The problem of labor shortage is becoming more and more serious. For the labor-intensive industry-garment manufacturing, it means that the adjustment and upgrading of production mode is inevitable.

Especially for small and medium-sized service companies, the substantial increase in operating costs in the past year has made it increasingly difficult to cope with the problem of production stability caused by rising labor costs and excessive worker mobility.

According to the newspaper's investigation on the representatives of the textile and apparel industry during the two sessions of the National Conference in 2011, nearly half of the representatives said that the labor shortage is one of the "external obstacles" that they are more worried about in 2011. The 21 national representatives and committee members surveyed by this newspaper are all entrepreneurs in the textile and apparel industry. Many of the leading companies are listed companies, which are relatively large in scale.

At the same time, a random survey was also conducted on 28 small and medium-sized service companies across the country. The results showed that the concerns of small and medium-sized service companies about labor shortage far exceeded that of large-scale service companies. Nearly 70% of the surveyed companies said that the problem of employment will become their One of the bigger challenges in 2011.

This may be a turning point in the development of the industry. Since the Spring Festival this year, when a large number of large service companies are generally facing difficulties in recruiting workers, when the monthly wage of workers rises to 3,000 yuan, for small and medium service companies, the demographic dividend The gradual loss of has revealed the urgency of improving labor productivity. There are views that service companies that actively adapt and adjust will gain a step ahead of their business advantages, and those service companies that passively accept the current employment reality may face a crisis of survival.

Technology reduces production costs

At present, as for the rising trend of labor costs, as a labor-intensive industry, the clothing manufacturing industry seems to have few solutions. As a result, the shortage of labor is becoming more and more serious. The lack of recruitment may be the topic that the industry is talking about more.

Faced with such a problem, how do we solve it, and solve it from the source-raising the supply of cheap labor is now unrealistic. So, what other solutions have we not explored in the past, or are we worth trying?

New information from the upstream equipment manufacturing industry may provide another way of thinking. At present, there are many cheap high-tech clothing manufacturing equipment in the market, such as drawing series, laser series production equipment, its intelligence, stability and other functions have been improved, and the cost after large-scale production has been reduced. In the environment, its cost performance is being highlighted. Simply put, these innovations at the production equipment level have greatly improved garment labor productivity, reduced the use of workers, and reduced the cost of garment production.

Heping, chairman of Beijing Ping'an Huayi Technology Development Co., Ltd., described the new changes in the upstream clothing industry to our reporter.

"Take the cardboard cutting type of clothing production as an example. In a 200-person garment factory, two such workers are needed. In the coastal area, based on the labor cost of 3,500 yuan per worker, the enterprise needs to spend 98,000 yuan per year. Cost, and if viewed from the whole country, the overall cost of a cardboard-cutting worker is about 2,500 yuan per month on average. Calculated, this 200-person garment factory needs to spend 60,000 yuan in labor costs for this type of work." He Ping said. "Now, apparel companies have better choices, and they can fully absorb the increase in labor costs through equipment updates. For example, the cutting and drawing machine products provided by our company are fully qualified for the daily work of these two workers. At the same time, this product The total price is only 30,000 yuan per unit. Based on the service life of 5 years, the wages of two workers can be recovered for half a year. This means that the remaining four and a half years of service life of the machine is equivalent to free use by the garment factory."

He Ping said: "This will solve a lot of problems for apparel companies. Under the current employment environment, the turnover rate of workers is so high, and the apparel factory owner will be more at ease. If the equipment is not upgraded, the apparel factory will change how much for this type of work in 5 years. People, how many recruitments."

"Silk Road" sample

In He Ping's view, the apparel industry is an industry that can't end in China and can develop for a long time. Because people need to dress, at the same time, China's garment manufacturing foundation is strong. However, he also saw the difficult situation in China's clothing manufacturing industry in the current economic environment.

"The future development of clothing foundries will be very difficult. The environment is forcing companies to increase their own added value. Now that it has reached a turning point in the clothing manufacturing industry, companies should realize that they must carry out industrial transformation and upgrade." He Ping believes that as For labor-intensive industries, the clothing manufacturing industry should first transform and upgrade at the production level. "Enterprises should consider this issue proactively rather than passively, and look at the general environment. In any case, equipment updates must be done because it can increase the labor of the factory. Productivity, reduce costs, and increase added value."

Right now, in the upstream of the garment manufacturing industry, with the rise of a group of domestic garment equipment manufacturers, equipment that is more suitable for domestic garment production has been developed one after another, which is cheap, practical and cost-effective. Compared with the previous "unattainable high" of imported production equipment abroad, the emergence of these domestic equipment has made the entire apparel production field have a basis for large-scale equipment upgrades.

Taking Beijing Ping'an Huayi Technology Development Co., Ltd. as an example, the company's "Silk Road" brand CAD system development and operation has passed 12 years of development. It has formed a product system based on drawing equipment series products and has 13 laser series product lines at the same time. It is in a leading position in cutting and drawing machine, laser products and other aspects.

Since its development, the Silk Road's large-scale product series has enabled it to provide equipment that is cheaper, richer, and more in line with the needs of Chinese garment factories. Its strong R&D strength has improved the efficiency of the equipment. It has created 24 nationwide facilities in 12 years. The outlet's after-sales system solves the apparel factory's concerns about equipment use and maintenance.　　According to He Ping, the Silk Road brand currently has a five-year R&D team. The R&D personnel are graduate students and post-doctors who have graduated from Peking University, Tsinghua University and other institutions and received various awards at home and abroad. The company maintains a stable R&D and employee team. "In the 12 years of our development, employees with more than ten years of work experience account for more than one-fifth of the company's total employees."

The stability of the staff team ensures the "Silk Road" product development, quality stability and sustainable improvement of strength. At the same time, after 12 years of growth, the Silk Road has formed an after-sales network with 24 outlets.

"Now we can achieve the strength that can be reached instantly in any clothing industry cluster in China within 24 hours. If some customers have equipment problems in a farther place, we will solve them by flying. We strive for perfection.” He Ping said, “Building such a system requires a lot of costs and at the same time, it takes a long enough time to accumulate, but we are willing to do so, including at the raw material level, we can use imported raw materials at all costs Imported, because word of mouth is important."

It is precisely because of the rise of local brands such as the Silk Road that the quality, R&D and after-sales level are becoming more and more reliable, and the application level of domestic equipment providers has improved the product level, which is in line with the reality of many small and medium-sized Chinese service companies. Need.

As a result, this has also become an effective way to deal with labor shortage and industrial upgrading in China's garment production field. For example, the Silk Road brand, its reliable product quality assurance and competitive product prices are undoubtedly in the face of high labor costs. It will bring convenience to China's small and medium-sized clothing enterprises to reduce labor costs and increase labor productivity, and help to promote the industrial upgrading and further development of China's clothing manufacturing field.