“I used to be jealous when I saw large orders that I didn’t do being transferred to other companies. Now I am no longer jealous and can face it calmly. Because after transferring large orders that have no profit, we have gained more High-profit small orders.” At this CFF exhibition, Huang Weisheng, general manager of Weifang Qianhui Textile and Garment Co., Ltd., took the initiative to talk about the company’s transformation gains in recent years as soon as he saw reporters. Huang Weisheng even lamented that Qianhui has gone through a painful transformation period, and now it is time to reap the fruits of transformation.
Although many companies participating in CFF told reporters that 2013 was the most difficult year for exporting to Japan, even more difficult than when the financial crisis broke out. But Huang Weisheng said that they did not feel pressure. Although Qianhui’s export volume decreased last year, its export value increased. The main reason is that after the transformation, Qianhui’s ability to handle high value-added orders has improved.
Escape from the price war
Although China’s domestic processing costs have increased a lot, many export companies still have not gotten out of the quagmire of “price wars”. “The prices of many export commodities are now determined by the retail market. The Japanese clothing retail market has been in a downturn for many years, and the prices of mainland goods are very low. The export pricing power of mainland goods is in the hands of retailers, and companies that export such products Basically, we are in a state of low profit.” Huang Weisheng told reporters: “The goods we export are priced by us, and buyers and retail stores add prices on the basis of our export prices. In this way, we have jumped out of the ‘price war’ circle and started from the original Passively following the market and now leading the market. This requires companies to have strong product development capabilities and constantly introduce new things that can win market recognition.”
Huang Weisheng said that product development is easier said than done. Qianhui invests heavily in the research and development of new products every year and launches 20 to 30 new products every year, but generally only 1 to 2 are accepted by the market. But if these 1 or 2 are done well, they will be enough to bring good profits to the company, and they will be recognized by the market for several years.
You have to be willing to invest and continue to develop. This is another experience of Huang Weisheng. Huang Weisheng said that difficult things are difficult for everyone to develop. It is precisely because it is difficult that it is valuable to develop. Product development is not only about strength, but also about the tenacity of the company. According to Huang Weisheng, Qianhui has been developing fabrics that combine propylene and other functional fibers for 4 years, and now it has some results. At this exhibition, guests were very interested in this new product.
Che Jiyue, deputy general manager of Yantai Henghui Trading Co., Ltd., expressed confusion that there are always Chinese companies that are not afraid of wasting resources on low-priced orders with little or no profit. He said that what Henghui needs to do now is to try its best to cultivate new competitiveness under the existing conditions – comprehensive trade service capabilities and more refined production management capabilities, so as to accept smaller products, shorter delivery times and more troublesome operations. Orders, business growth can be obtained by increasing the added value of orders. Che Jiyue is still relatively optimistic about this road. He believes that Japanese orders have high quality requirements. Because the threshold of the clothing industry is too low, companies continue to enter. But for some difficult orders, many companies cannot handle them. Now many such orders have returned to Henghui.
Don’t impulsively do “China Plus One”
Due to the rapid rise in domestic processing costs in China, many textile and garment companies are now moving their production bases to places with lower processing costs. In recent years, the transfer of textile and clothing production bases to Southeast Asia has become a trend. Foreign-funded enterprises investing in China not only set up production bases in China, but also set up production bases in Southeast Asia, which is the implementation of the so-called “China plus one” strategy. In the past two years, many Chinese companies have begun to invest in Southeast Asia to avoid the pressure of rising costs. But Huang Weisheng said: “We will not implement the ‘China plus one’ strategy. The ‘China plus one’ strategy is simply a retreat strategy, not a proactive strategy.”
Huang Weisheng believes that some production capacity in the textile and apparel industry will be transferred away from China, but this does not mean that the textile and apparel industry is a sunset industry. The textile and garment industry has long since moved away from Japan and South Korea, but now there are still many people in Japan and South Korea engaged in the textile and garment industry. Japanese and Korean companies mainly produce high-end and small-volume products. Today’s situation of Japanese and Korean companies is the future of Chinese companies. Chinese enterprises must follow the development path of Japanese and Korean enterprises.
According to Huang Weisheng, Qianhui did not do small orders of hundreds or thousands of pieces before, but now it attaches great importance to small orders, because small orders are difficult to operate, but companies with the ability to operate will have better profits. “Many companies light up when they see big orders. In fact, some big orders now are basically unprofitable and waste precious manpower. Workers are so precious now. If you make mainland goods, you can’t make a few yuan per piece of clothing. If you use workers in this way, What a pity. Workers must now be used as human resources.”
Huang Weisheng does not advocate the “China plus one” strategy and believes that this is a retreat trend. Some countries in Southeast Asia, such as Bangladesh, are far away from China, have incomplete facilities and poor industrial supporting capabilities. When Chinese companies go to Bangladesh to invest and find low-cost processing, they might as well tap the potential in China, improve management quality, speed up equipment updates, and find trade opportunities.Easy to break through.
Jin Xin, deputy general manager of Shanghai Yayun Textile Technology Co., Ltd., is also confident in the prospects of the textile and apparel trade. Jin Xin said that although the current situation of textile trade with Japan is not good, Yayun is still full of confidence. “Because Yayun saw that even in Japan, there are still many companies with a history of hundreds of years still engaged in textile trade. The practices of Japanese companies are worth learning from Chinese companies. They rely on continuous development of new products, small batches, and rapid response to meet the individual needs of customers. Requirements.”
At the same time, Yayun has now established a small order operation model, and fabrics can be ordered with a minimum order of 300 meters. Jin Xin believes that to make small batch orders, you must have strong development capabilities as support, a good vision, and an accurate eye on the market, otherwise it will cause a large inventory. “In the future, when I go to Japan to participate in the CFF exhibition and visit customers, not only marketing personnel will come, but also product developers. Understanding customer needs and accurately developing products are necessary conditions for companies to make small orders.”
