How Eve Wang is helping to build the world’s largest vape manufacturer

Jan 21, 2024

Story by

Patricia Cullen

May 30, 2023

We caught up with Eve Wang, Vice President of SMOORE International, the world's largest inhalation technology company and biggest vape manufacturer, whose brands include FEELM and Vaporesso. Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the company has a current turnover of around £7bn, which has been achieved in just 14 years of operation.

Eve Wang, Vice President of SMOORE International

To discuss the future, it's helpful to briefly glance at the past. Human history with nicotine spans back thousands of years, from the cultivation of nicotine-rich plants over 3,300 years ago to the industrialisation of tobacco production just over a century ago. However, in recent decades we have seen a significant shift.

Recognising the detrimental health effects of traditional smoking, the last sixty years have been marked by efforts to find harm-reduction methods for nicotine intake.

The emergence of the e-cigarette industry has the opportunity to learn from the past and shape a future where harm reduction is the central focus.

As early as 2014, a study commissioned by the UK Public Health Department titled "E-cigarettes – A Report," underscored that e-cigarettes are the most effective tobacco substitutes, causing significantly less harm than traditional smoking. This was further reinforced in the "Nicotine Vaping in England: 2022 Evidence Update" report released by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities in September 2022. Both studies highlight the substantial potential for harm reduction through vaping.

According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the global retail market for e-vaporisation is expected to reach $122.2bn by 2027. It is expected that in the long run, companies that prioritise regulatory compliance and harm reduction while focusing on consumers’ experience will emerge as the ultimate winners.

However, as an emerging industry aimed at assisting smokers towards a smoke-free society, e-cigarettes are still in their infancy and face a range of challenges and issues. To effectively address these, it is crucial for all stakeholders in the industry to collectively provide the best possible harm reduction solutions for current smokers.

Equally important, industry participants should prioritise compliance with regulations, particularly those related to environmental sustainability and youth prevention. These actions are essential for the sustainable development of the e-cigarette industry and the continued progress towards a smoke-free society.

SMOORE is a global leader in inhalation technology, based in Shenzhen. Last year, we invested £160m in R&D, which accounted for 11.3% of its total revenue in 2022. This investment has resulted in 2,254 new patent applications worldwide, including 1,125 invention patents. Among our team are over 1,500 R&D personnel, representing 40% of the total workforce, all committed to shaping the future of the industry.

As an industry still in its early development stages, it's especially vital to drive growth and ensure quality through R&D, testing and manufacturing. Our business is equipped with professional testing facilities, featuring over 700 different types of testing equipment valued at over £23m. Over the years, we’ve partnered with leading research associations and inspection agencies to establish comprehensive testing capabilities in the sector.

Our manufacturing capability is reflected in our fully developed automated production line for our ceramic disposable vapes – a world-first and the highest speed of its kind in the market. Production is 25 times more efficient than traditional manufacturing in this area and the vape technology produced has a first-pass yield of over 99.5%.

Looking to the future, we are exploring how to apply its inhalation technology to medicinal applications. In 2022 in China, we developed a ventilator in combination with an atomisation drug delivery device and successfully obtained the production license.

We have also established a world-class respiratory drug core team in the United States, completing the R&D on two respimats – inhaler devices that generate a spray for inhalation. These are targeting the US and European markets. We have also laid the groundwork for several innovative drug product pipelines.

We believe that effective regulation is vital for the ongoing growth of the nascent vaping industry. It's our belief that sensible policies can support the industry's evolution.

However, the presence of non-compliant or counterfeit products entering the UK market is a significant concern for us. These products not only pose potential health risks to consumers, but also bring negative effects on the long-term development of the vaping industry. These illicit products can discourage innovation and deter potential investments in research and development, hindering the industry's ability to evolve and improve.

Like any industry, there are always those who operate unscrupulously. However, it is vital that the responsible majority within our sector, together with government, regulators, enforcement bodies, trade associations and partners, collaborate on initiatives and share intelligence to eradicate illegal and non-compliant vapes. This collective effort is necessary to ensure that the sector's reputation is not only maintained but also improved.

We strongly believe in the importance of compliance and innovation, a commitment reflected in our latest product solution, FEELM Max. This revolutionary ceramic coil disposable solution was launched at the NEC in May involving a £160m investment.

As the world's first ceramic coil disposable solution, FEELM Max benefits from a cotton-free design that, with the compliant e-liquid volume of 2ml, can provide 800 puffs, whilst current solutions offer 600 puffs. This is a significant step towards setting a new industry-compliant benchmark for 2ml.

In addition to more puffs, this innovative heating technology is designed to bring cleanness and silkiness, ensuring a satisfying experience for consumers. Our constant power technology provides a vapour and taste consistency, and together with a transparent e-liquid tank design, offers an enhanced consumer experience.

The ceramic coil is like an electric car, symbolising a more advanced technology. Several major brands have already adopted our new technology, recognising that differentiation is key in a competitive market.

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Recent research by Materials Focus shows that 1.3 million disposable vapes are discarded in the UK every week, creating a significant environmental challenge. As the first Chinese e-cigarette company to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, SMOORE aims to minimise any environmental impact from our operations and products as much as possible.

In May 2022, we officially launched our carbon neutrality plan, setting a net zero target by 2050. We will continue to increase the use of renewable energy in our operations, aiming for 50% energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.

Whenever I come across a discarded disposable vape on the ground, I will pick it up and bring it back to the company, where my colleagues can professionally process and recycle it. But more needs to be done to encourage active participation by consumers in recycling their vapes. Therefore, we have launched the industry's first end-to-end whole-chain recycling scheme, including manufacturers, brands, retailers, the Royal Mail and waste management specialists, Waste Experts. Working closely with our clients we have created a household collection service, whereby consumers who return 10 or more old disposable vapes for recycling will receive a free disposable product incorporating our latest technology as a reward.

To gain the public's trust, it's essential to let them know the truth. We recently commissioned a survey which was conducted by One Poll, amongst 2,000 adult smokers. The results revealed that 42% of respondents had little or no trust in e-cigarettes. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds (62%) believed that e-cigarettes were more harmful or at least as harmful as traditional cigarettes, whereas evidence from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities highlights that e-cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than smoking.

That's why we have established an independent panel of experts in science, smoking cessation and compliance, to look at creating a new rating system which will allow adult smokers and vapers to make informed decisions about their choice of vapes based on their harm reduction profile.

Currently, smokers and vapers have little to rely on when trying to understand the contents of their e-cigarettes and what they are inhaling. Our independent ‘think tank’ of experts is looking to lay the foundations for an industry-wide harm reduction rating system that can bring transparency in product standards to vapers.

This rating system could potentially mirror the colour-coded labels, similar to those seen on foodstuffs and which provide consumers with information about the amount of fat, saturates, sugar and salt contained in the item.

We believe the development of a harm reduction label will go a long way to helping smokers understand the reduced risk potential of vaping and encourage switching, as well as reassuring vapers regarding the quality of the vapes they use and allowing them to differentiate between different products.

We hope to be remembered for fulfilling our mission: atomization makes life better – better for our clients and consumers. We aim to achieve this by providing better technological solutions and products in the future in novel tobacco, medical and beauty fields.

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