Precision manufacturing

Our History

The full story

2003 & 2004

Hongji Metal has grown rapidly since 2000; shortly thereafter, they began providing fasteners for the lock industry in 2001. With the aggressive expansion of the lock industry and the gradual development of other industries, Hongji invested in the necessary and important step of building a new plant in 2003.

In 2004, Hongji entered the emerging fitness equipment industry and moved into its new plant.

2008

In 2008, Hongji began to provide fasteners for US Joint Venture automotive companies. This bold and timely move proved to be strategically shrewd, especially with the subsequent boom in China’s automobile industry around 2010.

As the automotive market faced a surge in demand, the need for high-quality fasteners became a critical bottleneck for domestic automobile factories. Hongji, which started to prepare for the transformation and upgrading as early as possible, had already passed the ISO/ TS16949 standard of the automotive industry and met the basic supplier qualifications of the industry.

Given that the safety of human lives is at stake, the quality of auto parts is crucial! The entry threshold of the industry is extremely high, and customers’ requirements are very strict. In order to meet customer requirements, Mr. Xie quietly began to do extensive research on independent market development.

Meeting directly with customers, asking detailed questions, and demonstrating a genuine willingness to learn what was important to them. It mattered to customers that they could deal with one supplier who had the capability to offer a dock-to-dock delivery service they could count on to deliver quality products, on time, and with no wastage or call-backs.

Mr. Xie’s time spent listening and connecting to customers proved to be very valuable as he built relationships based on a solid foundation of deep trust.

Going forward, customers began to give more and more opportunities to Hongji based on the feeling that Mr. Xie had made them feel like part of the solution. After successfully implementing their initial projects, customers felt confident that any risk they imagined was substantially mitigated; it did not take long for the fear they may have had working with a new supplier to vanish soon.

As trust grew with Mr. Xie, customers extended more and more business opportunities to Hongji.

After Shanghai Hongji entered the automotive industry under the leadership of Mr. Steven Xie, the company’s sales performance grew at rates that they had never seen before.

Hongji’s success all started by building trust.

Many of the strong partnerships Mr. Xie forged during that time remain prominent and remain an important part of Hongji’s business today!

Hongji began to expand by investing in technologies and processes to enhance the technical sophistication and add value to its products. As the processes became more refined and the quality of their product remained very high, Hongji’s focus turned to reducing costs, that resulted in higher profits for their customers.

What began as producing a single fastener grew into manufacturing a comprehensive collection of products and services that included cold heading, turning, heat treatment, stamping, mold making, and plating.

2011

In 2011, with the accelerated development of the stamping parts business, Jiangsu Hongji Metal Products Co., Ltd. was established, located in Dafeng, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province.

With an impressive, growing portfolio available to them, Hongji’s customers quickly expanded to include some of the world’s top 500 companies, such as Mercedes-Benz, SAIC and several other domestic and international, world-renowned automobile factories. This resulted in significant growth as their products were now being exported to Europe and the US.

Hongji was getting noticed worldwide, and they were now poised to become a player on the global stage quickly!

2014

In 2014, Shanghai Hongji Metal Products Co., Ltd. successfully passed the audit of the second-tier supplier of SGM’s entire vehicle. Mr. Xie and his team recognized that this was an important step that would prove invaluable in order to develop the global market more quickly. This put Hongji on the path to deepening its growth initiatives and beginning to penetrate the market in North America.

2015

In 2015, Mr. Xie acquired a stamping parts company in the United States. This firmly established the Hongji Metal USA, LLC, with its manufacturing facility in Tecate, Mexico, and the decision was made to locate its North American office in San Diego, California. This series of strategic moves solidified Hongji’s position as a global player, creating a robust production and sales network.

With Hongji’s commitment to solidifying its place in the market through global expansion, it resulted in quicker response times and offered broader choices for customers. Hongji’s track record of offering resiliency against risks resulted in unquestioned confidence, and proved to be a game changer in the eyes of their partners!

In order for Hongji to increase its production capacity further and realize the transformative upgrade that it desired, Mr. Xie made a significant investment into a new production facility – Hongji (Suzhou) Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. The groundbreaking ceremony for this monumental project took place in Taicang Jiangsu Province in Nov 2018.

Looking back, this was not only an important and exciting time…it was a game-changing moment for Hongji!

The new production facility represented a substantial investment, with a total commitment of 110M USD for its construction. Fully operational in 2020, the new plant signified a strategic step towards aligning Hongji with exceptional cutting-edge manufacturing practices, thus solidifying the leadership position that had been Mr. Xie’s focus all along.

2020

In 2020, Hongji acquired the auto parts division of Changhong and incorporated it into the Jiading plant in 2022.

Hongji acquired Jiangsu Modern Integrated Special Steel Co., Ltd. in 2021 and established the Yancheng factory in Jiangsu, with its office located in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. The plant encompasses an area of approximately 53,334 square meters, with a building space of 26,386 square meters.

The Yancheng Plant specializes in cold heading steel wire business for China and is a leading player across the entire nation. Its main product is CHQ Wire, a steel material for automotive industry components, with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons.

This plant also provides raw materials for cold heading processes, ranging from 4 mm to 36 mm, for many well-known component brands in the domestic automotive industry. Everything that is made here is primarily used in the production of automotive components such as bolts, nuts, ball pins and bearings.

The Yangcheng plant has gained a solid reputation, earning the trust and support from its customers for delivering high quality materials.

2023

In 2023, Hongji broke ground to build a modern factory in Saltillo, Coahuila State, Mexico. This plant integrates several complex and diverse processes, including cold sensitization and stamping. The company is leveraging the experience and capabilities in cold heading that Hongji China’s customers have relied on for over 20 years.

The geographical advantage of Mexico’s proximity to the United States and the elimination of tariffs under the agreement between the two nations provides a significant advantage for the company!

Going forward, Hongji will be able to provide the same consistent, reliable, and efficient services to its customers in North America that the rest of its global partners have enjoyed for many years.