What Exactly Is the SDG Group? 

On December 12, 2020, MEAN WELL held the book launch of the group's first dedicated publication - The Power of Reliable Partners. This was the first time that its founder Jerry Lin announced the plan to establish the SDG Group to the public. The plan integrated UN Sustainable Development Goals and aimed to build 100 ESG enterprises by 2030. Meanwhile, MEAN WELL has set 2021 as the launching year of the SDG Group, and 2022 as the year to take off.

In order to achieve this goal, MEAN WELL has expanded its business and established two major brands, SHARE WELL and PowerNex, and a number of subsidiaries have been further built underneath. The expansion of the pan-MEAN WELL Group focused mainly on power supply and green energy.

Why did MEAN WELL, which has long been the champion of global standard power supplies, pursue such difficult breakthroughs and develop such a bold transformation plan?

Diversified Development Triggers Unlimited Potential for the SDG Group

Ted Cheng, Overseas CEO of MEAN WELL, noticed that if mature manufacturers of key components wish to grow further, they must embrace diversity, systematically build an ecological chain, and stimulate even more synergies. "It may be possible to reach an annual revenue of USD 2 billion just by selling power supply products, but if we want to grow sustainably, we need a more diversified engine to scale new heights." 

For Jerry Lin, the founder of MEAN WELL Group, what he wants to achieve through the creation of the SDG Group is to inspire the enthusiasm of employees to take the initiative to engage in challenges and form dialogues, measures, and actions.

The SDG Group and its reliable partners jointly built the SDG industrial value network to promote sustainable market economy and share resources among each other and create a better future together.

The starting point of all these strategies comes from the concept of a "value network." The industrial value network involving customers, distributors, enterprises, and suppliers shows that MEAN WELL has changed from focusing on its own business in the past to pursue a synergistic expansion.

In MEAN WELL's blueprint, manufacturing is never the only considering factor for newly developed ESG enterprises. Instead, they will focus on non-polluting industries with a potential of sustainable development. More importantly, in order to inspire more enthusiasm and motivation from employees and partners, these ESG enterprises will actively adopt the "quasi-intrapreneurship" model to make their ideals feasible.  

Cheng indicated that in the past, MEAN WELL had a rather conservative impression due to its sheer focus on the power supply industry. That being said, it is actually not abrupt to see MEAN WELL embrace changes and transformation now. In fact, MEAN WELL has already established PowerNex in the past. It's just that PowerNex wasn't its main focus of development. These seeds planted in the past are about to grow now, and the company is ready to go.

PowerNex + SHARE WELL to Stimulate More Business Opportunities 

In the blueprint of MEAN WELL, it is expected that under the leadership of the two major brands of PowerNex and SHARE WELL, the group will be able to develop ESG enterprises. As a result, the entire supply chain will be deeply integrated. This not only changes the past competition and cooperation relationship, but also stimulates more flexibility and resilience for all.

"Expansion in the business that we are familiar with makes a lot of sense and is easy to execute, but it is not easy, however, to step out and extend to other fields." Cheng mentioned that when MEAN WELL promoted the expansion plan of building ESG enterprises, it utilized the concept and incentives of "allowing you to be an owner as well" and encouraged employees act boldly via the employee stock ownership plan.

For example, PowerNex planned to launch a new project, with a share capital of NTD 5 million, and the team could purchase 10 - 20% of the stocks. During the goal and strategy setting process, investment plans were developed, and feasibility assessments were conducted. The two-year ROI was set at over 7%. If the goal is not achieved within two years of establishment, the management team will be replaced. If the subsequent performance is still not improved, the group will consider cancelling the registration of the company or sell it to ensure competitiveness by performance.

"We have designed a set of guidelines to make the establishment of ESG enterprises more systematic and easier to refer to or replicate. We also help with operational analysis and planning and list investment strategies so that in the process of becoming shareholders and operators, participants can get started more easily." 

PowerNex Management Consulting and New Type Infotech assisted ESG partners in introducing information systems, digital document management and BPM services.

Taking this year as an example. The outstanding performance of PowerNex came from the establishment of PowerNex Management Consulting and PowerNex Precision Technology. These two new companies are the first batch of intra-company ventures of the group, which were made possible via the employee stock ownership plan. In terms of PowerNex Management Consulting, 20% of the shares were purchased by employees at MEAN WELL, and 80% were funded by the group. At the same time, it is planning to open up for qualified external partners to take shares in the future. The company referred to the success stories from MEAN WELL and provided the know-how of human resource management and operation management systems to enterprises. As for PowerNex Precision Technology, it has joined hands with many reliable partners that MEAN WELL has accumulated over the past 40 years, focusing on the business of power accessories such as stamping parts and wires, and will continue to increase the number of products that it has distribution rights to and that it sells in the future.

PowerNex Precision Technology integrated global supply chain partners and distribution channels to create a one-stop power supply component purchase platform to meet customers' needs for all kinds of power supply components.

Expanding the Circle of Trust to Stimulate New Momentum from Transformation

The beginning is the hardest part of everything. Looking back, the SDG Group started as a mere concept, and now it is taking shape. Alex Tsai, Greater China Area Director of MEAN WELL, described with a smile, "What I really want to say is that this is really tiring and exhausting. It's never an easy task!" The most difficult part of transformation lies in the need for constant communication, so that external and internal partners can understand and recognize the goals.

"MEAN WELL boasts a lot of know-how, but the most difficult part is to keep the concept of transformation going. Tsai recalled that the biggest gain from the hard work was that everyone became more convinced that changes have to be made, and only by being willing to believe can they stimulate a stronger momentum.

 "MEAN WELL is at a key stage of transformation, where we start to tell others what we can do rather than expect others to do things for us." With this positive mindset, the establishment of SHARE WELL Magnetic and CHENGWELL Enterprise all hit off with the support from partners. "We are glad to see that the strategies are making progress step by step."

"We've learned a lot from the process," Tsai said with emotion. Successful cases from the ESG enterprise project will become the pioneers and inspire even more success with the ripple effect. "The sense of achievement I have acquired is that the expansion of the SDG Group will further extend MEAN WELL's ecosystem of reliable partners."

And with a stronger teamwork and collaboration, MEAN WELL will become mightier in its pursuit of excellence.