From Traditional Weaving To Intelligent Weaving, The Transformation Of Small Cities In Hebei

Looking at the label of the towel at home, you are likely to see two words "Gao Yang". This small county town, located in the central Hebei Plain, produces one third of the country's towels and blankets, and is known as the "township of Chinese textiles".

In recent years, in the face of fierce competition in domestic and foreign markets, Gaoyang textile industry seeks innovation and change, realizing the transformation and upgrading from traditional weaving to intelligent, high-end and green, and releasing new vitality of the industrial cluster.

　　 "Digital intelligence" has greatly improved the production efficiency of the factory

"Every spinning wheel makes a sound, and every loom makes a sound" is the most appropriate way to describe Gaoyang. More than 4000 textile production enterprises and 125000 practitioners contribute more than half of the local financial revenue.

After years of development, Gaoyang textile industry has formed a towel textile industry cluster with "complete chain, large scale, various categories and excellent benefits", forming a complete industrial chain integrating "spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing, finishing and sales".

Although it has a mature industrial chain, for a long time, Gaoyang textile industry has experienced problems such as rising human costs and extensive management. This also made the local people realize that "digital intelligence" is the only way.

Recently, the reporter walked into the production workshop of Hebei Hongrun New Fabric Co., Ltd. In the tall and spacious workshop, bags of cotton, under the precise operation of various large-scale equipment, went through multiple processes such as thick sliver, roving, spinning, and finally changed into bundles of high-quality yarn.

The picture shows the spinning machine working in the production workshop. Photographed by Li Taiyuan

"Once equipment aging could not keep up with the market demand, so the company invested tens of millions in equipment upgrading and transformation. Now the human cost has been greatly reduced, and the production efficiency has increased by about 10%." Li Chunmiao, deputy general manager of the company, told reporters.

In recent years, non-woven fabrics have a broad development space, and the company has also put into production with great efforts, realizing the transformation of digital factories and even intelligent factories. Now, under the operation of the machine, volumes of high-end nonwoven spunlaced non-woven fabrics are being mass produced.

In order to enable every enterprise with digitalization, in July 2023, "Gaoyang Textile Industry Digital Service Platform" and "Gaoyang Digital Cloud Exhibition Hall" will be launched online, effectively integrating experts, legal support and financing products to provide all-round services for enterprises.

　　 High end, product profit is several times higher than before

Gaoyang is not only a famous textile city, but also a world-famous textile site. Tens of thousands of towels depart from here every day and are transported to all parts of the world by containers.

After being labeled with other brands, these textiles have changed into luxury goods with prices ranging from hundreds to thousands of yuan, and are endowed with extremely high brand added value.

Berkshire Home Textile Co., Ltd. is a well-known local foreign trade enterprise, which was mainly engaged in OEM business before. Liu Jiaqi, the sales manager of the company, remembered that they had contracted a batch of bedding for a French brand before. "The cost was about 700 yuan, but the local price reached 800 euros."

The picture shows a corner of the exhibition hall of Ericsson. Photographed by Li Taiyuan

"The small end is his own, and the big end is someone else's", which made Liu Jiaqi realize that he cannot always follow the old way of OEM. Only by establishing his own brand and making efforts towards high-end, can the enterprise go further.

In recent years, Ericsson has begun to set up its own brand, and gradually opened its sales volume with its excellent manufacturing strength and unique design.

"At present, the company's own brands are sold on Wal Mart, Amazon and other platforms, and the profit margin has doubled several times compared with the previous OEM," said Liu Jiaqi.

In recent years, Gaoyang County Party Committee and Government have also taken the lead in actively docking with colleges and universities, realizing the deep integration of production, teaching, research and application. A number of creative products have emerged one after another, such as the brocade of "imperial cotton picture", "singing towel", unzipped towel, magic pillowcase, and "color changing towel".

　　 Green, let clear water flow around the city

In Gaoyang, the textile industry is the most important pillar industry. However, the water pollution and coal pollution caused by printing and dyeing were once unbearable.

Under the pressure of environmental protection, over the years, Gaoyang has built a sewage treatment plant with a daily treatment capacity of 260000 tons, which has solved the problem of "water"; A centralized heating project with an annual output of 2.8 million tons of steam has been completed, solving the problem of "gas"; All coal-fired boilers below 25 steam tons will be eliminated, so that cleaner production can be carried out in every enterprise above the designated size.

In order to promote the construction of the circular economy demonstration zone, the local government has also built a circular economy industrial chain that integrates textile printing and dyeing, sewage treatment, renewable water use, central heating, waste heat power generation, slag ash brick making, and sewage and heat energy utilization. 22 printing and dyeing enterprises have moved into the circular economy park.

The picture shows Gaoyang County Sewage Treatment Plant. Photographed by Shen Qi

"Now in the factory, recycling has gone deep into every detail of production." Chen Biao, manager of the printing and dyeing park of Hebei Hongrun New Fabric Co., Ltd., was deeply impressed. Waste water and heat generated in the production process should be recycled as far as possible.

With the support of the government, Gaoyang Textile has continued its transformation and upgrading, and has embarked on a high-quality development road based on its own characteristics. In October 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of characteristic industrial clusters of small and medium-sized enterprises in 2023, and Gaoyang County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, successfully selected towel weaving.

With the advantages of industrial clusters, Hu Changlu, director of Gaoyang County Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, told reporters, "The next step will be to promote scientific and technological innovation and strengthen product design. At the same time, we will continue to focus on digitalization, complete the digital transformation of enterprises above and below the designated size as soon as possible, and promote the application of industrial Internet platforms."

Standing at a new starting point, Gaoyang in the future will also leap forward to "high" songs all the way to "yang".

(Source: China News Network)