Source: Lian Shang Column, Flying Sky, December 17, 2024, 17:00
Source / Lian Shang Column
Written by / Flying Sky
As the stars shift and the cold winds howl across the vast land, who has once again experienced the law of survival of the fittest? As we reach the end of yet another cycle of spring flowers, summer rains, autumn harvests, and winter storage, will this year’s year-end banquets across various industries still be filled with laughter and joy?
In the tunnel of time, you and I alternate appearances; who brushes past whom, and who is merely a passerby? Everything is fleeting yet familiar. Day and night, the reshuffling of people continues, with familiar faces and tastes appearing again and again. Amidst repeated eliminations, some struggle while others rise, and there are those who continue to sing joyfully, with daily meals still rolling out as usual. With ten years of honing a sword and fifteen years of accumulation, Kunpeng Cold Chain has quietly advanced through the storms of fifteen years, from the Mid-Autumn Festival to National Day and every weekend, tirelessly seizing orders and busy with production, smiling joyfully while also attending the Ant Union Annual Conference to “meet friends” and win awards—this is true happiness without regrets.
Do you remember when, in 2009, Kunpeng’s predecessor, the fledgling “Eagle,” emerged from obscurity, fearless and eager to venture into the world of supermarket cold chains? Unfortunately, the technical ceilings of brands from Europe, America, and Japan could not be breached at that time, so we began with our strengths in stainless steel kitchens for supermarkets and later pivoted to convenience store refrigeration.
Kunpeng’s team adjusted their breath amid the undercurrents, hearing the market’s nightly song of “no meat, no happiness,” indulging in the delights of pork, beef, and lamb. In the darkness of the stainless steel refrigeration industry, they ignited a bright torch for supermarkets, finding a new path that illuminated the direction for Kunpeng’s future flight! From multiple sizes, models, and styles, from slanted glass to straight glass, from high to low glass, to single-layer and double-layer displays, from farmers’ markets to specialty stores and boutique shops, using uniquely bright and clean stainless steel, with a wide temperature range and the courage to compete with foreign brands, through OEM and international trade exchanges, Kunpeng Cold Chain has established itself as a rising star in the Chinese industry, enduring the harsh tests of winter’s cold and summer’s heat.
Do you remember when, in 2009, Kunpeng was merely a shadow of its potential, stumbling without technology, brand recognition, or a good toolkit?
In the fiercely competitive cold chain market, products from Europe, America, and Japan were waiting for buyers, profiting immensely from large standalone cabinets and island cabinets, while the obsession with “brand theory” blinded retailers who were advancing rapidly in the commercial sector and made quick profits from opening stores. During those years, wholly-owned and joint-venture products shone brightly, while Kunpeng quietly adjusted its course, shifting towards high cost-performance integrated freezing cabinets and meat cabinets, preparing for a new journey of OEM for the industry and trade with foreigners. A master of the nation once said, “Learn from the strengths of others to overcome them,” and the industry’s height and the cold chain’s temperature are precisely the impetus behind Qingdao Kunpeng’s order-taking! In the constantly exploring desert of opportunities, the spring of the cold chain is not far off; the camellias are standing tall in the wind, and amidst the competition, Kunpeng Cold Chain’s dazzling integrated machine island cabinets and upright freezers are taking the lead, with orders for energy-saving series and high cost-performance series pouring in, bringing in bucket after bucket of gold. For the next decade, we need only to bend down to pick up orders without looking up at the sky.
Do you remember the years following the mask mandates, which extinguished much passion and dulled many cold chain manufacturers’ brilliance? Yet, the gates of our great China are shining brighter, and domestic products are blossoming like flowers. Good business and good living naturally require our good cold chain. However, looking around, one cold chain after another collapses while new enterprises rise, with a chaotic mix of Japanese, European, American, and Chinese styles waiting for goods to sell. Individuality has been lost, and homogenization has become more centralized, with the one-size-fits-all “price theory” once again flying high! At this point, Kunpeng Cold Chain is no longer satisfied with being a mere supplier; it is deeply exploring when it can dominate the refrigeration world with a single specialty. Customers are our best teachers, and the market is our best testing ground. Like a ray of light in the darkness, Kunpeng is panning for gold amid the overlooked and forgotten realms of integrated machines, first pushing open the window of energy-consuming, time-consuming freezing cabinets, ushering in a new era of integrated Japanese, European, and American-style island cabinets and frozen drawer cabinets. Open further, enhance further—by November 2024, the industry 3.0 version of the frozen drawer cabinet and left/right opening drawer cabinet debuted at Kunpeng Cold Chain!
Do you remember how many controversies, slanders, and twists these new innovations and industry elites have faced over the years?
To recreate a new world in the cold chain, Kunpeng’s team will inevitably encounter mockers, cynics, and critics aplenty! Why can a somewhat unfamiliar manufacturer emerging from the “kitchenware capital of China” overturn the industry’s iron rules, profit chains, and false pretenses? Looking back, the founding team of Kunpeng Cold Chain has been navigating the stainless steel refrigeration assembly industry for over 15 years, gaining inspiration for the future of supermarket cold chains through their strong practical skills and market sensitivity. Discussions about noise and inefficiency still linger, but little do they know that another realm of the industry has quietly arrived. Reflecting back, seeing the past and present, the standalone island cabinets have dimmed, while Kunpeng Cold Chain’s integrated freezing cabinets are destined to dominate the global retail and food service sectors, leading another revolutionary technological upheaval in the industry! Followers, imitators, and critics are all eager to leap over the dragon gate, proving that those who eat crabs first will reap the rewards first. The 50,000-square-meter super factory in Binzhou and the super marketing service platform in Qingdao will save the Chinese retail industry enormous extra investment and operational costs over the next decade of impending transformation.
Can you imagine that in 2025, at the Shenzhen China Retail Expo Chinashop, Kunpeng Cold Chain’s grand window island cabinets and drawer cabinet series will continue to amaze the world! Years of dedicated research, countless late nights, and numerous domestic and international experiments and face-to-face exchanges with experts and scholars have distilled the essence of cooling and rejected traditional direct cooling. Kunpeng Cold Chain will stand out in freezing technology! Large glass, small glass, upright evaporators, horizontal evaporators, three-door and two-door sliding options can coexist; this is the unique concept pioneered by Kunpeng Cold Chain and industry veteran Wang Dayong, earning admiration and shock from the domestic and international refrigeration communities for its wind direct cooling dual-use technology! From direct cooling to wind cooling, then to the innovative wind direct cooling dual-use, and finally to the concentrated wind cooling technology of the ultra-wide integrated machine, in just four years, Kunpeng Cold Chain’s “Taishan” and “Kunlun” series products have quickly captured the attention of retail owners, breaking free from the confines of heavy, opaque traditional plastic aesthetics. As for those so-called foreign and joint-venture products, they are either falling behind or merely imitating and following in silence. Looking at the world, Huawei is charging full speed ahead on the grand stage of the commercial sector, and in the niche cold chain field, becoming the Huawei of the cold chain industry is precisely the direction that “Kunpeng’s Core” is tirelessly pursuing!
From a national-level high-tech enterprise to a specialized and innovative enterprise, Kunpeng Cold Chain is currently on the path of becoming a gazelle enterprise. The two platforms of Binzhou Kunpeng and Qingdao Kunpeng are destined for a glorious road in the next decade. While leading the freshness, we will continue to witness the sweat of hard work and tears of happiness. The way of heaven has cycles; who is favored by the heavens? Whether favored or scorned, the mighty Yellow River flows eastward, and the past achievements and history are now gone; the wheel of history will always roll forward! Standing at a new height and new opportunities in history, the Kunpeng Cold Chain team will continue to uphold the two fundamental points of quality and cost performance, maintain the two core competencies of integrity and product excellence, and continuously enhance the enterprise’s reputation, product praise, and customer satisfaction through sincerity and quality, supported by professionalism. In the face of the industry’s turbulence and the repeated emergence of retail adjustments and explorations, Kunpeng Cold Chain’s advocated “value theory” and “customer demand-centric principle” will gain momentum, continuing to swim upstream toward the next fifteen years!
Winter has come, the wind has risen, and the heart of great love yearns. As the National Virtue Lecture Hall states, practitioners must adopt a broad perspective, clarifying direction, paths, and confidence, while inheriting, innovating, and inventing. Just as Dong Lai has been exploring beauty, sharing, and great love, we, as tiny particles, may not be the new engine of Chinese manufacturing, but we must be the backbone of Chinese manufacturing in the cold chain industry!
Kunpeng Cold Chain will continue to base itself on sincerity as its essence and beauty as its direction, leveraging opportunities to go global, and strive to be a leader in the global cold chain industry!
