Tang Aiping: The Pioneer in Automotive Drive Shafts
Reform Pioneer: Tang Aiping/Executive Vice President of the China Automobile Association/Chairman of Taizhou YKE AUTOMOTIVE /Chairman of Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE
Tang Aiping's Four Business Cards
Tang Aiping serves as Chairman of YKE AUTOMOTIVE and Chairman of Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE . In 1973, at just 17 years old, Tang Aiping entered the automotive parts manufacturing industry. Starting as an apprentice at a collectively owned enterprise, he rose through the ranks over a decade to become factory director, fully demonstrating his remarkable personal charisma and exceptional management skills.
In 1983, Tang Aiping resigned from his government post to enter the auto parts market. In 1988, he founded YKE AUTOMOTIVE. in Yuhuan, Zhejiang Province. In 2014, Tang established Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE. in Chuzhou, Anhui Province. Having dedicated 30 years to the automotive drive shaft sector, Tang Aiping has earned widespread recognition within the industry. He has consecutively served as Executive Vice President of the Automotive Industry Branch of the China E-Commerce Association under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Vice President of the Manufacturing Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Auto & Motorcycle Parts & Accessories, Vice President of the Zhejiang Auto & Motorcycle Parts Industry Chamber of Commerce, and Vice President of the Yuhuan Auto & Motorcycle Parts Industry Association. His accolades include the “May 1st Medal of China's Auto Parts Industry,” and “Top Ten Leading Figures in China's Auto Parts Industry.” Recently, Tang Aiping was nominated as a candidate for the “Pioneering Figure in China's Automotive Industry During the 40 Years of Reform and Opening Up.”
Tang Aiping's Business Philosophy
Tang Aiping positioned his enterprise at a high level from the very beginning. Within two years of its founding, Taizhou YKE AUTOMOTIVE obtained ISO 9002 quality system certification in December 2000. Through continuous efforts, it further achieved TS16949 international quality system certification in 20**. As the old saying goes, “Ten years to forge a sword, three years to reveal its edge”—a maxim perfectly illustrated by YKE AUTOMOTIVE's development. Tang Aiping excels at learning and adeptly transforms others' best practices into his own management strategies. Most of YKE AUTOMOTIVE's clients are renowned international enterprises. Through interactions with these globally recognized partners, he consistently solicits their suggestions and earnestly absorbs their expertise. This approach has driven continuous improvements in quality control, cost management, and technological upgrades, propelling the company toward ever-greater success and expanding its industrial footprint.
Tang Aiping dares to invest and excels at doing so. He believes that product quality depends on management—strict adherence to quality management systems—while also requiring robust manufacturing equipment for assurance. He has invested nearly ten million yuan to completely overhaul the precision production lines, while adopting advanced processes and inspection methods to further refine the production quality control system. Concurrently, he actively promotes CAD/CAM computer-aided design and enterprise IT information management, steering the company toward standardized, systematic, and modernized management practices. This enables steady progress amid the ever-changing market landscape.
Tang Aiping excels at identifying industry vantage points. Under his leadership, Taizhou YKE AUTOMOTIVE and Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE secured 42 patents, propelling both enterprises into the ranks of national high-tech enterprises. He also spearheaded the development of the Yuhuan City Regional Standard for Automotive Constant Velocity Joints. As the primary drafter of this standard, he was promoted from Economist to Senior Economist.
Tang Aiping's Market Strategy
Tang Aiping's Taizhou YKE AUTOMOTIVE primarily targets overseas markets. Tang discovered that with the rapid growth of domestic vehicle ownership, the domestic aftermarket holds significant potential. Tang believes that as a manufacturing base for auto parts, Yuhuan, Zhejiang possesses an excellent supporting manufacturing chain system. As a port city on the southeast coast, it also enjoys geographical advantages for exporting to overseas markets. However, as a mature base, it faces land scarcity and high investment costs. Moreover, it lacks geographical advantages for developing the inland market. Therefore, expanding production capacity in Anhui became the logical choice for YKE AUTOMOTIVE. In 2012, Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE Parts Co., Ltd. was established in Chuzhou.
Tang Aiping's Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE invested $30 million to target the domestic high-end market. Partnering with the National Automotive Parts Inspection and Testing Center, Anhui YKE AUTOMOTIVE established a specialized testing facility for automotive drive shafts and related components locally, contributing to the advancement of automotive parts inspection and testing standards in the region and surrounding areas.
Tang Aiping excels at innovation. Transitioning from overseas markets to the domestic market, he did not follow traditional approaches. Leveraging the platform of the China Automotive Aftermarket Association, he partnered with multiple auto parts distributors and e-commerce companies to establish an integrated online-offline marketing platform, pioneering a new model for parts marketing.
Tang Aiping's YKE AUTOMOTIVE dream
It was humanity's dream of Chang'e flying to the moon that paved the way for today's space exploration. Tang Aiping also has an ambitious dream: to make China's automotive drive shafts the best in the country. To realize this vision, he has developed a comprehensive strategic plan for his enterprise.
From a manufacturing and R&D perspective, he actively pursued automation and intelligent upgrades of manufacturing equipment in line with the Made in China 2025 development strategy, striving to enhance manufacturing precision and product quality. By 2020, he aimed to control product defect rates below 30 PPM. Simultaneously, he will intensify technical improvements to products, enhancing aspects such as lightweight design, low noise, and durability to meet increasingly stringent market demands for product quality. Furthermore, he will closely follow the development trends of new energy vehicles and actively develop transmission components for them.
In terms of market strategy, he actively explores and expands the marketing network to build a larger marketing platform. On one hand, he aims to integrate more distributors into the existing marketing platform to achieve resource sharing and mutual benefit, creating a synergistic effect where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, he plans to replicate the successful domestic model in overseas markets by establishing integrated online and offline marketing platforms. This initiative has become even more urgent amid the escalating trade friction between China and the United States.
Tang Aiping, a dedicated pioneer in China's automotive drive shaft industry. We sincerely wish his dream of establishing a world-class brand to come true soon!