During the epidemic, small, medium and micro enterprises not only faced the challenge of reducing orders and revenue, but also faced difficulties in financing and increased operating pressure. In this case, how can SMEs break through the bottleneck? What role can financial institutions play?
News reporters recently visited two private traditional manufacturing companies in Jiading District, Shanghai, to find out.
“Multi-pronged approach” to develop sideline business
Shanghai Zunyou Automation Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zunyou Automation) is located in Anting, Jiading District Shanghai International Automobile City Parts Supporting Industrial Park in the town, the predecessor of the company is Shanghai Radio Special Equipment Factory, which is a product of restructuring experiments, and has developed into a typical high-tech, manufacturing and export enterprise in Jiading District.
One of Zunyou Automation’s main business is to make well completion equipment for oil fields. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, the reduction in oil demand and the massive reduction in construction personnel on the oilfield have directly led to the decline in oilfield business.
” Many projects of Zunyou Automation have to be suspended at 30% to 50% of the process, and will not resume until the epidemic is over. This situation is also 10 I met for the first time in this year.” Li Weidong, senior engineer of Zunyou Automation, told the news. 
Photo by reporter Jiang Mengying in Zunyou Factory
In this case, as the lending bank of Zunyou Automation, Postal Savings Bank Shanghai Branch helps small and micro enterprises resume work and production, not only for Zunyou The loan interest rate was lowered, and Zunyou’s automated settlement of public accounts was free of charge. 
Zunyou started the e-cigarette business Photographed by journalist Jiang Mengying
Entering 2021, the global economy is picking up. Zunyou Automation’s production capacity has also been restored to 70% to 80% of the original, but there is another problem-currently 50% of the raw materials of the company need to be imported, but it is difficult to purchase. The reason is that the foreign production capacity is still not up. Recently, the domestic demand is relatively high. The completion tools produced by Zunyou automated production have very high quality requirements, and it takes a long certification process to find alternative materials. There are also many special materials that cannot be replaced, and domestic manufacturers also produce them. Not coming out.
In order to maintain the operation of the enterprise, Zunyou Automation had to “multi-pronged” and developed a number of side businesses. In 2020, the operating income of its side businesses exceeded Main business. Their newly developed “side business” is to get an order from Yunnan Cigarette Factory to make e-cigarettes like paper cigarettes.
Transferring from the Middle East to the domestic subway project
INFINAIR Tongren Fan Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as INFINAIR) is a Shanghai-based company integrating R&D, production, and sales As an integrated supplier of mid-to-high end air supply and exhaust, process ventilation, heating, air purification and other equipment. In 2020, the investment and construction of INFINAIR’s Haimen plant and the shutdown caused by the epidemic have caused a shortage of working capital for INFINAIR’s fans. On the other hand, the global epidemic has a considerable impact on the expansion of INFINAIR’s overseas business, and the company’s internationalization has almost stagnated.
If you set back the time 3 years ago, 2018, it was a very fulfilling year for INFINAIR. In Amman, the capital of Jordan, the establishment of “Infrastructure Arab Co., Ltd.” “It plans to develop Infineon’s business in the Middle East and North Africa markets; also in this year, Infineon successfully won the bid for Xuzhou Metro Line 2. However, under the influence of international friction, INFINAIR’s internationalization plan was also blocked. As a last resort, INFINAIR plunged into the domestic business and won the bids for Beijing Metro Line 17 and Chongqing Metro Line 9 successively in 2019. 
Photographed by Jiang Mengying, a metro fan produced by INFINAIR
For private enterprises, cash flow is the most preciousCompared with domestic business, the advantage of overseas business is that the cash flow is very good, and it is basically cash in stock. Therefore, overseas orders have become the first choice for import and export companies. However, under the double blow of trade friction and the epidemic, the expansion of overseas orders has been hindered, and the pressure on companies’ cash flow has increased sharply.
“Last year was our most difficult time. Because of the epidemic, the company basically did not produce in the first quarter, and the payment in February was only more than 2 million yuan, and the payment in March was also Only three or four million yuan, and our normal monthly expenditure is at least more than 20 million yuan.” Infineon’s financial director Li Yinghong told reporters. 
Starting from 2019, INFINAIR has entered the subway, tunnel, high-speed rail station and other fields. Photo by journalist Jiang Mengying
Starting in 2019, INFINAIR has entered the fields of subways, tunnels, and high-speed railway stations. For example, Beijing Subway Line 17 has a contract of 50 million yuan for the first signing, which requires a lot of advance funds. Infineon has survived the no-repayment loan renewal service provided by the Postal Savings Bank, which means that the loan is overdue without raising funds to return the principal. Taking into account that it was rated as a high-tech enterprise in Shanghai, the Shanghai Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China issued an additional 5 million yuan in “science and technology credit loan” based on the value of the original collateral, effectively eliminating the actual demand for credit lines Difficulties that are difficult to satisfy. This is also the first comprehensive model business of small business real estate mortgage loans by the Shanghai Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China.
Introduced by Li Yinghong, INFINAIR has formulated three 1/3 strategies three years ago, with engineering market accounting for 1/3, supporting facilities accounting for 1/3, and overseas accounting for 1/3. Nowadays, overseas markets are far from the original strategic goal. One third of the goal is 200 million to 300 million yuan. Now it has only achieved one to 20 million yuan, which is far from reaching the goal. However, Li Yinghong also said that from a long-term perspective, the company is still firmly optimistic about the international market. First, the overseas market is particularly broad. Second, the “Belt and Road” initiative brings valuable space. Third, the return of overseas orders is fast for private enterprises. Very attractive.