Mikey-
Active Member
Hey guys! Here is a post about Julet Connectors in Kushan City China. As a brief re-cap, I was paid by several companies to film their facilities and sort of introduce them as a provider for electric bike parts through Electric Bike Review, and Blue Monkey Bicycles. The companies include APT displays, Shengyi Motor, Julet Connectors, EUNORAU bikes/kits, Kclamber Torque Sensors and finally Bafang Motors. I'll be posting here, as well as on the YouTube channel when a new video is released.
I have to admit, on the way to the factory I was thinking how I would make such a common product seem sensational. Motors, batteries, or frames are all very exciting things to discuss. But very few topics stay on connectors for very long. But I was quite pleased to see the facilities, and the fever pitch production that goes into making such a simple and important item.
Julet Connectors can be found in many, many eBikes and brands across the world. I first encountered them in Pedego bikes, but they’re commonly found in bikes from Accell (iZip, Haibike, eFlow) ASI, even boosted electric skateboards. Custom colors, lengths, pins, and shapes all keep Julet very busy providing quality connectors for electronics industry.
The testing room was one of the first visited, I saw connectors dunked in water, pulled apart and connected automatically, compressed, and swayed back and forth until failure. I’ve always seen Julet connectors as good quality. I’ve seen bike brands switch to these connectors and it makes the service process so much easier and faster. At this facility, no one bothered to talk with me, even humoring me for a brief shot. The people were there to work only. One might be tempted to harbor suspicion, but I asked outright to my guide:
“Everyone is working very hard and fast.” I noted.
“Yes, yes. They are very motivated.” my guide agreed.
“What motivates them?” I ask, making a whip sound and gesture.
“Ha ha ha ha! Yes! I have one in my office! Ha ha! All the workers are paid by how much they produce. This station is .04 cents per unit.” he explained.
I did some math, and asked around at other factories and positions. According to these reports an average factory eBike worker in China earns around 6,000 to 10,000 yuan a month. Which is $864 to $1440 USD at the moment. According to Zhaopin Limited, in 2017 the average monthly income in China was 7,665 yuan, which puts the mean of this small sample size of eBike manufacturing above the surveyed average.
The Julet factory, is on the higher end of that spectrum, according to my guide. This would explain why the workers were entirely uninterested in engaging with me.
The detailed workers used their hands with impressive coordination. Watching them count, discard, reload, work, count, discard was like watching a competitive Tetris player.
Unlike the other places I visited, Julet used conveyor belts very rarely. Perhaps on account of the shape of their product, they employed burly men to lug carts to and fro transporting the product from one station to another. At the end of the production process this gang of young men gathered in the packaging area wrapping cables like nautical ropes. After this step it seemed the cables no longer challenged them, and a tired participant would heap them into boxes and cart them away.
It’s easy to forget the small connection that keeps electric bikes working. But I really appreciated the time and effort that Julet Connectors made in getting a quality product out at such an impressive rate. They really do support a good part of the whole industry with their product, and I’m glad to have been able to take you there.
