Transforming supply chain enterprises from extensive to intelligent, and innovating customs supervision systems
"At the beginning of the establishment of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, Yuanchu Shuzhi Technology Development Group Co., Ltd. had only five or six employees and a warehouse of only 800 square meters." Yang Xiaofeng, General Manager of the Bonded Business Center of Yuanchu Shuzhi Technology Development Group Co., Ltd., said, "With the development of the free trade zone, the company has received various support policies, not only has its scale grown significantly, but its operating model has also gradually shifted from extensive to digital intelligence."
Yuanchu Shuzhi, located in the Lingang New Area of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone, mainly focused on basic supply chain business operations and warehousing system development when it entered ten years ago. Nowadays, the company's warehouse area has increased to 25000 square meters, with more than 70 employees, nearly 20% of whom are engaged in product development, system development, system operation testing, and other work. The company's business scope has also expanded from importing cosmetics to importing and exporting food, clothing, automotive, automotive parts, and some Class C and Class I chemical products.
Yang Xiaofeng believes that the company's leapfrog development cannot be achieved without policy innovation in the free trade zone and support from relevant departments. "After customs inspection integration and information system upgrading, we have gradually acquired the ability to exchange data with integrated platforms through a single window. The connection with external customers is smoother, the connection between internal and external data is more standardized and compliant, and business operations are faster and more timely."
At the beginning of registration, Yuan Chu believed that Yangshan would develop into a transit, processing, and distribution center that could benchmark against Singapore and Hong Kong in the future. At that time, Yuan Chu planned to establish an Asia Pacific distribution center for a certain clothing brand in Yangshan. Under the attraction of policies such as "domestic goods entering the Yangshan Bonded Port are considered as exports" and "batch entry and exit, centralized declaration", the clothing brand has agreed to transfer Italy's distribution center to the Yangshan Bonded Port area. Up to now, the clothing brand has expanded its storage area in Yuanchu by about 5 times; The tax refund time for multiple domestic suppliers has been shortened by nearly one-third, and the transportation time for goods has been shortened by nearly two-thirds.
In May 2020, the Yangshan Special Comprehensive Bonded Zone was officially listed, and a customs supervision system framework was initially established using the big data concept, characterized by "first line clearance, second line unilateral declaration, full freedom within the zone, comprehensive cancellation of account books, and summary and statistical declaration". There are no account books in the area, and the data of the enterprise's warehouse management system is integrated with the information management service platform of the Lingang New Area, solving the problem of multiple account book management in warehousing and logistics since the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, and completing customs clearance and transportation in one go. Online data exchange makes offline logistics faster.
"Whether in the approval process of the warehouse or in the business development process, we have received support and assistance from the Free Trade Zone Management Committee and Customs." Yang Xiaofeng said, "For example, in the construction of our food warehouse, various competent units in the Free Trade Zone have provided us with a lot of professional guidance and support in the early and later stages of construction and business development."
The branches of Yuanchu have gradually expanded to nearly ten cities and regions across the country, and the construction business of overseas warehouses has also experienced rapid growth. In terms of cross-border e-commerce and consumer goods business, Yuanchu has established a transit center in the Asia Pacific region, hoping to establish more flexible and agile logistics and supply chain management systems for more brands. While enjoying the convenience and assistance brought by the free trade zone, it also strives to make some breakthroughs and practices for the policy implementation of the free trade zone.
"In the face of changes in the international situation, we also hope that free trade zones can introduce more policies and measures in financial development, foreign investment, carbon neutrality, and other aspects to better align with the international community." Yang Xiaofeng said, "Let Chinese enterprises use free trade zones as bridges and integrate into the trend of international trade standardization, intelligence, and green environmental protection."
