TCL Electronics CEO Loyal Cheng underscored the company's global growth, commitment to sustainability, and customer-centric innovation in an afternoon conversation with MB Technews and TCL teams at the Manila Bulletin office in Intramuros. Founded in 1981, TCL is now a dominating force in the consumer electronics industry, with products ranging from TVs and smart home appliances to air conditioners. Their FreshIN Series technology is unique to TCL, which refreshes indoor air, making it a leader among global air conditioner manufacturers. In line with its eco-conscious values, TCL adheres to green manufacturing practices and a low-waste supply chain. With recent expansions, including a refrigerator manufacturing facility, TCL has amplified its market presence, witnessing an 87% sales increase due to strategic marketing. Cheng highlighted TCL's mission to become a preferred brand in the home appliances sector, especially in the Philippines, through affordable, cutting-edge products. TCL also plans to introduce IoT products, furthering its reach into the smart home ecosystem. They hope to become a leading brand in the IoT industry, looking to integrate more home appliances with IoT functionality. TCL aims to leverage its technology and sustainable solutions for the benefit of the Filipino market and beyond.

TCL Electronics PH CEO Loyal Cheng and Jay Guanzon, Sales Director, Business Development of TCL PH, visited MB for an afternoon of talks and updates. Here's what we talked about while having coffee at Paper+Cup inside the office of the Manila Bulletin in Intramuros. 

Art Samaniego: I heard you are now number one for TV. Can you tell us more about it?

Jay: Actually, we started becoming number one for TV in August of last year, two months after Mr. Loyal came in; we started being number one in total revenue only last April of this year in PH. Global, we are number two. That's why I told everybody we were doing much better than anybody else during our team-building activity. But it's always like that, and PH spearheads change and innovation in the total group. But the pressure is high. Everybody is watching us on what we are doing and how we are doing. Having that kind of privilege keeps us on our toes. Because even there's a small decline is evident in our HQ. We do our best.

Art: What do you think contributed to TCL being number 1? What factors?

Jay: We needed the right products to support our claims. Whatever we do, the market must be embodied by our products, right? So, of course, that's number one. Then number two is our team. Keeping that aside, we are a Chinese company. Chinese's way of doing business is different from the traditional method known by Filipinos, who usually do the American or Japanese way of doing business. In the 2000s, we got exposed to how the Chinese do business. Our team is very small, we are smaller than our competitors in terms of the number of employees, so we really need good employees to occupy the space in the office. If you've been to our office, it's just one floor to house all our employees. We are blessed to have collected this set of people to push forward the challenging market, especially for home entertainment and home appliances here. We still need to catch up in adapting to newer technologies.

Since the market, we like to buy products we are accustomed to and trust already. That's the mindset, and there are established companies that we are contending with. For TV, Koreans are successful in dethroning the Japanese in TV technologies, but then here we come. We were the ones to dethrone these companies. I hope that other Chinese companies can get the market share of other countries' brands so that we can promote the quality of Chinese-made brands. Even our mobile and laptops we are using are now made in China, so we hope to achieve this, but of course, our relationship with our partners also contributed. We have a small employee base compared to our competitors, meaning our partner servicing is more personal. In our recent Grand Summit, we had 400 attendees, employees and representatives of the appliance retailer companies in the PH and the owners who actually attended. From an industry and business perspective, our Grand Summit event is star-studded. 

Our last event was in 2019; we stopped during the pandemic. We didn't do an activity because nobody would like to go. They're still prioritizing their safety. We also have to understand that most of the business owners in the PH are advanced in age, so we were surprised in our recent launch, and SM was there. It's challenging to make SM to attend. That's the secret formula to our success, and we just rarely compare ourselves. This year, we are just proud of what we have achieved, but we try to outdo ourselves from that perspective.

Loyal: I think working harmoniously with the whole team is essential in the Philippines. TCL is grand in efficiency. The passion and the motivation are clearly seen. We are proud of what we have achieved. Maybe next year, the Asia Pacific, our boss will come. We hope to host it soon.

Jay: Before the Grand Summit, we were in Thailand for the Asia Pacific launch event with Mr. Loyal and some sales executives. We were talking that we need to outdo this.  

Art: Also, I heard about the CSR activity you're doing with a government agency.

Jay: We are currently partnering with TESDA and hope to have a long partnership with them. We are donating refrigerators to TESDA for their Food Processing Courses and to help train new aspiring entrepreneurs for Food Processing. 

TESDA, more than being a vocational and technical training school, is for everyone who wants a better chance in life. We are really the direct beneficiary of their trainees, especially for the technical side. But more than that, we would also like the Filipinos to better themselves so that our socio-economy can improve. Because knowing our current facilities, it can always do some help. In TCL, even during the pandemic, we partnered with Red Cross for their wheelchair drive and donated a certain amount of money. Still, we always look for something to give back to the Filipino communities because if not for the support of the Filipino people, our current subsidiary standing won't be here. In our business region, the Philippines is number one. 

Art: How many employees does TCL Philippines have?

Loyal: In TCL Philippines, 200 employees operate different business stations. In total products, 500 service stations nationwide, you don't have to worry about defective units or any servicing concerns that you might have. In electronics, we can't escape that. But we're proud to say that we're keeping it less than 2%, all of our products are less than 2% defective and even in our air conditioners, it's less than .67%—one of the best. You can rest assured that if you buy our products, it will work because some would worry that if you buy the product and don't test it immediately. In-store, it's hard for the sales promoter to close one deal because they have to open the box, try the products, and wait for the customers to be satisfied. Especially for televisions are different from what we know from way back, but now it has to function. TVs have now become the all-in-one display solution. It has become like that, or you're not competitive at all. 

Art: I also heard you have new washing machine technology, can you tell us about it?

Jay: For the honeycomb drum, if you have to emulate washing hands in a washing machine. Now it is done by spinning the drum in a programmed movement to really remove the stains. Where will you scrub the stains and remove the dirt if the drum surface is smooth? So more than reinforcing the stability of the drum structure, it helps remove stains and clean your clothes,

It's a unique feature because it takes a lot of work to do. Imagine we are working on stainless steel here. You cannot be less than that. Because, of course, it's a washing machine. It always has to be with water. It's hard and tempered steel, and we must make these multiple patterns for a lot of quantity because we're supplying this technology globally. That kind of shape takes a lot of work to do. You can visit any appliance store and ask for brands with the same price point as we have. What they do is they just put some holes in a smooth surface drum. That's not enough to put the stains out. 

We try to put as much technology in our products at a more affordable price, and nobody can say that our quality is not good because our defective rate is low, one of the lowest in the market. And we don't give you a headache once you call. You just have to call our service center. It's based in the Philippines, but we cater to other countries.

Art: Another unique feature of your washing machine is the steam wash, dry low temperatures. What are the benefits of this feature?

Jay: Again, the steam wash is a feature you can only find in an expensive combo washer, but with TCL, we made it in a basic inverter washing machine.

If you are used to washing your clothes, "parang binanlian mo". You are very sure that the clothes are clean from bacteria. Before, those who could afford a 60 thousand-peso washing machine could only enjoy that feature. But just in the product launch, we launched our Wash Pro Combo Plus. That's our Combo Plus Washer and Dryer. Meaning when the cycle is done, the clothes are 96-97% dried, "papahanginan mo na lang, tuyo na damit mo". We only priced it at 42,995 SRP. Others sell it at 67K. Honestly, our dealers are trying to outdo each other. So they try to lower the price.

Our Washing Machine can emulate human hand washing, and we made it more efficient and within the reach of ordinary Filipinos. It's an end-to-end thing. We find ways for payment options for our customers. We must find ways to look for as many channels as we can. Available online, offline and everywhere

Art: Let's talk about the TCL refrigerator. What does Fresh Pro Ref do?

Jay: Automatic Anion-releasing Technology or AAT is like a coating inside your refrigerator to clean bacteria that sticks to the surface. We want to ensure that everything you put inside the ref as much as possible stays fresh and is bacteria-free.

This technology is not unique to TCL, but it goes by different names if you go brand by brand. Usually, AAT is only present in more expensive models, but we brought it to the base inverter, no frost ref model for TCL. For technology and innovation, there's only so much we put into already. The word invention is very used. It's about innovating, and what TCL usually does is collect all the more advanced features and find a way to make them more affordable and accessible to everybody. 

Art: What's your strategic plan for rolling out the new range of products

Loyal: In my career, I feel that we can achieve 50% of growth this year. In my so many years of work experience, it's very rare because home appliances is an industry that has normal growth of only 20%. It usually happens for just a year. But we want to achieve the number one home appliances brand for this one.

In doing CSR, we want people to increase their skills and help them to do better in society. Another thing is that we become number one in the Philippines by offering new features coupled with affordability in the Philippine home appliances industry.

We also want to help Filipinos to refresh and upgrade their home appliance, and by doing this, we will become the industry standard.

Art: Do you have collaborations other than TESDA 

Jay: TESDA is our government partner of the year. But we still find other organizations and agencies to help, but we do a lot of CSR even without publication. 

Loyal: Very soon, besides TESDA, we are doing some CSRs to let users understand the industry standard. Right now, we did a collaboration for the refrigerator to give the skills training. So they can experience the product.

I want to tell the users we differ from the old perception and are very aggressive in meeting industry partners. The brand is our future, and how the future sees the brand is very important. 

Art: Do you have a message for Filipinos?

Loyal: I hope we will start the traditional sale so that the user can give TCL another chance to imagine that the brand can give them more. TCL is here to inspire greatness and give users a better life. We want you to buy our products to make your life more beautiful and futuristic through our IOT Connected Life, a new lifestyle TCL Products offers.

Jay: To summarize, if you want the best value for your money with the most updated technology, buy TCL and no other brand.