Fuyao Glass

Fuyao Glass became a household name in America through the Oscar-winning documentary "American Factory," which chronicled the cultural collision of Chinese manufacturing practices meeting American labor expectations when Fuyao opened a massive glass plant in a former GM factory in Dayton, Ohio. But behind the compelling documentary narrative is an even more remarkable industrial story.

Founder Cho Tak Wong (Cao Dewang) built Fuyao from a small township enterprise in Fujian Province into the world's largest automotive glass manufacturer by volume. Today, Fuyao supplies OEM glass to over 70 automakers worldwide, including virtually every major brand: Audi, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Volkswagen, and many more. One in every four automotive windshields manufactured worldwide comes from a Fuyao plant.

Fuyao's competitive advantage is manufacturing scale and cost efficiency. Their plants in China are among the most advanced glass manufacturing facilities in the world, operating with a level of automation and throughput that few competitors can match. But the company has also invested heavily in localized production — their Dayton, Ohio facility and other international plants allow them to serve automakers' assembly lines in North America and Europe without the cost and complexity of transoceanic shipping.

The company is publicly traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Cho Tak Wong's journey from poverty to billionaire industrialist is one of the great entrepreneurial stories of modern China. His philanthropic efforts — he has donated over $1 billion to charitable causes — have made him one of the most admired business figures in Chinese society. Fuyao's story is a reminder that the global auto glass industry is shaped as much by manufacturing innovation in Fuzhou as it is by service innovation in Columbus.