How can traditional manufacturing industry transform, upgrade, and run with numbers? These enterprises in Fujian have made samples of shoes and clothing | textiles | enterprises
In recent days, the "High Quality Development Research Tour Theme Interview Activity" has come to Fujian Province, and the interview team has conducted on-site research in many places in Fujian. As a major manufacturing province, Fujian not only has a wide range of traditional manufacturing industries, but also a high proportion. Among them, the most representative textile and footwear industry accounts for nearly one-fifth of the province's manufacturing industry. How to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industry and achieve high-quality development? Let's go see the changes in Fujian together.
Green+Technology Traditional Shoes and Clothing Industry Shines with New Vitality
CCTV reporter Wei Ming: The interview team has conducted research in Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and other places in Fujian, and now it has arrived at the last stop in Xiamen. These regions are all located in the southern part of Fujian Province, and are also the most concentrated traditional manufacturing areas in Fujian, represented by textiles, footwear, clothing, food, etc. What specific changes have they made? I am currently in the R&D center of a sports shoe and clothing manufacturing company. Let's experience it through several on-site demonstrations.
Making up for Innovation Shortcomings and Making Industrial Transformation Greener
This is an elasticity tester, with one side being a common sole material on the market, and the other side being a new material developed by this company, which allows two small balls to fall simultaneously. The comparison is very obvious, and the rebound performance of the new material is about twice that of common materials. However, the improvement is not only due to the difference in rebound performance, but also to the special attention paid to the birth of this new material, which does not use petroleum raw materials, but all uses vegetable oil. According to calculations, sports shoes made entirely from vegetable oil can reduce carbon emissions by nearly 80% compared to conventional sports shoes.
At present, more and more high-end and green new technologies and elements are being applied to traditional industries in Fujian. How does Fujian do it? The research conducted in recent days has left a deep impression on us. For example, in some areas with concentrated manufacturing, a county-level city like Jinjiang in Fujian can have nearly 10 national level research and development platforms at the same time. To transform industries, innovation must take the lead. In recent years, Fujian has made great efforts in innovation, connecting high-level scientific research resources to enterprises at the national level, and even at great cost, introducing scientific research platforms to Fujian, filling the R&D gaps in the basic research field for enterprises, allowing them to enjoy high-level technical services at their doorstep, and laying a good foundation for industrial transformation and upgrading.
Pay attention to details and integrate small objects into big innovations
With a solid foundation, how can these innovative achievements be transmitted to the production process? At present, running tests are being conducted here, with a very large venue and a wide variety of track types, such as cement, plastic, and even standard land for international event venues. There are also many types and quantities of devices used, such as motion capture devices, pressure testers, ultra high speed cameras, and even heart and lung testers. All these equipment resources are just to verify whether such a small pair of running shoes has achieved the design goals.
In recent years, in addition to filling the gaps, Fujian has also spared no effort in promoting enterprises to play the role of innovation entities through various forms such as tax reduction and exemption. In this research and development center, we can deeply feel how much manufacturing enterprises in Fujian attach importance to innovation, and how much attention is paid to the details of innovation. After repeated testing, including validation of production processes, the innovative results are ultimately transmitted to the production end, promoting the industry towards high-end, green, and intelligent development. A pair of running shoes like this, after testing, can achieve a 3% to 5% improvement in reducing physical exertion compared to top international brands. In this year's Wuhan Marathon, all the top ten winners in the men's group were wearing sports shoes built by Fu.
Innovation is flourishing, and traditional manufacturing is revitalizing with new vitality
Nowadays, the traditional manufacturing industry in Fujian, represented by textiles, shoes, and clothing, has become a trend of innovation, and the dimensions of innovation are constantly increasing. In the research, we also felt that some companies have changed their business models through technological innovation. For example, once consumers measure their foot shape data in the store and wait for a while, the automated production line behind the store can produce a pair of customized shoes that fit their feet. They can also use AI technology to draw the patterns that consumers want.
According to data provided by the science and technology department of Fujian Province, the R&D investment of enterprises in Fujian now accounts for about 88% of the total social R&D investment, which is 12 percentage points higher than the national average level. We found in our research that many traditional manufacturing enterprises can even be rated as national high-tech enterprises. The traditional manufacturing industry in Fujian is gradually changing people's previous impression. They are no longer cheap and abundant, and may not be related to technology. Instead, they are transforming from price competition to technology content and innovation competition.
Benchmarking, optimizing the ecological environment, and promoting traditional manufacturing industry to increase "numerical" growth
To enhance the core competitiveness of traditional manufacturing, in addition to being driven by innovation, digital technology is also needed to empower production lines and enable innovative achievements to be implemented. At present, various regions in Fujian are continuously increasing the promotion and application of digital technology to help traditional manufacturing industry accelerate its digital development.
In Jinjiang, Fujian, textiles and footwear are the two most important industrial clusters worth billions of yuan. However, with a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, facing the challenges of digital transformation, the problem of enterprises being hesitant or unable to transform is prominent. How to solve this problem?
During the investigation, the reporter visited a textile production enterprise in Jinjiang, Fujian. In the vast production workshop, there were hardly any staff members, only textile equipment was busy at lightning speed. So, how can we solve the problem of broken yarn in the textile industry, which has been a headache for the industry and requires a large amount of manpower for inspection? This company has installed 5G digital quality inspection systems such as machine vision, laser, and infrared for each device, as well as temperature and humidity control equipment. While reducing labor costs, product quality has also been improved, and the qualification rate has increased from 75% to 95%.
CCTV reporter Wei Ming: Through digital upgrading and transformation, each such weaving equipment can simultaneously manipulate tens of thousands of yarns, which is more than three times the number of conventional equipment. For example, the fabric in my hand has multiple structures such as full velvet, half velvet, and no velvet, as well as a large number of irregular patterns and staggered layers. However, weaving such a fabric does not require multiple cuts and splices. Designers only need to input the edited graphics into such equipment, and it can be woven into shape in one go like printing.
At present, this enterprise is being promoted locally as one of the digital transformation demonstration cases in Jinjiang. Previously, digital transformation often discouraged small and medium-sized enterprises due to factors such as high costs and disproportionate input-output. Establishing demonstration cases can help more observant enterprises make up their minds to transform and upgrade.
Lei Zhenmin, Executive Vice General Manager of Fuxing Group: We deeply feel the urgency of digital transformation, especially after seeing these well performing and leading enterprises, we hope that enterprises can take faster steps in this regard. Our investment becomes more targeted because we already have very successful experiences.
More and more companies have made up their minds, but how should they turn it around? Jinjiang, Fujian Province has taken the initiative to find solutions and solutions for enterprises, leading the establishment of an industrial digital service cooperation alliance. It has also brought in high-quality digital service teams, research institutes, and other institutions to serve enterprises nearby. In this research activity, the reporter saw at a local zipper production enterprise that a service team from Beijing with comprehensive service capabilities such as hardware, software, and information technology is conducting free digital upgrade and transformation consultations within the alliance.
Lei Zhenmin, Executive Vice General Manager of Fuxing Group: From the equipment end to the later stage, they have solutions to our charts, including the application of specific final numbers. Another thing is that we are more focused on the future. When this digitization is implemented to a certain extent, new problems may arise for the enterprise. They have the ability to collaborate with our company through their expert team and help us diagnose comprehensively.
At the same time, Jinjiang also adopts policy subsidies and other forms to facilitate the integration of production capacity between top enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. While collaborating upstream and downstream, it drives the rapid growth of potential small and medium-sized enterprises through top enterprises, achieving digital transformation and upgrading. A company specializing in the production of shoe soles and fabrics has recently developed its own digital production scheduling system under the guidance of cooperative enterprises.
Cai Canrong, Deputy General Manager of Fujian Puster Clothing Co., Ltd.: Because the leading enterprise itself has a very advanced enterprise scale, including its technical management level and system applications. For the diagnosis of informatization, he often comes to our side to provide information support, which can avoid us stepping on unnecessary pitfalls for digital transformation.
Except for Jinjiang, currently, various regions in Fujian are implementing measures tailored to local conditions to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries. In Changle, Fujian, it has also built a regional industrial Internet platform, accessed hundreds of local production enterprises, and helped a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises improve quality, reduce costs and increase efficiency through collaborative design, centralized purchase and distribution, quality control, etc. Fujian strives to achieve a proportion of over 66% of key business processes in the province that are fully digitized by the end of 2025.
