Nanjing-based Audio, Video and Control solutions and services company PIONE, sat down with reporters from 1865’s Jiangsu Cultural Industry Association, to chat about 21st century innovative dedication in the audio/video industry in China.
With only ¥5,000 to their names, founder and chairman Sun Dazhao and partners established PIONE: Music Technology, in 2006. Through development and dedication, the company has grown to house over 120 employees and provide services to some of the world’s leaders in audio innovation. “It’s an integration of audio, video and control products and we offer solution services… We are the Bose partner in China. We have many partners in America including Bose and AMX”, said Sun.
PIONE designs solutions, suggestions and products around whatever suits their clients needs. Having already completed large projects such as the Nanjing Museum, which is said to be one of the most famous museums in the world and one of “China’s top three”, the company prides itself on focusing on innovation and a drive to keep creating new things.
Current projects include multiple hotels, theme parks (including the H Brothers Chinese theme park; PIONE will install audio/video for the entire park) and the Beijing 2022 Olympics. PIONE is also responsible for Nanjing’s forest festival, of which it has successfully been a part for 2 consecutive years. Sun commented, “We are the consultants, we focus on customer experience”. The company has provided services for every five star hotel in Nanjing.
Cloud-based, product packaging is what sets PIONE aside from the rest. The firm provides clients with a cloud-based service which allows businesses, such as hotels, to tap into and gain access to music databases and software solutions.
In addition to cruise ships, hotels and theme park engineering feats, PIONE is in the midst of opening a pioneering musical training ground for children by Xuanwu lake. Their idea is to help China break away from rote learning musical instruments and instil passion instead. “Right now China doesn’t have this. Our place gives the kids training; a few in the beginning and we will see if they like it or not, right now we don’t know. The first method is to get kids to love music and the second will be to train them”, Sun elaborated on the guidance course for children shall be called Leading House.
Walking around the offices of PIONE, one feels a likeness to the success of mega-millennial companies such as Google, Facebook or even Huffington Post. Flanking the Qinhuai river with Nanjing’s ancient city wall as a backdrop for the view outside the office, where sunlight beams down through its vast windows upon the self-serve snack bar and brightly painted walls. This place is certainly a lifetime away from the building’s industrial beginnings, and highlights beautifully how far China has come and is willing to go.
“I have studied in Singapore and the US, so I thought to myself what is the best, fastest and most efficient organisation?” Sun said regarding the management of his company, which uses a “board-less system”. Running like a matrix of group work, relying on one another and working together as a team, vastly different to traditional management styles in China.
Downstairs, company lessons on engineering at the PIONE college were underway. Classes here take place weekly, are set up as extra training for staff and include audio/visual engineering plus design, culture, brands and control systems. This happens next to the company’s IT and sound test room nicknamed the capsule.
“Designers and engineers are separate entities abroad. And the design fees are very high. We combine both professions together. Chinese people don’t understand the concept of paying a high fee for design work. So we offer design, engineering and services together”, said Sun. “Throughout the stages of solutions, it is a professional concentration that also includes sensory marketing; we conduct this by hearing insights into the market and really listening to what people want”.
When asked of his vision for the future, Sun said he simply wishes to continue building a great enterprise.
