Profile
Curie
Chen is the President
of Fuyao Group, in charge
of
Fuyao’s
global
Automotive Replacement
Glass (ARG) business.
He
joined Fuyao Group
in
1989 after graduating from
Beihang
University
with a
major
in Computer Management
Information System.
Having
served as
Vice
President of Fuyao Group
since 1994, he has
devoted
most of
his
career to overseeing the
sales of Fuyao’s
automotive
replacement
glass. Under his
leadership, Fuyao Group has
become
a
leading supplier in
the
global automotive
replacement glass
market.
He also
boasts
extensive experience
in quality system
management,
supply
chain
management, overseas
operation management in China,
and
original
equipment
manufacturing
(OEM)
business.
China ranks as the world’s largest single
new
vehicle
market.
In 2023, China
further became the world’s
largest
automobile
exporter, marking a milestone achievement.
As
a
genuine
automotive
powerhouse, China has brought
its
vehicle
manufacturing
technology and quality up to
international
standards.
China also has the world’s largest vehicle parc
with
an
average
vehicle age of
approximately 6.5 years. In
contrast,
the
average
vehicle age in
North America and the EU, the
second
and
third
largest
markets, stands
at 10 years. This makes
China’s
automotive
aftermarket the most dynamic and valuable
market
with
enormous
development
potential for industry
participants.
The
auto
parts
industry,
including automotive glass
manufacturers,
has
achieved remarkable growth over the past two
decades.
Beyond
OEM
supporting
business, the market scale of
automotive
glass
maintenance,
replacement and calibration in the
aftermarket
has
exceeded
30
billion
RMB.
The
booming
development
of China’s automotive industry
has
driven
technological innovation and
continuous
manufacturing
upgrading among auto parts suppliers,
delivering
impressive
progress
in automation, intelligence,
electrification
and
lightweight
technology. Adhering to the mission of
“setting
a
benchmark
for
professional automotive
suppliers”
and
“producing
domestic automotive glass for
Chinese
consumers”,
Fuyao
Group has grown into the world’s
largest
automotive
glass
supplier and a leader in
technological
innovation,
making
tremendous contributions to the development
of
the
global
automotive
industry. Against this backdrop,
China
has
rapidly
formed a
huge automotive aftermarket,
yet
faces
mismatched
industrial development. The
automotive
replacement
glass
market is flooded with substandard
and
counterfeit
products, posing severe threats to
consumer
safety.
Automotive
glass is a structural safety component of
vehicles.
Fuyao
delivers
high-quality automotive glass that completes
99%
of
the
safety
guarantee, while standardized
and
qualified
installation serves as the final critical step to
ensure
the
safety of
vehicle owners and passengers. Although Fuyao
is
a
well-known
brand at home and abroad, consumers
struggle
to
obtain
genuine
Fuyao glass in the chaotic
aftermarket
filled
with
counterfeits.
Most
participants across the industrial
chain,
including
top-tier insurance companies, legitimate
automotive
glass
manufacturers represented by Fuyao, as well
as
downstream
wholesalers and installation stores, are
facing
meager
profits or even losses. Such market mismatch calls
for
an
urgent
industrial transformation,
covering
stricter
product quality supervision, digitalized
supply
chain
management, standardized installation procedures,
and
a
fair and
compliant competitive
environment.
Therefore,
building a healthy and efficient
automotive
glass
aftermarket is of great
necessity.
At
the
2nd
2023 CARG Automotive Glass Forum held
on
November
18, Curie Chen, President of Fuyao ARG
Group,
delivered
a keynote speech themed
"Digitalization,
Product,
Service and Responsibility".
He
comprehensively
introduced the CARG (China Automotive
Replacement
Glass
Standard Coding System) platform and its
vision
of
establishing standardized operation modes
for
the
automotive aftermarket. He stated that CARG
aims
to
formulate unified industrial standards
for
the
automotive replacement glass sector,
improve
operational
efficiency and digital management
capabilities,
and
support the construction of a
digital
China.
As
an
industry leader, Fuyao Group
upholds
craftsmanship
spirit and builds its brand image
with
integrity,
premium products, superior quality
and
high-standard
taste. It continuously extends the
industrial
chain
and expands the functional boundaries
of
automotive
glass, striving to set a benchmark
for
professional
automotive suppliers. To explore how
Fuyao
safeguards
consumer quality in the aftermarket,
promotes
digital
and standardized supply chain
reform,
facilitates
insurance industry upgrading and
improves
automotive
glass safety regulations, and leads
the
industrial
development, our reporter conducted
an
exclusive
interview with Curie Chen, President of
Fuyao
ARG
Group.
Complete the
Final Mile: Standardized
Glass
Installation
Safeguards
Consumer
Safety
Reporter: Fuyao is a world-renowned
automotive
glass
manufacturer, and
the
CARG event serves as a
professional
skills
competition
for
automotive glass
installation. As one of
the
organizers, what is
your
original intention for
launching this event?
Curie Chen: Our original intention is
to
deliver
genuine
Fuyao
automotive glass and
ensure the safe travel of
vehicle
owners
and
passengers. To achieve
this goal, we must complete
the
full
industrial
chain
covering 99% of supply
chain procedures and the
final
mile of
standardized
installation.
Fuyao manufactures
top-tier
products,
yet
premium products cannot
function properly
without
standardized
installation. It
is just like painting a wall
with
exquisite paint on
an
uneven base; the paint
will eventually peel
off.
Improper
installation
will lead to
severe safety
risks.
Standardized
installation has two core requirements. First,
installation
and
replacement must
be
completed by
qualified
professional
technicians
in strict
accordance with official
procedures.
Second,
qualified
automotive
polyurethane adhesives and
auxiliary
materials
must
be adopted. Ordinary
window adhesives
and
professional
automotive
adhesives differ greatly in
price
(nearly
20 times gap)
and
performance. As
high-speed moving
vehicles,
automobiles
impose extremely
strict requirements on
adhesive
stability.
Improper
installation may seem fine visually,
but
it
will lead to
severe
safety hazards in
collisions, such as
glass
detachment,
airbag
failure and passenger
forward impact,
causing
serious
personal
injury.
Therefore,
in
addition to providing qualified premium
automotive
glass
for consumers,
Fuyao cooperates
with Yida Daka,
a
professional
automotive
glass aftermarket
service provider,
to
formulate
unified
installation service
standards
and
technician
certification
systems. This guarantees the quality
of
the
final service
procedure and fully
protects
consumer
safety.
Reporter: Currently,
counterfeit
and
substandard
products
flood the automotive glass
market
and
harm
consumer interests.
What measures has Fuyao
taken
to
optimize
aftermarket
services? What core
guarantees
can
genuine
Fuyao glass bring
to
consumers?
Curie Chen: Both
Chinese
national
standards and
international regulations
require
automotive glass
logos and marks,
including
manufacturer
trademarks, certification
numbers,
production dates and
batches, to be
permanently
printed and
non-removable. This enables
manufacturer
identification
and permanent traceability
for
manufacturing
defect
accountability.
Unscrupulous manufacturers
use
low-temperature
removable black ink to print fake logos
to
evade
supervision
during production,
circulation
and
warehousing. Store
technicians will wipe off
these
fake marks with
alcohol before
installation,
counterfeiting Fuyao or original OEM
glass
to
defraud consumers
and insurance companies
for
illegal profits,
with some 4S stores also
involved
in such
irregular
practices.
Fuyao
equips every piece of aftermarket windshield glass
sold
in
China with
a
unique
permanent
anti-counterfeiting
traceability code. The code integrates
full
production
data,
wholesale and retail
sales information.
Once
installation
is completed,
technicians will lock the
code
on
Fuyao’s
cloud digital
platform, making the
glass
non-replicable. Any
identical code appearing in
the
market
afterwards
is confirmed
counterfeit. Furthermore,
the
traceability
code is bound
with certified store
numbers
and
technician IDs, forming a
fully closed-loop
traceable
system
covering the entire
industrial
chain.
Consumers
can simply scan the QR code via WeChat to
verify
the
authenticity of Fuyao
glass. Insurance companies
can
trace
corresponding stores,
technicians and
suppliers
through claim
record codes to clarify
product
and
service
liabilities without
omission. It
is
impractical for insurance
companies to verify tens
of
thousands
of auto parts
across over 4,000
vehicle
models manually.
Fuyao Group provides lifelong
quality
accountability for
any manufacturing defects
of
genuine
Fuyao
glass.
Due
to insufficient professional
knowledge
of
automotive glass,
consumers tend to blindly
rely
on
original OEM parts,
creating opportunities
for
counterfeit
manufacturers. By
consistently
delivering
high-quality products, Fuyao
aims
to
build
reliable brand trust
across the
entire
market.
With
over
30 years of extensive
OEM
supporting
experience
and strong
manufacturing
capabilities,
Fuyao
provides aftermarket glass products
with
the
same
quality standards as
original OEM
parts.
It
adopts
unified management systems
for
raw
material
procurement,
production
technology,
manufacturing
equipment,
process control and
quality
inspection
for
both OEM and aftermarket
supplies.
Fuyao
commits
to manufacturing every piece of
glass
with
rigorous
standards. Cooperating with Yida
Daka,
it
promotes
standardized, normalized
and
digitalized
installation
and store management,
ensuring
travel
safety
for consumers and effective
risk
control
for
insurance
companies.
Fuyao’s
aftermarket
automotive glass
implements
a
one-item-one-code
anti-counterfeiting
traceability
system,
enabling
permanent
traceability
throughout
production,
circulation
and installation.
Fuyao
takes
lifelong
responsibility
for
product
manufacturing
defects,
completely
curbing
counterfeit
and
substandard
glass
products.
Promote Supply Chain
Digitalization
&
Standardization to
Reduce Costs and Improve
Efficiency
Reporter: What measures
has
Fuyao
taken to promote the
digitalization
and
standardization of the
automotive glass
supply
chain?
Curie Chen: First
of
all,
CARG serves as the
unique identity system
for
China’s automotive
replacement glass
industry.
Integrating Fuyao’s
product and
technology
data accumulated
over 30 years, the
CARG
system creates an
exclusive digital ID
for
every piece of automotive
glass covering
all
mainstream vehicle models
in China.
It
realizes full closed-loop
supply
chain
management from product
development,
BOM
management, production
tracking and
inventory
control to store
distribution. As
the
foundation of digital
management for
China’s
automotive glass
industry, CARG also
supports
digital claim
settlement for
insurance
companies. Unlike
4S stores with
isolated
manufacturer data
barriers, CARG provides
a
one-stop comprehensive data
platform for
the
entire
industry.
Secondly,
CARG acts as a global unified
identity
system for
automotive glass. Fuyao
has
interconnected Chinese
coding
standards
with U.S. and
European coding
systems,
covering glass
specifications for over
80%
of vehicles in the global
vehicle parc.
As
a one-of-a-kind platform
in the
global
automotive
aftermarket, CARG has
become
the core standard for
global
automotive
glass supply chain
and
installation
services. No
platform or enterprise
can
claim global coverage
without
accessing
the
CARG
system.
Thirdly,
before installation, each CARG
code
simplifies supply
chain
circulation
without requiring
excessive
manual
verification,
greatly
improving
operational
efficiency. During
installation, the system
connects
service stores, TPA
call centers
and
vehicle information
accurately.
It
stores comprehensive
data
including
vehicle images,
glass
dimensions,
colors,
installation positions
and
functional accessories.
Consumers
only
need to provide basic
vehicle
information to
confirm the
exact
required glass with an
accuracy
rate
exceeding 97%,
shortening
service
waiting time and
reducing
implicit
losses caused
by
misidentification,
repeated
delivery,
reinstallation,
recalibration
and
re-compensation.
Fuyao is
also advancing AI
application, and vehicle and
glass
scanning identification
will
be
realized in the
near
future.
Fourthly,
accurate and efficient product
identification reduces overall
operational costs, especially
for
insurance
companies.
Previously,
insurance
companies had to
maintain
massive databases of
tens
of thousands of auto
parts and
deploy nationwide
survey teams
for
repeated verification,
which
easily caused judgment
errors,
improper claim
settlement and
insurance
fraud. Now, the
full-brand
and full-model CARG
database
enables intelligent
and
efficient
product
identification.
Every
aftermarket Fuyao glass
is
equipped with an
exclusive
CARG
code to eliminate
insurance
fraud.
With professional
third-party
TPA
institutions
undertaking
survey,
damage assessment,
maintenance
and
claim settlement
work,
insurance
companies’
operational costs
are
greatly
reduced.
Finally,
unified CARG coding and
systematic digital platforms
realize standardized,
transparent and efficient
product pricing. One code
corresponds to one product and
one standard price. In the
past, stores needed to send
texts and photos to
distributors for quotation,
leading to time-consuming
communication and customer
loss. Now, merchants can
obtain standard prices
instantly with only a CARG
code. Previously, insurance
companies had to inquire
prices from tens of thousands
of service providers
nationwide due to inconsistent
coding standards. Based on
CARG system, our partner Yida
Daka has formulated unified
national service prices and
realized instant systematic
quotation. This mature model
has been applied in North
America for 70 years, and
Fuyao is continuously
promoting its popularization
and upgrading in
China.
In
short, the CARG coding
system
serves as the
fundamental
infrastructure
of the
automotive glass
supply
chain. Fuyao
promotes
the
popularization of
CARG
among industrial
partners
including
insurance
companies,
distributors,
service stores
and peer
enterprises, helping
the
entire industry
improve
digital
management
efficiency and
achieve
iterative
progress.
Reporter:
This year’s automotive
glass
skills
competition has
added
ADAS calibration
to
official
evaluation
criteria for the
first
time, while
most
ordinary
vehicle
owners are
unfamiliar
with this
procedure.
What is
the
significance of
this
innovative
competition
rule?
Curie
Chen:
Over 70% of
newly
launched
vehicles
this year
are
equipped
with
front-facing
cameras
and
Advanced
Driver
Assistance
Systems
(ADAS). It
is
estimated
that
almost all
new
vehicles will
be
equipped with
ADAS
functions in
the
next 5 to
10
years.
ADAS
is
the
foundational
technology
for
fully
autonomous
driving.
Common
functions such
as
forward
collision
warning,
lane
keeping assist
and
lane
departure
warning rely
on
front
windshield
cameras to
collect
external
road
information
for
vehicle
computer
analysis and
risk
alert.
This
requires
the
windshield
to
ensure zero
signal
attenuation
and
distortion,
avoiding
misjudgment
by the
vehicle
control
system.
This
puts
forward
stricter
requirements
for
glass
manufacturers
and
installation
technicians.
On
the
one
hand,
manufacturers
must
have
OEM-level
manufacturing
capabilities.
The
float
glass
formula,
surface
profile
and
optical
performance
must
meet
ADAS
design
standards,
and
factory-fitted
camera
brackets
must
ensure
accurate
installation.
On
the other
hand,
camera
disassembly
and
reinstallation
during
glass
replacement
will
change
the
original
benchmark
parameters.
ADAS
calibration
is
therefore
mandatory,
just
like
zeroing
an
electronic
scale.
Without
calibration,
the
system may
display
a
50-meter
obstacle
distance
while
the
actual
distance
is
only
10
meters,
leading
to
delayed
braking
and
traffic
accidents.
Uncalibrated
ADAS
systems
are
a
potential
safety
hazard
for
vehicle
owners.
With
the
maturity
of
ADAS
technology,
supporting
traffic
regulations,
insurance
policies,
as
well
as
vehicle
and
parts
manufacturing
&
maintenance
standards
require
continuous
revision
and
upgrading.
In
mature
European
and
American
aftermarket
markets,
insurance
companies
fully
mandate
ADAS
recalibration
after
windshield
replacement
with
standardized
compensation
fees
of
150
to
250
US
dollars
per
time.
Insurance
liability
covers
not
only
product
replacement,
but
also
professional
standardized
services
to
restore
vehicles
to
factory
conditions.
Insurance
companies
bear
primary
legal
responsibility
for
vehicle
post-maintenance
safety.
After
China’s
2020
auto
insurance
reform,
glass
insurance
was
incorporated
into
vehicle
damage
insurance,
making
insurance
companies
fully
liable
for
glass-related
claims.
However,
most
domestic
insurance
companies
have
not
recognized
the
critical
correlation
between
glass
replacement
and
ADAS
calibration,
nor
the
corresponding
legal
liabilities.
ADAS
calibration
costs
are
not
included
in
standard
claim
items,
leaving
hundreds
of
millions
of
vehicle
owners
facing
potential
safety
risks.
Through
the
national
CARG
skills
competition,
Fuyao
calls
for
industrial
attention
to
incorporate
ADAS
calibration
into
standard
insurance
claims,
promote
full
equipment
deployment
and
capability
improvement
among
service
stores,
and
consolidate
the
final
safety
barrier
for
consumers.
Empower
Industrial
Exchange
&
Undertake
Social
Responsibility
Reporter:
The
CARG
event
includes
not
only
glass
installation,
repair
and
ADAS
calibration
competitions,
but
also
industrial
forums
and
supply
chain
exhibitions.
Participants
cover
glass
dealers,
service
stores,
insurance
companies,
vehicle
manufacturers
and
suppliers.
What
core
concept
do
you
intend
to
convey
to
the
market
through
this
event?
Curie
Chen:
The
industrial
pain
points
we
discussed
require
standardized
and
digitalized
transformation,
which
is
an
irreversible
industrial
trend
that
greatly
improves
supply
chain
efficiency.
Such
transformation
cannot
be
achieved
by
a
single
party,
but
requires
joint
efforts
and
social
responsibility
commitment
from
all
industrial
participants.
The
CARG
event
builds
a
high-quality
communication
and
exhibition
platform
to
showcase
Fuyao’s
long-term
efforts
and
enhance
mutual
understanding
among
stakeholders.
It
also
helps
the
public
recognize
that
consumer
safety
relies
on
qualified
glass
manufacturers,
professional
installers,
standardized
auxiliary
material
and
equipment
suppliers,
as
well
as
proper
guidance
from
insurance
companies
and
vehicle
manufacturers.
Held
biennially,
the
CARG
event
has
grown
from
exploratory
attempts
to
mature
operation,
gaining
wide
recognition
across
the
industry
and
terminal
market.
This
year’s
participants
include
thousands
of
national
dealers
and
technicians,
Fortune
500
material
and
equipment
suppliers,
overseas
partners,
international
professional
automotive
glass
service
providers,
as
well
as
insurance
companies
covering
over
80%
of
China’s
auto
insurance
market
and
mainstream
vehicle
manufacturers.
The
event
strengthens
our
confidence
in
industrial
reform,
promotes
the
exchange
of
advanced
domestic
and
international
concepts,
models
and
technologies,
and
accelerates
domestic
industrial
innovation
and
upgrading.
I
firmly
believe
that
the
automotive
glass
industry
will
embrace
a
brighter
future,
and
I
am
fully
confident
about
its
development!
Reprinted
from
People’s
Transportation
Network
