Shanshan: Technology Manufacturing Benefits

The 318 national highway crossing Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai extends westward from Nanling County of Wuhu City, Anhui Province. Convenient transportation, close to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, making Nanling County a lot of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai garment manufacturing enterprises in the industrial transfer of the foothold.

In 2005, in the Nanling County Economic Development Zone, which was connected to National Highway 318, Ningbo Shanshan Co., Ltd. and Ningbo Mingda Group invested in the “Wuhu Shanshan Mingda Garment Co., Ltd.” and later changed its name to Shanshan (Wuhu) Garments Co., Ltd. (below Referred to as Wuhu Shanshan).

Wuhu Shanshan mainly produces various types of T-shirts, sportswear, casual wear, children's wear and other knitted garments and knitted fabrics. It is currently Shanzi's largest production base for knitting and leisure garments. Its products are exported to the United States, Canada, Japan, and the European Union. More than 30 countries and regions such as the Middle East. When interviewed by this reporter, Wuhu Shanshan was OEM for Japan's famous brand Uniqlo.

Building an Advanced Base Dong Aikang is Vice President of Ningbo Shanshan Industrial Development Co., Ltd., and is based in Wushan Shanshan. It is mainly responsible for the daily production and management of the company. He told the reporter that in 2002 and 2003, the problem of recruitment difficulties in the coastal areas has been shown, and the labor price has increased but the quota is not high. In view of this situation, Shanshan analyzed the development trend of the clothing industry at that time and started the plan to build a production base in the Mainland. At that time, the economy of Wuhu had not yet developed rapidly, but its economic strength and development philosophy were at the forefront of Anhui cities, and it was selected by Shanshan to set up a production base here.

The Wushan Shanshan was started in July 2005 and completed production after the completion of the first phase of the project in April 2006. The early production base was about 20,000 square meters and there were only about 600 employees. After the construction of the third phase of the project, the large-scale pattern of Wushan Shanshan Industrial Park has basically taken shape. The base covers an area of ​​approximately 12,000 square meters. It has more than 3,000 employees and has built a computer embroidery factory, a printing factory, and 1 A water-washing plant and 12 garment factories have realized a complete industrial chain integrating foreign trade business undertaking, product research and development, technology processing, and manufacturing.

Dong Ai-kang said that the investment in the various projects of the Wuhu Shanshan Industrial Park was very large. In particular, a large number of all kinds of production equipment in Anhui province's clothing enterprises were counted.

Wuhu Shanshan invests heavily in equipment, such as the purchase of 4 sets of French Lectra's automatic cutting machines and more than 10 Eastman automatic spreaders, and purchases more than 80 sets of various types of computerized embroidery machines, purchasing well-known brands at home and abroad. There are thousands of automatic oil-free sewing machines, and 24 automatic computer hanging systems have also been introduced.

In 2009, the company passed advanced production equipment and fully automated computerized water-flowing operations, as well as strong production capacity and excellent product quality. It has been audited by a number of international certification agencies to further enhance the apparel brands in Europe, America and Japan. Cooperation.

In the past few years, there were many coastal apparel companies investing in Anhui, but most of them had smaller investments. Dong Aikang said: "(If there is not a certain scale and business volume, (clothing companies), it is difficult to invest in and equip these automated production equipment." And there is a considerable scale of Wuhu Shanshan to increase the visibility of textile and apparel leading industries in the Nanling Development Zone, as well as Nanling has made positive contributions to building an export garment processing base in Anhui Province.

Technology Creates Benefits Coastal clothing companies build production bases in the Mainland, mostly in order to get close to the source of labor in order to ease the problems of recruitment and labor, but also to reduce manufacturing costs and improve competitiveness. However, with the increase in the number of apparel manufacturing companies that have been transferred to production, the advantages of labor costs in the Mainland are gradually disappearing. In this respect, the Wushan Shanshan, who lives in the Nanling Mountains, has already had feelings for a long time.

Dong Ai-kang told reporters that at present Nanling garment manufacturing companies cannot produce full production. When the reporter visited, the operating rate of Wuhu Shanshan was 80%, which was still ideal among local counterparts.

“(Personnel) was the most in 2007 and less in 2008, slightly more in 2009, and less volatile in 2010. Now workers want to work in a relaxed environment and want to enter large companies, and they are also prone to 'new and old.' In order to recruit workers, some clothing manufacturers have made improper treatment and other conditions. Afterwards, it was impossible to achieve profitability in the business and harm the interests of the company itself.” Dong Ai-kang also said, “The labor price on this side is no lower than Ningbo, and we can It's basically flat."

This is only one case faced by the inward-looking garment enterprises. There are still more problems. The competition between China and Vietnam, Cambodia, and other emerging apparel producing countries has gradually increased. The quality requirements of customers are getting higher and higher, and the cost of surface accessories. With the increase, the processing price has decreased and the profit space has been reduced. Competition has become increasingly fierce, and the pressure on textile and garment manufacturers has increased significantly.

Wuhu Shanshan believes that it is necessary to gain a foothold in the domestic and international markets. The key is to win technology and management. On the one hand, it is necessary to improve the quality of products and increase production. On the other hand, it greatly improves the living environment of employees (including working environment, living environment, and human environment. , process environment, and management environment) to enhance the overall management of the company.

Dong Aikang said: “The strength of a company is related to management and equipment. To win technology, it is to use technology to create benefits, and it needs to adopt mature and non-backward production equipment.”

During the third phase of construction, the investment in equipment of Wuhu Shanshan was very large, which attracted many equipment suppliers in the industry. In the end, the company selected better quality products according to the trial results. Eastman's new NA-900F fully automatic cloth-pulling machine was also selected by Wuhu Shanshan in this case.

A spreader operator told the reporters: “The integrated cloth unit of the NA-900F stretch cloth machine is very convenient for cloth change. The telescopic platform also facilitates the machine table to move laterally. Because of the servo control, positioning accuracy is reduced, and labor is reduced. The correct time is wasted. We use it to fabricate fabrics. Generally, we can store 50 layers and spread tens of meters per minute. This machine has been used for more than a year and it feels good."

It is reported that under the circumstances that the economic situation at home and abroad fell again in 2011, Wuhu Shanshan produced a total of more than 15 million pieces of various types of clothing (calculated as standard parts) and completed a production value of more than 500 million yuan, reaching the highest peak since the establishment of the factory. This is mainly due to the positive role of advanced equipment in improving efficiency and ensuring product quality.

Focusing on maintaining and enhancing the company’s ability to generate technology and income, Wushan Shanshan is not worried about the negative impact of the current market environment.

For Dong Aikang, the status quo is an opportunity for development for large-scale enterprises. According to its analysis, due to the drop in overseas orders' wages, domestic processing plants have to absorb and digest themselves. In the future, the total volume of orders will not increase too much and the order price will further decline, while the prices of domestic materials and labor will continue to rise. The medium-sized factories (for example, three or four hundred people) will be in a difficult position because orders are not Stable, it is not as flexible as a small factory with 40 to 50 people, and the big ones can't be eaten. In addition, the operating costs are high and the funds are insufficient. It is difficult to purchase advanced equipment to improve its own technology and income-generating ability.

“Now it is really time to enter the adjustment period of the industrial structure. Strong companies will grow bigger and bigger. In the next two years, only companies that can seize opportunities will be able to make a clear picture,” said Dong Aikang.

Advice to the manufacturer Wuhu Shanshan values ​​the use and maintenance of equipment. The company focuses on two aspects of work: First, after the installation and commissioning of the equipment, employees are required to provide training and maintenance training. The second is to fully supply accessories to meet the daily maintenance and repair needs.

Dong Aikang believes that manufacturers can consider strengthening follow-up training. Equipment suppliers will arrange training when the company purchases equipment for the first time, but the follow-up training service is very few. The clothing company's personnel are highly liquid and change from time to time. He believes that manufacturers should be considered from the perspective of user companies to gain the trust of the company.

Talking about after-sales service, Dong Ai-kang also reported to the correspondent that there was a situation in which an on-site service personnel of a complete machine company went to the company to repair the problem equipment. Before the cause of the failure was identified, the worker was first accused of the operation. .

“This is very bad. Even if a worker malfunctions and causes equipment failure, it means that your training is not in place. You know, a sewing worker may not want equipment downtime, which affects his income.” Dong Ai Kang believes that manufacturers should improve the presence of service personnel. Communication skills, but also to improve their professional skills - some after-sales staff to the scene can not solve the problem.

Compared with aftercare, enterprises like Wushan Shanshan hope that manufacturers can do pre-maintenance work of equipments, that is, manufacturers will systematically guide them according to the life cycle of the products they sell and their components through irregular or regular return visits. The customer replaces wearing parts so that customers can prevent them from occurring.

Dong Aikang analyzed that the maintenance personnel will only replace the bad parts after the equipment parts are damaged, and will not do any treatment on the old but undamaged parts. In this way, the old parts will work together with the newly replaced parts, and new and old parts will be used. Can not coordinate, affect the accuracy of the use of equipment.

Referring to prior maintenance, Dong Aikang praised Ningbo Eastman. “They will voluntarily predict the expiry date of the equipment wearing parts, provide us with replacement components in advance, and will actively check and clean up the consumable parts that will be damaged during the return visit so that the equipment can continue to operate well.” This reporter.

For manufacturers, the fundamental measure for prevention is to improve the performance and longevity of the equipment. In this way, manufacturers and customers are also saved from patching the equipment from time to time.