ZAP // O.R.G.
Guan Yuxiang, the “Queen of Cans”, founded ORG Packaging Co. Ltd after retiring (composition)
After a setback in his first industrial project, Guan began to see failures as indispensable steps on the path to success.
The Chinese businesswoman Guan Yuxiang He built from scratch, after retiring, an empire in the production of beverage cans — a feat that earned him the epithets “Queen of Cans” and “the biggest retired worker” in the country.
Born in 1939, in Shenyang, Liaoning province, in northeast China, Guan started working in a factory in Beijing at the age of 19. Like many of his generation, dedicated three decades of his life to the same company, before retiring at 50.
But, unlike those who choose a peaceful retirement, Guan decided to launch a new business project, says . He started by creating a small company to produce measuring instruments and apparatus of various physical magnitudes — but the venture ended up failing.
Convinced that failures are stepping stones to success, Guan didn’t give up; on the contrary, he began to study the market carefully. In 1994, during a trip to the island province of Hainan, in the south of the country, Guan noticed that the region concentrated numerous soft drink factories. He also noted that the packaging materials used were, above all, imported from Taiwan and South Korea.
Determined, she managed to raise 300 thousand yuan (around 35 thousand euros) and founded, in Hainan, . (ORG).
The company purchased its first can manufacturing equipment in Taiwan. The seller, however, refused to provide technical information associated with machines, claiming that it would be too complex to be understood. Later, Guan said that the experience clearly revealed to him the importance of technology.
In 1995, when the Red Bull entered the Chinese marketGuan and his team made 41 visits to the companyuntil they manage to convince her to hire their services.
Red Bull agreed to let ORG produce the cans, as long as it implemented a powder coating technique — an international standard, but then unknown among Chinese beverage can manufacturers. Guan mortgaged the factory to import this technology from Singapore.
One successful order paved the way for many moreand the ORG became supplier of cans for major brands chinese. The partnership between ORG and Red Bull has thrived over three decades.
O.R.G.
Guan Yuxiang created a charitable foundation to support students in need, and has donated more than 20 million yuan (about 2.5 million euros)
Under Guan’s leadership, the company invested persistently in research and development of new technologies, which resulted in more than 100 patents held by the firm. Over 30 years, ORG went from a workshop with 16 people to a company listed on the stock exchangewith more than 4 thousand workers.
Since 2020, the company’s annual sales volume has consistently exceeded 10 billion yuan (around 1.2 billion euros), and has consolidated its reputation as a leader in the sector.
In addition to business success, Guan dedicated to the public good. He created a charitable foundation to support needy students and has already donated more than 20 million yuan, around 2.5 million euros.
But what is the big secret to your success? Guan argues that no one should leave limit by age. “Aging is a natural law that no one can escape, but What truly defines a person is their attitude, their passion and its virtue”, says the “Queen of Cans” from Shenyang.
