海尔-鲁巴工业园：扎根巴基斯坦的艰辛探索

李卉嫔

到巴基斯坦的第一天，从伊斯兰堡机场到入住酒店的途中，一个巨大的“Haier”标志吸引了记者的注意，后来得知那是海尔在伊斯兰堡地标建筑——人马座投放的巨型广告，这个大手笔的广告投入让海尔品牌更加深入人心。而海尔集团在巴基斯坦的大手笔一个接一个，早在十多年前就在巴第二大城市拉合尔建设了一个工业园——海尔-鲁巴工业园，生产的冰箱、洗衣機、空调等家电产品畅销巴基斯坦全境。

作为巴基斯坦市场的先锋企业，海尔-鲁巴工业园是中国在海外建立的第一批工业园区之一。工业园一期始建于2001年，于2002年正式投产，占地面积33万平方米。经过近20年的拓展，海尔在巴基斯坦已牢牢扎根，海尔品牌深入人心，在市场美誉度、用户质量口碑等方面稳稳占据了NO.1的宝座。

8月5日下午4点，明晃晃的太阳晃花了人眼，记者来到工业园仓储处，只见二十来辆大型卡车在排队等候，数千台冰箱、空调、冷柜、洗衣机等正等候装车，运往分布在全国各地的销售网点。海尔工厂的中方负责人胡刚刚介绍：工业园里的海尔工厂已投产冰箱、空调、洗衣机、冷柜、电视、微波炉等多条生产线，实现年产能160万台的规模。

回想起十年来开拓市场的艰辛，胡刚刚心中仍有诸多感慨。自2002年起，海尔巴基斯坦工厂正式投产的五六年间，市场开拓一直不见起色，工厂濒临关闭。那时，海尔-鲁巴工业园的生产全部由鲁巴集团主导，产品也直接照搬中国市场的产品。对此，当地客户并不买账，胡刚刚回忆道，“那时，我们的产品几乎卖一台退一台。”2006年，海尔集团总部派了一支专业团队，到巴基斯坦开展了长达一年的市场调研，终于找到了症结所在。

巴基斯坦人爱喝冷饮，中国家庭用于存放蔬菜水果的冰箱冷藏室，被他们用作冷藏饮料、饮用水，且设置温度常维持在零摄氏度以下，要求冷冻室能快速制冰。调研人员打开巴基斯坦人的冰箱发现，冷冻室放满了一个个用于制冰的铝碗，这与中国家庭仅制作少量的冰块是完全不同的。更何况巴基斯坦经常停电，停电后食物很容易腐坏变质。

于是，海尔决定针对巴基斯坦市场，全面重新设计适合当地需求的产品。增加冰箱蒸发器制冷面，从3面改为5面，实现冷冻室1小时快速制冰，比传统冰箱制冰速度提升5倍，且节能55%；增大冷柜容积，延长冷冻维持时间，如今的海尔冷柜最大容积可以存放12只羊，维持100小时不化冻；设计了能洗大袍子的大容量洗衣机，并引进全自动洗衣机，也是唯一一家实现全自动洗衣机当地化生产的企业；在空调中增加了能持续供电4小时的UPS模块，保证停电期间也能继续使用空调。

在海尔的展厅里，记者还看到了很多适应当地需求的改良产品：能省电50%的磁悬浮型中央空调，能同时调节温度、空气洁净度以及湿度的空净一体化空调，黑色外观的加宽型冰箱，制冷管改为铜管的冷柜（冷柜制冷管多为钢管，但巴基斯坦的容易引起钢管生锈，影响制冷效果）……

调整设计后又经过两年多对生产质量、管理的改进，海尔产品在当地的销量提升立竿见影：2010年冰箱销量10万台， 2012年增长到16万台，2018年已经达到45万台；洗衣机的市场份额占到35%以上，全自动洗衣机市场份额甚至超过50%。2018年，海尔在巴市场的销售收入突破4亿美元，是第二大品牌的1.5倍，贡献利税达7100万美元。同时，工厂还带来直接就业4500人，间接就业超过1万人，并带动了巴基斯坦家电技术、管理模式的升级，为巴基斯坦培养了大批家电行业的技术人才。

“我们的成功，源于我们‘人单合一’的商业模式，以订单聚集员工，用专业的人做专业的事，并且每个产品都由一个完整的团队来执行。”胡刚刚如此告诉记者。如今，海尔巴基斯坦工厂中生产、质量、成本管理都各有专业的队伍，除了质量保证，就连产品设计也时尚大气，引领了当地潮流。并且，海尔在巴基斯坦销售网点达到了1100个，17个城市设立了售后服务网点，为用户提供优质的服务。

最近，海尔工厂正在筹划在工业园二期扩建生产线，新增冰箱年产能50万台，以满足市场增长的需要。随着巴基斯坦电力供应的提升和巴基斯坦人民生活水平的提高，空调市场也将有巨大的增长空间，预计将达到年需求量100万套。

在很长一段时间里，海尔-鲁巴工业园里就只有海尔一家企业，与其说是工业园，不如说是海尔的生产基地，与预期的集家电、汽车、纺织、建材、化工等产业集群的综合性产业园区还有不小的距离。

当记者问及原因，胡刚刚沉思后告诉记者，要吸引更多其他企业来投资，光是企业的力量是远远不够的，还依赖于当地政府大力支持，有赖于税收政策、土地征收、电力供应等配套措施的有机组合。

令人欣慰的是，今年年初，海尔-鲁巴工业园再次向巴基斯坦政府递交了升级工业园为经济特区的申请，希望经济特区的税收优惠政策能在工业园二期项目启动前得到落实。让海尔-鲁巴经济特区名副其实才是工业园加快发展、增加就业的良方，这样也有助于工业园二期引进更多领域的投资。

更可喜的是今年1月，中巴双方同意将2019年定为“巴中产业合作年”，并签署了产业合作谅解备忘录。经济特区作为产业合作的重要载体，在加快巴基斯坦工业化进程，为周边地区提供大规模长期稳定的就业机会，增加当地政府税收，带来可持续的双边合作等方面都有突出的优势。

2016年，巴基斯坦计划沿中巴经济走廊拟设立46个特殊经济区，并在当年的第6次中巴经济走廊联委会（JCC）上暂定了9个优先发展的经济特区，在信德省、俾路支省、旁遮普省和开普省等巴主要省份地区都有部署。但就进展来看，除开普省的拉沙卡伊经济区已经进入园区建设阶段，其他8个园区都还在可行性研究阶段，发展速度有些不尽如人意。

另一方面，巴基斯坦已经形成一定的产业集聚区，仅就旁遮普省而言，就已经形成费萨拉巴德（Faisalabad）的成衣制造产业、拉合尔（Lahore）的海尔-鲁巴家电产业、锡亚尔科特（Sialkot）的手术用品产业、古吉拉特（Gujarat）的陶瓷产业集群。从地图上来看，4个城市都位于旁遮普省东面，相距不远，还可形成联动效应。这些产業聚集区不仅可为经济特区发展提供一定的借鉴经验，也可助力经济特区招商引资效率。

同时，海尔-鲁巴工业园距离已经确定的旁遮普省M3经济特区也不算远，这些都为将海尔-鲁巴工业园升级为经济特区，助力巴基斯坦的产业发展提供了有利条件。

“我们的政府、人民非常有诚意欢迎中国投资者来巴投资，总理也多次会见中国投资者，谈到中国企业。”海尔巴基斯坦工厂巴方总裁、JW集团总经理Javed告诉记者。然而，在吸引外资的道路上，制定并落实有吸引力的投资政策，才是政府对外来投资者释放的最大诚意，这不但有利于刺激巴国内经济发展，也是改善本国民生的最大福祉。

On the first day in Pakistan， the reporter was attracted by a huge logo of “Haier” on the way from the airport of Islamabad to the hotel. Then the reporter was told that the logo was a huge advertisement placed by Haier at the Centaurus， a landmark of Islamabad. This big investment in advertisement has made the brand of Haier more popular among the locals. Haier Group has projects with big investment one after another in Pakistan. As early as over a decade ago， it has built an industrial park in Lahore， the second largest city of Pakistan， that is， Haier-Ruba Industrial Park. Home appliances， such as refrigerators， washing machines and air conditioners， produced in this industrial park sell very well across Pakistan.

As a leading enterprise in the Pakistani market， Haier-Ruba Industrial Park is one of the first industrial parks built by China in other countries. The construction of Phase I of this industrial park started in 2001， and it was officially put into production in 2002. This industrial park occupies an area of 330，000 m2. After near 20 years of expansion， Haier has been deeply rooted in Pakistan. As its brand is very popular among the locals， Haier is convincingly the No.1 brand in terms of market reputation， quality reputation from customers， etc.

At 4 o’clock in the afternoon of August 5， under the dazzling strong sunshine， the reporter came to the warehouse area of the industrial park， and saw that about 20 trucks were waiting in line here， and thousands of refrigerators， air-conditioners， freezers， washing machines and other household appliances were waiting for being loaded into the trucks and transported to points of sale across the country. Hu Ganggang， the person in charge from the Chinese side in the Haier factory， introduced， “the Haier factory in the industrial park has formed several production lines of refrigerators， air-conditioners， freezers， TV sets， microwave ovens and other household appliances， and can produce 1.6 million sets of house appliances every year.”

When recalling the hardships in the exploration of market in the first decade， Hu Ganggang still had lots of emotions in his mind. Haier’s factory in Pakistan had been in production for five or six years since 2002， but the market development showed little progress. The factory was almost on the verge of shutdown. At that time， the production of the HaierRuba Industrial Park was dominated by Ruba Group， and the products were also just copies of products in the Chinese market. In this regard， local customers didn’t accept those products. Hu Ganggang recalled，“at that time， almost all our products would be returned after being sold.” In 2006， the headquarters of Haier Group sent a professional team to carry out a one-year market investigation in Pakistan， through which the cause of the problem was finally spotted.

The Pakistani people love cold drinks， so they used the refrigerating chamber of refrigerator， which was used by Chinese families to store vegetables and fruits， to store drinks and drinking water， and set the temperature of this chamber always below 0°C. They also required that the freezing chamber could make ice quickly. After opening the refrigerators of the Pakistani people， the researchers found that this chamber was filled with aluminum bowls for making ice. This was totally different from the usage of Chinese families， which only made a small amount of ice cubes. Moreover， power failures were very frequent in Pakistan， so the food was always easily deteriorated after power failures.

As a result， Haier decided to completely re-design products which were tailored for local needs in the Pakistani market. The number of refrigerating surfaces of the evaporator in a refrigerator was increased from 3 to 5， which realized quick ice-making in one hour in the freezing chamber， increasing the speed of ice-making by 5 times when compared to traditional refrigerators while reducing energy consumption by 55%； the volume of freezer was increased to extend the freezing time. Now a Haier freezer with the largest volume can store 12 sheep for 100 hours without being defrosted； large-volume washing machines were designed to wash thawb， and automatic washing machines were introduced. Haier is also the only company which has realized the localized production of automatic washing machines in Pakistan. UPS（Uninterruptible Power Supply） modules which could supply power for 4 consecutive hours was added to the air conditioners to ensure that they could continue working during power failures.

In the exhibition hall of Haier， the reporter also saw many products adapted to local needs： a magnetic-suspended central air conditioner which could save 50% of electricity； an air conditioner with the function of air purification which could adjust temperature， air cleanliness and humidity； a widened refrigerator in black； a freezer with copper cooling vessels （cooling vessels of most freezers are made of steel， but these vessels could be rusted easily due to the water quality in Pakistan， which would affect the freezing effect）...

Upon the adaptive design， Haier spent two more years improving production quality and management， which immediately increased the sales of Haier products in the local markets： the sales of refrigerators was 100，000 in 2010， which increased to 160，000 in 2012， and 450，000 in 2018； the market share of Haier’s washing machines is more than 35%， and that of automatic washing machines exceeds 50%. In 2018， the sales revenue of Haier from the Pakistani market exceeded USD 400 million， 1.5 times that of the No.2 brand. Haier also contributed USD 71 million of taxes. At the same time， the factory also brought jobs directly to 4，500 people， and indirectly to more than 10，000 people. Haier has also driven the upgrade of Pakistan’s home appliance technologies and management modes， and trained a large number of technical talents of the household appliance industry for Pakistan.

“Our success comes from the special business model， which gathers employees with orders， uses professionals to do professional work， and employs a full team to execute each product，” Hu Ganggang told the reporter. Now Haier’s factory in Pakistan has professional teams which are responsible for production， quality and cost management respectively. In addition to quality assurance， even the product designs are fashionable and leads the trend in local markets. Haier has 1，100 sales outlets throughout Pakistan， and established after-sales service outlets in 17 cities to provide customers with quality services.

Recently， Haier’s factory is planning to expand its production lines in Phase II of the industrial park， adding the capacity of 500，000 refrigerators to meet the needs of market growth. With the improvement of Pakistan’s power supply and people’s living standards， the air conditioner market also has huge space for growth， and is expected to reach an annual demand of 1 million sets.

For a long time in the past， Haier was the only enterprise in Haier-Ruba Industrial Park. We’d rather call it Haier’s production base than an industrial park. There was still a long way to the expected comprehensive industrial park with industrial clusters of such industries as household appliance， automobile， textile， building materials and chemical engineering.

When the reporter asked why， Hu Ganggang thought for a while and told the reporter that only enterprises were not enough to attract more enterprises to invest here， the support of local governments was also needed， and tax polices， land expropriation， power supply and other supporting facilities should follow up.

It is gratifying that at the beginning of this year， Haier-Ruba Industrial Park submitted an application to upgrade the industrial park to a special economic zone to the relevant authorities in the government of Pakistan and hoped that the preferential tax policies for the special economic zones would be implemented before the start of Phase II of the industrial park. Only when Haier-Ruba Special Economic Zone deserves its name could the development of the industrial park be accelerated and the employment be improved. This will also help Phase II of the industrial park to introduce more investment in various fields.

More encouragingly news is that in this January， China and Pakistan agreed to identify the year of 2019 as the “Pakistan-China Industrial Cooperation Year” and signed a memorandum of understanding on industrial cooperation. As an important carrier of industrial cooperation， the special economic zone has evident advantages in accelerating the industrialization of Pakistan， providing a large number of long-term and stable jobs to surrounding communities， increasing tax revenues of local governments， and bringing about sustainable bilateral cooperation.

In 2016， Pakistan planed to set up 46 special economic zones along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor （CPEC）， and listed 9 prioritized special economic zones at the 6th Joint Commission of CPEC （JCC） in the main provinces and regions of Pakistan like Sindh， Balochistan， Punjab， KPK， all arranged a special economic zone. However， in terms of progress， only the Rashakai Special Economic Zone in KPK has entered the stage of construction， and the other eight are still in the stage of feasibility study， and the progress is somewhat unsatisfactory.

On the other hand， Pakistan has formed some industrial clusters. Just take Punjab as an example： it has formed industrial clusters of garment manufacturing in Faisalabad， household appliances in the Haier-Ruba industrial park in Lahore， surgical supplies in Sialkot and ceramics in Gujarat. As shown in the map， these four cities are all located in the east of Punjab， and close to each other， and can also form the effect of linkage. These industrial clusters can not only provide some experience for the development of other special economic zones， but also boost the efficiency of investment promotion in the special economic zone.

At the same time， Haier-Ruba Industrial Park is not far from the already established Punjab M3 Special Economic Zone. These are favorable conditions for upgrading Haier-Ruba Industrial Park to a special economic zone and supporting the industrial development of Pakistan.

“Our government and people sincerely welcome Chinese investors to invest in Pakistan. Our Prime Minister has also met Chinese investors and talked about Chinese companies for many times，” Javed Afridi， President of the Pakistani side of Haier’s factory in Pakistan and general manager of JW Group， told the reporter. However， to attract foreign investment， preparing and implementing attractive investment policies are the most sincere conditions provided by the government to foreign investors， which will not only help stimulate the domestic economy of Pakistan， but also improve the welfare of its people.