Quality Alchemist (品質煉金術師): HKSQ Seminar - A Strategic Direction for Hong Kong Wine Industry

HKSQ had arranged a seminar belong to Quality Life Series named "A Strategic Direction for Hong Kong Wine Industry on 25 January 2014 (after the workshop for Oyster Shucking and Wine Pairing). The seminar featured a blueprint for the development of Hong Kong as a supply hub of wines that beared the hallmarks of quality, value and innovation. Its characteristics were imperative to meeting consumer demands of the 21st Century and paramount to transforming the existing operational practices into a success industry formula. We were honor to invite three speakers for the seminar. In the beginning, Mr. Jack Ting (HKSQ Exco member) introduced speakers background and topic.

Then I introduced Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) background, mission and activities.

The first speaker was Mr. Eden Wong (General Manager, VplusU Company Limited) and his topic entitled "Current Challenges and Issues Relating to Wine Quality Assurance in Hong Kong and China: Retailers' Perspective".

People said Maotai (茅台) was Liquid GOLD and Wine (Grape Wine) was Liquid RUBY. Eden introduced wine trade's characteristics such as "Low Entry Barrier", "High Profit Margin", "Storable Commodities", and "Tax Free to re-export wine to China". Then Eden discussed the wine market in Hong Kong and China. It was observed that the wine import was increased significantly in Hong Kong since 2005. Six Major countries' wine import into China were discussed and they were France, Australia, Spain, Chile, Italy and US.

After that Eden explained the current challenges such as Retailer; and discussed about Quality Assurance included Product and Service Quality.

The following diagrams showed the type of Grape Wine (e.g. Markety Type, Geographic Segment, Grape and Product Category) and Old & New World map.

Finally, he mentioned the challenges in Hong Kong and China. He quoted HOFEX 2011 that average consumer wine knowledge in Hong Kong was still at least 15 years behind Australia. He also stated the different in Guangdong and Shanghai Wine Culture that less than 10% white wine imported in South China; but more than 55% white wine imported in Shanghai. Eden concluded that challenges were coming from: (i) Consumer lacks of experience to appreciate the wines and hence lower the purchase desire; and (ii) Retailer lacks of product knowledge to understand the market demand and hence weakening the sales performance.

Eden introduced Collection Wines' Values: Finest, Rarest, Craftwork, History and Collection; and its Vintage, Oak Aging and Complexity.

The second speaker was Mr. Andrew Yu (Solution Development Manager, GS1 Hong Kong) and his topic named "To Enhance the Image and Reputation of Hong Kong Wine Industry: Wine Standard, Quality Certification and Best Practices". His presentation included counterfeiting, cases sharing - France-China Wine Traceability and SIMS Trading "Scan and Share".

Andrew said Hong Kong Government Policy to retain the position as a Asia Wine Hub through fortifying the certification scheme for wine storage facilities, manpower training and eduction (e.g. HKQAA - Hong Kong Wine Registration Scheme & Wine Storage Management Systems Certification Scheme); Facilitating the movement of wine imports into the Mainland; and Combating counterfeits.

Then he mentioned some solution to cope with counterfeiting such as Variable Data (Data on every security label was different and was randomized); Just-In-Time Association (Label printer didn't know which label you would use for the product); and Interactive (Consumer could have more interactive indication during authenticate the product). The following diagram showed an interested solution.

For case sharing, Andrew used "France-China Wine Traceability as sample to explain the objectives to protect country's interest by reducing illegal wine smuggling and uplift inspection accuracy, to protect business interest by reducing number of inspection sample and streamline custom clearance; as well as, to protect consumers interest by preventing counterfeits found in market.

Another case sharing was SIMS Trading "Scan & Share" which objectives were to provide an interactive and fun experience for consumer; to increase brand awareness; as well as, to gain market insights.

Mr. Adam Kwan (Assistant VP, Technology Development, PCCW) was the last speaker and his presentation was "To Improve the Profitability of Vineyard and Wine Business: Technology Adoption for Wine Quality Assurance". Adam's talk included Introduction of RFID, Technology Adoption for Wine - Warehouse, Cold Chain & ezTRACK, as well as other RFID application for Supply Chain Management.

Firstly, Adam introduced the RFID tag and its types included Passive tag, BAP/Active tag with Conditional sensor and Active tag.

The applications of special passive tag were demonstrated in the following diagram and samples. The tag's frequency decided its application such as LF (125/134 kHz) used as animal tagging for access control; HF (13.56 MHz) used as Smart card (e.g. Octopus) and also for access control; UHF (860-960 MHz) used as Supply Chain for Burglar alarm system (e.g. Airport Luggage Tracking); and Microwave (2.4 GHz) used as Electronic toll collection (e.g. Autotoll).

Then Adam shared an implementation case that the furnished & secure 10,000sf cellar (VIP & General Storage) accommodates 80,000 bottles of fine wine. The industry issues and challenges were mentioned and four problem should be resolved such as risk of mixed wine, loss of wine, operation efficient and goodwill.

The RFID enabled Wine Management System was introduced from receiving to delivery. Its benefits included Enhanced Accuracy Security, Marketing Effect, Future Proof & Scalability, and Enhanced Operations Efficiency & Productivity.