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A history of the modern Chinese fireworks industry and Progress Pyro's fireworks factories:

Let me begin with a brief introduction of the history of the Chinese fireworks industry over the last fifteen years. This introduction will help you understand how the industry works and why we believe Progress Pyro can help you in your business.

THE COMMUNIST DAYS: Fifteen years ago China's fireworks factories were still operating under the old communist system. Fireworks factories acted as the social provider for whole towns. Fireworks factories were responsible for the schools, the hospitals, and houses. This was not unlike the old Company Towns back in the days of the industrial revolution. The only difference was that in the communist system, the fireworks factories did not have owners and they did not get to keep the money. In fact, under the old system, the fireworks factory had no rights to sell. Selling rights belonged to "Import/Export (I/E)" companies. Fifteen years ago, China's fireworks exports were just beginning again after more than half a century of isolation. This fact, combined with the language barrier, made it almost impossible for the "I/E" companies to conduct business directly with the rest of the world. However, Chinese that had escaped mainland China for Hong Kong, had kept an open relationship with the rest of the world and were expert traders. Thus, the fireworks industry began with this complex chain of "middle men" between the buyer and the fireworks factory. The old brands that you might be familiar with like "Horse Brand" or "Temple", did not belong to any one fireworks factory, but to a regional "I/E" company. For example, Horse Brand shells were made in fireworks factories in the south of China and Temple Brand was made in the north, near Beijing.

THE MIDDLEMEN AND POOR QUALITY: This old system resulted in several very important characteristics of fireworks in those early years. First off, the product quality was generally poor. The reason for this was twofold. First, the complex chain of middlemen between the buyer and the fireworks factory resulted in very poor communication back to the fireworks factories. Second, there was an incentive for the Hong Kong broker to sell to the buyer at the highest price and then shop around to the fireworks factories to get the lowest price. Without a clear voice from the customer the fireworks factories did what was logical, and reduced their cost to make the cheapest fireworks possible. This era lasted for several years with cheaper and cheaper prices, but also poorer and poorer quality. I can vividly recall a whole season where at least one "Jumping Jack Brand" shell per show would flowerpot in the gun. This was before electrical firing was widely used and unfortunately, I have more than one friend that has been seriously injured by these malfunctioning products.

PRIVATE fireworks factory OWNERSHIP: About eight years ago, China began to implement a strategy of economic modernization. This took on two forms. One was the privatization of fireworks factories. The old fireworks factories that were owned by the local government were literally put up for sale. Many were purchased by industrious employees who begged and borrowed start-up money from friends and family. The second change was that certain larger fireworks factories were now given the right to begin selling their products directly, skipping the old "I/E" companies. For those fireworks factories that did not receive direct export rights, they were now allowed to shop around and choose any "I/E" company to help them export their goods.

fireworks factories FOCUS ON QUALITY, NOT MARKETING: With the fireworks factories now being privately owned, the profit motive began to work in a positive way as fireworks factories soon realized that producing quality products was the best way to secure orders. The old Hong Kong brokers had a tougher and tougher time as foreign buyers became more familiar with China and some Chinese fireworks factories hired English speaking salesmen and began traveling to the US and Europe. However, running a fireworks fireworks factory in China is not an easy job, and in fact most of the fireworks factories in China do not actively market their products directly to end users, but rather choose to focus on the complexities of running a large fireworks factory. Chemical quality needs to be tested, complex logistics need to be managed with thousands of orders, and hundreds of employees need to be coordinated to ensure a consistent, high quality product. The best fireworks factories are amazing. The span thousands of acres, have hundreds of employees and produce more than a container load of fireworks each day!!

THE RAISE OF THE MARKETING COMPANY: So a new breed of "broker" or "marketing" company grew in the last 10 years. These are the companies that many of you will be familiar with today, and may have mistaken as fireworks factories. One thing that I feel is misleading, is that many of these marketing companies suggest that they are fireworks factories. In fact, they are not. They do provide a valuable service, but they typically do not own any fireworks factories. What they do, if they are good, is to search out the best fireworks factories and serve as a messenger between the customer and the fireworks factory. They are also experts in the logistics of international trade and the hundreds of details in fireworks that nobody thinks about, like printing the logos on the shipping cartons, or getting the spelling correct on the warning label. They also serve the very valuable role of consolidating product from more than one fireworks factory. fireworks factories in China tend to specialize. The become good at one thing like "rockets" or "multi-shots" and then focus. Because of this, you will need to buy from several different fireworks factories. A good marketing company establishes contacts with several fireworks factories to ensure that you have the variety that you need. However, the marketing companies are successful only if they can maintain good relationships with the best run fireworks factories.

SO MANY fireworks factories, WHICH ONE IS MANUFACTURING YOUR PRODUCT? Currently, there are over 1,500 fireworks factories in Liu Yang city alone. Many of these 1,500 fireworks factories are new fireworks factories hoping to cash in on the growth of the fireworks trade. However, of these 1,500, only a handful produce 90% of the high quality products that you now see in the market. And the reason is that these few fireworks factories are much better run than all the rest. These fireworks factories are run by the most industrious, hardest working, fireworks experts that you will ever know. These few fireworks factories are the fireworks factories that everyone wants to buy from, but often only the largest buyers can command these fireworks factories attention.

NOT ALL MARKETING COMPANIES WERE CREATED EQUALLY: In addition to the 1,500 fireworks factories, there are hundreds of "marketing companies". These are the companies that send you e-mails, come to the fireworks conventions, put up billboards on the highway to Liu Yang, etc. They are hoping to convince you that they can sell you better and cheaper fireworks. The truth is that most of these "marketing companies" are not fireworks factories, operate out of a small office, and do not have the needed contacts or clout to get the attention of the best fireworks factories. They buy enough high quality fireworks to shoot a demo and then who knows who they will choose to buy from for your order. Also, they typically are not experts in fireworks manufacturing and therefore put most of their focus on marketing.

MY PRODUCT IS NOT AS GOOD THIS YEAR AS LAST YEAR, WHY? The sales focus of the marketing companies and the large number of poor quality small fireworks factories, create the circumstances that leads to the inconsistent quality that you see coming out of China even today, even when you buy from the "biggest", most well known names. Your product may have the same brand name as last year, but it may not be made at the same fireworks factory.

PROGRESS PYRO, THE SALES PITCH: So now comes our sales pitch. Progress Pryo will not pretend that we are a "fireworks factory". However, we will tell you that we have worked hard to locate the best fireworks factories in China and to establish the relationships with these fireworks factories to ensure that your order is given the highest priority. These fireworks factories are the "expert" fireworks factories that only focus on manufacturing. They don't have English speaking salesmen and they don't waste their time or money marketing. Their quality is so well know among the insiders, that their production is booked a year in advance. You could spend the money to travel to China, and to hire an independent interpreter, and to sift through the thousands of fireworks factories across China, then invest serious money to buy in container quantity, and maybe you might get lucky. Or you might get burned. Maybe you have already been doing this for years and find that there are many things that you still don't understand about China. The alternative is to work with Progress Pyro and take advantage of more than 20 years experience in all aspects of the fireworks industry, the technical and business experience to help you solve your most challenging product or service requirements, and the clout in China that only the largest companies have had up till now. Progress Pyro... Always your first choice in fireworks.

Please enjoy some photo's of the fireworks factories owned by our partners and good friends in China:


Fireworks Ball Shells Drying	Multi-shot Fireworks Insert Assembly

Color Star Placement in Small Ball Shells	Fireworks Assembly Buildings

Product Development - Hummers, Serpents and Fish	Samples being made for testing

Progress Pyro is a division of Pyro Innovation, Inc.

e-mail: mailbox@progresspyro.com

Phone: 1-262-347-6510

Please see our line of consumer fireworks at

Dominator Fireworks

Members of APA, AFSL, NFA, PGII, and many regional clubs (WPA, WPAG, etc.)