all Keli people to continue striving for continuous innovation and development and to create a better future. 

Year 2019 has been a milestone in the history of Keli. 

2019 has been the first year for me to take over as chairman and also a new starting-point in my life. It has been the first year for Keli to start all over and also the starting-point for the company to take off in its development. It is generally believed that a company can afford to get relaxed after its successful IPO. But this is a wrong idea. A company can stay invincible only by keeping a low-profile, being modest and practical, continuing to innovate, incessantly examining itself, and learning its lessons. As the saying goes, “Water gathers to form a sea because of its low position; a man becomes a king by being modest.” This is my motto. The sea has become what it is because it is low and welcomes all sources of water. Only by being low-profile and modest, can one become an excellent talent. We must never feel complacent and conceited due to some insignificant achievements. This mentality will surely hinder us from achieving success. 

The past year has seen the world change dramatically and the trade war go on between China and the U.S. The real economy was hit in many ways, and many manufacturing enterprises had a difficult time in 2019. 2020 will be the starting-point of the Kondratiev Wave, a ten-year cycle. What matters most is to “survive”, as survival comes before development. What should we do under such circumstances? I believe that continuous innovation is the most important of all for an enterprise. Every morning when I take a walk along Shenzhen Bay, I feel impressed most by three sentences: “Development is the top priority. Innovation is the No. 1 driving force. Talents are the primary resources.” How can we innovate and develop, then? Only by having the best talents,, can we innovate and develop. It is my understanding that the most excellent talents in an enterprise are the most important resources and the most valuable assets. Those who attract talents win! So, the most important thing I did in 2019 was recruitment of talents. We must spare no effort to implement our “talent development strategy” and give a top priority to talents for the development of our enterprise. 

In 2019 we sought industrial transformation and upgrade in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics. On the basis of servos, we brought in a large number of high-caliber R&D talents from Japanese companies and famous domestic companies. We then set up teams for the R&D of servo encoders and drives and for servo applications and testing. The teams developed Keli’s first generation of servos and formed our Industrial Automation and Control Technology Business Unit. In 2019, we created Keli Shenzhen Operations Center at Shenzhen Bay Science and Technology Eco-park. On February 20, 2019 when we moved in, except for our international sales team, I was alone working at the office; now we have gradually transitioned to group-based operations and perfected the group’s management and control functions. With Shenzhen Keli Holdings as our Shenzhen headquarters holdings platform, we have set up Servo Business Unit, Pump Business Unit, Brushless DC Motor Business Unit, Series Motor Business Unit, and Step Motor Business Unit.

In 2019, it took us more than two months to complete building the testing center for our nationally leading servo. We also made a breakthrough by having our own servos – a miracle in the industry.  

In 2019 we brought in a consulting firm, who helped us establish a framework for our corporate group management and control, put in place the group’s management processes and rules, and determine the company’s strategic development direction in the future.  

In 2019 we gradually built a information system and a lean production management system. 

In 2019, as we introduced many talents, differences in culture and managerial philosophies are inevitable. Therefore we must learn to listen to others and have a big-picture mentality. Through integration, I am sure that we can achieve harmonious development and a win-win situation!