The “002” Customer in the ERP System Is Still Ordering 18 Years Later

In Lihua Titanium’s ERP system, customer record 002 belongs to a German company. The record has been kept since 2008. The customer name has not changed, and neither has the number. For a factory, an account that remains active for 18 years is rarely just a matter of a good relationship. It usually means that every delivery has remained open to review and verification.

The German titanium trader had previously sourced from Beijing and Shanghai. In 2008, he visited Baoji for the first time with a specific request: titanium weld neck flanges.

His questions were direct: Where did the billet come from? How many forging heats were used? Who issued the inspection report? If a problem occurred, who would take responsibility? Today these may sound like standard questions in an export project. At that time, answering them in Baoji required the factory to explain the material, process, inspection, and responsibility chain clearly.

The customer also helped us understand the working method of many European buyers. They do not only evaluate the product. They examine whether the drawing can be read correctly, whether certificates can be matched to the goods, whether the process is traceable, and whether the factory can support the project consistently over time.

In 2008, this was an order that made the whole company work with unusual caution. Every flange was treated as a sample-level product. Inspection records were filed piece by piece, and the complete batch was reviewed again before shipment.

After the goods were delivered, the customer raised no major objections. For Lihua at the time, this result mattered more than the order value. It showed that we could do more than manufacture the product: we could deliver the customer’s requirements completely.

The later cooperation was not simply a repetition of the first order. One customer gradually connected us with European equipment manufacturers, shipyard suppliers, and engineering companies. Today, Lihua titanium flanges have been supplied to more than 30 countries. Our product range has also expanded to titanium pipe fittings, rings, bolts, heat exchangers, bars, forgings, and special-shaped components, with grades including GR1, GR2, GR5, and GR7.

The business has expanded, but titanium flanges remain at the center of Lihua’s work. Long-term customers usually remember not how many products a factory claims to make, but whether the factory can handle the standard, process, inspection, and delivery requirements when a real drawing arrives.

• Standards: confirming dimensions, materials, and technical requirements against different standards and drawings.
• Process: assessing feasibility before production when structures or dimensions are special or non-standard.
• Inspection: matching material, dimensions, marking, and inspection documents to the actual product.
• Delivery: bringing packaging, documents, production scheduling, and transport milestones into the plan early.

An ERP record does not create value by itself. It remains valuable for 18 years because every cooperation adds certainty for the customer. For a purchasing team, the value of a long-term supplier is that the next RFQ does not have to start from zero.

Lihua Titanium: starting with one titanium flange and turning long-term cooperation into verifiable delivery.