Huiping Di, General Manager, Trustchem, discusses how companies can uphold brand reputation, tips for attracting and retaining talent, and more.

Q: How do employee engagement initiatives contribute to brand reputation? What are some effective strategies for attracting and retaining talent in a competitive agrochemical and ag-tech landscape?

Huiping Di : We believe a strong brand is built from within. Employees who feel valued, supported, and connected to the company’s purpose are more likely to demonstrate the professionalism, accountability, and customer focus that ultimately shape how the market perceives our brand.

Competition for talent in the crop protection industry has intensified significantly, particularly for professionals who combine technical expertise, commercial capabilities, and international experience. Drawing on nearly 30 years of global development, we have established a long-term talent management framework built around five principles: select, develop, deploy, motivate, and retain.

1. Select carefully

During recruitment, we look beyond professional qualifications. We also consider whether candidates share our commitment to serving growers worldwide and pursuing steady, sustainable, long-term growth. We would rather expand at a measured pace than compromise on values. Selecting people who genuinely share our vision allows us to build a stronger and more cohesive team for the future.

2. Develop people according to their individual strengths

We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to employee development. Instead, we create tailored development plans for employees in areas such as R&D, international sales, field agronomy, and global operations. These plans take into account each individual’s personality, strengths, and areas for improvement. Mentorship, international market assignments, and practical field experience are combined to help every employee realize their full potential.

3. Match the right person with the right role

We place the right people in the right positions at the right stage of their careers. As our business evolves and employees develop new capabilities, we provide opportunities across our domestic operations and international offices. This flexible approach enables employees to apply their expertise where it can create the greatest value. It also prevents talent from being underutilized while giving employees a stronger sense of achievement and professional fulfilment.

4. Motivate through simple and transparent incentives

We continue to strengthen our incentive programs through reward mechanisms that are simple, targeted, and transparent. Our goal is to maintain a fair and open compensation and performance-management system that remains competitive within the industry, clearly recognizes individual contributions, and ensures that employees share in the value they help create.

5. Retain people through a culture of respect and support

Beyond compensation and career development, we foster a close-knit culture founded on mutual respect, mutual support, and a genuine sense of belonging. By creating an environment in which employees feel trusted and valued, we strengthen long-term commitment to the company. This internal stability is reflected externally in more consistent service, stronger customer relationships, and a more trusted corporate brand.

Q: How should companies ensure consistent product quality across different manufacturing sites and supply chains?

HD: When a company operates multiple manufacturing sites and manages a global supply chain, consistent product quality depends on a comprehensive quality-management and standardization system.

1. Establish accountability at every stage

Our fundamental principle is clear: Whoever handles a process is responsible for its quality.
Every operator and manager takes full responsibility for the work under their control. Each person must ensure that all materials or products leaving their stage meet the required standards. This prevents nonconforming intermediate products from moving further along the production process.

2. Make each subsequent stage a quality checkpoint

We operate a closed-loop system in which each downstream process inspects the output of the preceding process. Employees responsible for later-stage production, packaging, and warehousing also perform quality-control functions by verifying the materials received from the previous stage. This creates a network of mutual oversight and multiple quality checkpoints, allowing potential issues to be identified early and preventing isolated defects from developing into larger batch-quality problems.

3. Retain samples from every batch to ensure full traceability

We maintain a strict batch-by-batch sample-retention system for both raw materials and finished products. Samples are retained from every incoming raw material shipment and every completed production batch. We also record comprehensive information, including batch number, place of origin, production date, production line, responsible personnel, and testing results. If a quality concern arises, these retained samples and records allow us to investigate the matter quickly, trace the raw materials and complete production history, and accurately identify where the issue occurred.

Q: How has customer service evolved as digital tools and platforms become more prevalent?

HD: Digitalization has made customer service more data-driven, precise, and responsive. It allows us not only to address customer inquiries more efficiently, but also to gain a deeper understanding of the practical challenges growers face in the field.

1. Using digital data to identify and resolve customer challenges

Digital tools allow us to consolidate information relating to growers’ fields, crop diseases, pest pressures, production challenges, and product-use feedback. By organizing and analyzing this information, we can identify customers’ actual needs more accurately and recommend solutions tailored to their specific conditions. This significantly improves both the speed and precision of our technical support.

2. Strengthening fundamental agricultural research with a focus on grower outcomes

Our research is ultimately guided by three objectives: helping growers increase yields, improve profitability, and reduce production costs. We study the entire crop cycle, from planting through harvest, and examine the many field-level factors that can affect crop performance. Through continuous research, testing, and refinement, we aim to develop integrated solutions that offer the strongest agronomic fit and the greatest practical value for growers.