“The cloth is soaked in the dye vat, and we are suddenly asked to stop production. How can we do it in time?”
Recently, a high-energy-consuming enterprise in Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province was suddenly “stopped.” The news received widespread attention. On the morning of the 23rd, reporters visited Keqiao printing and dyeing enterprises and found that the local power supply was normal, but the thermal power plant stopped supplying steam, causing the printing and dyeing enterprises in the region to suspend production. In addition to the printing and dyeing industry, local chemical fiber, chemical industry and other industries are also affected.
The interviewed business owners said that such a sudden stoppage of production has never happened in decades of business operation. “This time it was too sudden and we were unprepared.”
It was only a few hours from notification to the shutdown
The production line was stopped, the workshop was silent, and some pieces of cloth were still hanging on the huge equipment. Most workers are on vacation, leaving only some mechanics and a small number of packaging workers. For printing and dyeing companies in Binhai Industrial Zone in Keqiao District, it is unusual for scenes that used to only appear during the Spring Festival to suddenly appear during the peak production season after the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Different from the tranquility of the workshop, the business owners are worried inside. “Confused,” “confused,” and “heavy-burdened” are the words they mentioned many times.
The business owners interviewed told reporters that the notice of suspension of production was received before noon on the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 21. People from the Ma’an Street Industrial Office or Thermal Power Plant where the industrial zone is located notified them on the phone (the company has not yet
A formal written notice was issued), which stated that the supply of steam would begin at 2 p.m. that day and completely stop at 8 p.m., until September 30, for a period of 10 days. The reason for the suspension was not given in detail.
Steam, like electricity, is a necessary energy source for printing and dyeing enterprises. If the supply of steam is stopped, the enterprise will inevitably stop production. There are 109 printing and dyeing enterprises in Keqiao District, all concentrated within about 7 square kilometers of Binhai District. Steam is mainly supplied by three thermal power enterprises – Binhai Zheneng Power Plant, Far East Thermal Power, and Tianma Thermal Power.
The power supply is normal. Because production could not be achieved without steam, the business owner cut off the power to the equipment by himself, retaining only electricity for domestic use and sewage treatment.
On September 17, some business people saw a “Notification Letter” issued by Zhejiang Zheneng Shaoxing Binhai Thermal Power Company in the industry WeChat group. The content was “Due to import restrictions and increased domestic demand, etc. Affected by various factors, the high calorific value coal required for heating is always in short supply. All heating units that provide steam to our company have tried their best to purchase it, but it is still very difficult. Affected by this, it is not ruled out that all heat users are required to implement The possibility of orderly use of steam. For this reason, we would like to inform you in advance, please be sure to make your own production plans in advance.”
A business person said that the “orderly use of steam” mentioned in the notification letter “Steam” is something companies have expected, because steam use, like electricity, sewage, etc., often faces “sequential use”. Usually, companies in the area stop one by one, for example, one company stops for two days a week.
The business owners interviewed said that they were stunned after receiving the notice to completely stop the gas supply. “It was too sudden and they were not prepared at all.” All the production is in the middle, and the cloth is soaked in the vat, and there is no time to finish; the work is stopped in the middle of the production, and the half-dyed cloth is quickly wrapped in plastic paper, otherwise it will become a defective product; the printed printing paste is put in It will be useless for more than ten days.
In the panic, at 8 o’clock that night, all steam supplies stopped.
Business owners are like headless chickens, calling everywhere to ask what is going on. A business owner received a call from the person in charge of the street, saying that the street needs to carry out the orders from above to the letter, and asked him to explain to his colleagues.
The person in charge of the interviewed companies analyzed that the suspension of steam supply may be related to the government’s dual carbon target constraints. Some companies mentioned to reporters that on September 17, they received a notification letter from Zheneng’s heating company via WeChat, to the effect that coal procurement was tight and they did not rule out the possibility of “orderly use of steam” for heating users. Perhaps because this “notification” is not too “formal”, the person in charge of the company who received the message on WeChat did not pay much attention to it, because “orderly use of gas” is relatively common, and companies will generally have their supply suspended for a day or two in turn. Unexpectedly, this time it was “one size fits all”. All supplies were suspended until the 21st. Some company leaders continued to mention relevant information in communications in an attempt to retroactively restore the suspension.
The annual sales of the national printing and dyeing industry are more than 100 billion yuan, and the production capacity of Keqiao printing and dyeing industry accounts for 1/3 of the country. In recent years, Keqiao District has moved all printing and dyeing enterprises in the district into Binhai Industrial Zone to carry out industrial agglomeration and upgrading. According to statistics from business owners, there are 100,000 direct employees in Keqiao’s printing and dyeing industry.
The sudden suspension of production brings multiple problems to the company.
Worried about delivery and employee loss
Business owners worry first Yes, the customer’s order could not be completed.
The person in charge of a medium-sized printing and dyeing company told reporters that under normal circumstances, his factory prints and dyes about 1 million meters of cloth every day, and stopped production for 10 days. In addition to economic losses of nearly 6 million yuan, it also faced the problem of how to explain to customers. . “Some foreign customers have already called to ask what to do with their orders, but we haven’t responded yet. We need to wait and see for another two days. If the orders cannot be delivered, we will definitely have to pay compensation.”
A company with more than 1,300 employees ofThe owner said: “The customer is urging us to death, but the order is only half completed. The customer called and asked us to hurry up. How should we hurry up? I am very stressed. If we stop for 10 days, many companies will definitely not be able to deliver the raw materials this year. , sea freight prices have increased, and originally we could only maintain capital, but now we are even more certain to lose money.”
Under the suspension of production, business owners are worried about losing market opportunities. September and October are the peak seasons for the printing and dyeing industry, and many companies have high expectations for autumn orders. Due to the suspension of production, customers have been lost. “If you notify us of the suspension of production in advance, we will rush for urgent orders, take your time for non-urgent orders, and we will not accept orders with low profits. At least give us a little buffer time.” A business owner complained.
In addition, employee placement is also a thorny issue. There are about 100,000 printing and dyeing employees, about 80% of whom are non-local employees. How will the employees be accommodated during the 10-day production suspension period?
At present, a large number of employees from various printing and dyeing companies are waiting, which is “similar to the Chinese New Year”, and many of them are passing the time in their dormitories. “We will have very little income if we don’t resume operations. We hope to resume production,” said an employee.
The interviewed business owners were unsure. They were notified of a 10-day suspension of production. Should their employees take a long vacation or what? Will it only stop for a few days and resume normal operations? They worry that if they take a long holiday, employees may have to return to their hometowns, and production may be disrupted by the epidemic after returning to the factory. The industrial zone is also close to the estuary of the Qiantang River. The Qiantang River tide is approaching on August 18th, and employees may go to see the tide. “Outside employees don’t know how powerful the Qiantang River tide is and are afraid of danger.” In addition, there are worries that some of the idle workers will drink and gamble.
In the afternoon, some printing and dyeing business owners in Keqiao District met to discuss the issue of employee holidays. “The government has not yet given us a final figure on whether we should take a holiday or how to arrange it for employees. We are worried about what to do with the more than 1,000 employees in the factory.” said a person in charge of a printing and dyeing enterprise.
In the past two days, some business owners also received calls from their banks to learn about the shutdown. Various banks have a large amount of loans to enterprises in Binhai Industrial Zone, so they are very concerned about the suspension of production.
Orders are transferred to surrounding areas
Keqiao printing and dyeing business owners noticed , Yuecheng, Shangyu, Paojiang, also in Shaoxing, as well as Xiaoshan in Hangzhou and Haining in Jiaxing, steam and electricity are half-operated and half-stopped, and production is still possible, causing many orders to be transferred to these areas. They felt it was unfair.
The Keqiao District Printing and Dyeing Industry Association submitted a report to the District Committee and District Government on the resumption of production and orderly use of electricity in the printing and dyeing industry as soon as possible, and made suggestions. First, resume production of printing and dyeing enterprises as soon as possible in the near future. If it cannot be fully restored, it is recommended to restore at least half of it; second, the next step is to verify the actual energy consumption and energy consumption indicators of each printing and dyeing enterprise, and remove illegal production capacity that exceeds the indicators, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing consumption and overcapacity.
“The dual-carbon target is the general trend, and we firmly support it. However, the local notice is too simple and crude. We should not seek medical treatment at the end of the quarter and deal with urgent matters urgently. One-size-fits-all makes it impossible for enterprises to adjust. If the preliminary work is done It must be careful and leave room for enterprises, we can adjust it, so that the losses to the local area and enterprises will be reduced.” said the business owner interviewed. </p
