Chun Hing Business Development Co Ltd
- 香港總商會會員編號 :
- HKC1010
Powerful Idea
Marcus Chow rushed home one day last year clutching his new iPad, eager to try it out. After carefully unpacking the shiny tablet and connecting the power cord, he went to plug it in, but all of the sockets on the power extension were in use. Damn!
He popped out to the supermarket to get a bigger one, but found they were sold only in four- or six-socket combinations. He checked household appliance and hardware shops, but had to settle for buying an additional cord.
"So I thought, 'wouldn't it be fantastic if I could just add an additional socket to my existing extension whenever I needed to'? he explained."
The next day he discussed the problem with his boss and floated the idea of an adjustable power extension socket that allows users to add extra sockets like building blocks. His boss thought it was a good idea, and called a meeting to get staff's views.
"Everyone thought it was a very good idea, and it was also an opportunity for our company to launch our own brand, because we are an OEM company," he said.
Marcus's employer, Chun Hing Business Development Co., Ltd., is primarily in the precast concrete fabrication business, although it also engages in general trading. So developing a new electrical product was a gamble. Convinced Marcus was onto a winner, his boss figured it was a gamble worth taking and hired an electrical engineer to develop a prototype.
After a year of development, and several prototypes, Marcus is now happy with the final product.
"We have completed British Standard (BS) testing for four and eight sockets, and are in the process of testing ten sockets," he said.
The product will be available in Hong Kong in one or two months' time, followed by the U.K., Singapore and Malaysia, as they all use the same testing standard. In the meantime, Marcus said he will be seeking to complete testing standards for the French and U.S. markets.
"We are very concerned that this product should be completely safe. We have already changed the design so that kids will not think it is building blocks, and also enhanced its rigidity by incorporating metal pins into the connection," he said.
To protect his idea, the design has been patented in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States.
But he isn't resting on his laurels. Already, work has started on developing blocks that act as a USB charger, and battery charger. To enhance safety further, the company's electrical engineer is designing a power surge protection unit into the socket's end cap.
"I think our ideas can connect, so hopefully this is just the start of our new brand aLink," he said.
