Walking into a clothing workshop in Nancun Town, Panyu District, Guangzhou, the sound of sewing machines clacking can be heard one after another. Fashionable T-shirts are packed into bags with the "SHEIN" logo and sent to the airport to fly around the world. Although it is just an ordinary clothing workshop in the Pearl River Delta, it has been deeply embedded in a transnational industrial chain.
Guangzhou's fashion industry has a solid foundation, gathering nearly 95,000 merchants, over 1.5 million employees, and a complete industrial chain including materials, design, pattern making, production, packaging, marketing, distribution, services, logistics, etc., forming a powerful industrial ecosystem. As a "unicorn" that emerged from the traditional clothing industry, Xiyin is the best practitioner of "small orders and fast response", quickly mass-producing "explosive" products through precise matching of production and market demand.
Against the backdrop of increasingly fierce competition in the global market, Guangdong has insisted on taking digital transformation as a key move for the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. It has taken the lead in issuing local policies to accelerate the development of the industrial Internet, clarified four types of transformation paths, including leading enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, industrial parks, and industrial chain supply chains, and innovatively carried out a series of planning and deployment such as the digital transformation project of industrial clusters, thus gathering a strong synergy for the digital transformation and development of the manufacturing industry. So far, Guangdong has promoted the digital transformation of more than 30,000 industrial enterprises above designated size, and driven more than 750,000 small and medium-sized enterprises to "go to the cloud and use the cloud". Chain transformation with the optimization of the supply chain as the core is becoming an important path for Guangdong, a major economic province, a major manufacturing province, and a major digital economy province, to cultivate and develop new quality productivity and achieve high-quality development.
Leading enterprises take the lead
Transformation and extension of the entire industry chain
Chain transformation refers to a method of improving the existing industrial chain supply chain through digital technology and intelligent equipment transformation, which can achieve industrial chain coordination and optimization, reduce inventory and production costs, ease capital turnover pressure, and promote the healthy growth of the industrial chain. Driving the upstream supply chain to build an ecological system with leading enterprises as the center is an important way to realize the "cloud-based use" of manufacturing system data and supply chain data and shorten the supply chain cycle of enterprises from "planning to delivery".
In the Pearl River Delta, a large number of leading companies such as GAC Group, Midea Group, Gree Electric Appliances, and BYD not only occupy key positions in the industrial chain, but also drive the coordinated development of upstream and downstream companies through innovative technologies and management models, playing an important role in chain transformation.
By introducing technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, Midea Group has significantly improved production efficiency and product quality, and reduced equipment operating and maintenance costs. Midea Group's self-developed platform, "Midea Cloud Intelligence", fully digitizes all aspects of the supply chain and realizes intelligent management of production, logistics, and marketing. At the 2024 Midea Management Annual Meeting, Fang Hongbo, Chairman and President of Midea Group, proposed that based on the upgrade of digital capabilities, in the future, we must further look for room for improvement in every operating link and every detail.
Gree Electric is a pioneer in intelligent manufacturing. By widely applying industrial robots, automation equipment and Internet of Things technology on the production line, Gree Electric has achieved intelligent management of the entire process from design to production and logistics. By accurately predicting market demand through big data analysis, Gree Electric has greatly improved the flexibility and responsiveness of the supply chain. Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric, said: "Our goal is to create an intelligent, digital and green full industrial chain. This is not only the development direction of Gree, but also the future of the entire manufacturing industry."
GAC Group has developed core technologies for intelligent connected vehicles, introduced intelligent management systems into the supply chain, optimized the coordination of parts supply and vehicle production, and promoted the rapid development of related industrial chains through the construction of intelligent driving test sites and data platforms.
In recent years, Guangdong has continued to promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, and innovatively explored the transition from "single-point breakthrough" to "chain transformation", that is, from the digital transformation of individual enterprises to the overall digital transformation of the industrial chain and supply chain.
As the world's largest new energy vehicle manufacturer, BYD has successfully developed lithium iron phosphate battery technology. With its significant advantages such as high energy density, long life, fast charging and environmental protection, lithium iron phosphate batteries have quickly won market favor and led the green transformation of the industrial chain. In addition, BYD has also worked with a number of suppliers to develop recyclable battery materials and establish a waste battery recycling system, forming a closed-loop green supply chain. BYD Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu said: "With the continuous strengthening of new energy vehicle research and development efforts and the rapid increase in the number of new vehicles put into production, the progress of my country's new energy vehicle transformation continues to deepen and is breaking through the critical point of iteration."
"Leading enterprises drive the transformation of industrial chains and supply chains, which was mainly driven by the market in the early days," said Song Ding, a researcher at the China (Shenzhen) Development Research Institute. "Huawei's move of part of its production capacity from Shenzhen to Songshan Lake in Dongguan is essentially led by leading enterprises, which is to achieve the transformation of the entire industrial chain, value chain, and digital chain through the digital economy. However, to promote large-scale manufacturing reforms, it is far from enough to rely solely on the leadership and drive of leading enterprises."
Government strengthens guidance
From “not knowing how to transfer” to “actively transferring”
On August 2, a special matchmaking meeting on the digital and intelligent transformation of the machinery and equipment industry was held in Nanhai District, Foshan. A number of digital transformation projects in the machinery and equipment industry were signed on the spot, and more than 60 machinery and equipment companies were deeply connected with 14 digital transformation service providers.
In the next two to three months, Nanhai plans to fully promote the digital economy to empower Nanhai manufacturing in key industries that need transformation and upgrading. Data shows that more than 64% of Nanhai's enterprises above designated size have carried out digital and intelligent transformation.
"I believe that the other 36% of companies that have not yet engaged in digital and intelligent transformation are definitely not unaware of the necessity and correctness of digital and intelligent transformation. They just need a boost, an appropriate opportunity or an excellent cooperative service provider." said Guan Zhizhao, deputy director of the Nanhai District Economic Promotion Bureau.
A survey of about 300 small and medium-sized enterprises on digital transformation conducted by CCID Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that more than half of the enterprises believed that they lacked the ability to transform themselves, and the high cost of transformation also suppressed the demand for transformation. "my country's manufacturing industry is large in scale, and many enterprises are willing to transform and upgrade digitally, but they are not very experienced in specific methods and measures," said Jin Jiang, president of Mecloud Intelligence.
MeCloud Intelligence is one of the emerging digital service providers in China. It empowers small and medium-sized enterprises through Midea Group's mature digital experience and accelerates the coordinated transformation of the industrial chain. Under the strong guidance of government departments, MeCloud Intelligence is accelerating its entry into the small and medium-sized enterprise service market.
Foshan Shunde Hongjin Electric Technology Co., Ltd. is a professional environmentally friendly and energy-saving home appliance company. Its main products are high-tech environmentally friendly home appliances such as ultra-quiet, energy-saving, and intelligent heaters. Its products have been sold well in Japan, Europe, Australia and other places for many years. As the competition for existing stocks intensifies, Liu Sixiang, chairman of Hongjin Electric, has been considering digital transformation, but has never been able to make a move.
After several rounds of exchanges, Hongjin Electric found the "reference answer" for digital transformation in Mecloud Intelligence and began to cooperate on the "Digital Factory Construction Phase I" project. The first phase of the project was built for the core production operation control system (MES) of the digital factory. The initial experience solved a series of pain points of Hongjin Electric, from a large amount of paper-based office work to inaccurate inventory data, poor quality management traceability, and poor material completeness.
In order to develop new productivity, we must also strengthen the "moat" of traditional industries. To implement "chain transformation", we must solve the pain points and difficulties of traditional small and medium-sized enterprises that "cannot transform".
The lighting industry cluster in Zhongshan was once trapped in a dilemma of low-price vicious competition due to its low technical content. "Most policies focus on large enterprises, and small and medium-sized enterprises that truly reflect the operation of the industrial chain are not covered. The scope of policy and financial support needs to be further deepened and broadened," said Cao Lihui, chairman of Zhongshan Guzhen Lighting Culture Communication Co., Ltd.
In 2023, the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and the Provincial Department of Finance will set up new provincial special funds for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises to support pilot cities in organizing a "1+1+N" joint transformation model of "1 digital traction enterprise + 1 integrated service enterprise + N software and hardware enterprises" to jointly promote the digital upgrade of design, manufacturing, sales, service, management, security and other links of small and medium-sized enterprises in more than 30 subdivided industries, and accelerate development towards specialization, precision and innovation.
Zhongshan targeted two traditional industries, home appliances and lighting, formed a provincial pilot application plan, was selected as a pilot city for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises in Guangdong Province, and obtained special funding support. Cao Lihui's company became a pilot digital traction unit. "Adding a smart chip to the driving power supply of traditional products can make the product intelligent, meet the deeper needs of consumers, and improve the product value." Cao Lihui said.
The dual-chain integration of the innovation chain and the industrial chain is the key to the overall upgrading of the industrial cluster. In June this year, Zhongshan City actively piloted and explored the high-quality development model of "modern park industrial reform + quality and reliable manufacturing" in the home appliance industry and the high-end development model of "smart products + digital finance" in lighting and lighting, striving to promote the digital upgrade of design, manufacturing, sales, service, management and other links of more than 400 transformed small and medium-sized enterprises within the year. Zhongshan has also successfully introduced domestic top platform enterprises such as ChinaSoft International, Lanzhuo, Huagong Energy, and Seiko Intelligence to settle down, forming more than 100 enterprises in the top city-level manufacturing digitalization and intelligent supply resource pool, providing more than 80 solutions in three categories, serving more than 10,000 enterprises in total, providing more than 6,700 intelligent transformation solutions, and providing a package of intelligent transformation system solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.
In order to promote the acceleration of chain transformation of related industries, the Dongguan Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau organized and carried out digital traction units, partners, products and service changes last month, focusing on smart mobile terminals, textiles, clothing, shoes and hats, food and beverages and other fields. It encourages industry leading companies and chain leader companies to strengthen business collaboration and interconnection with small and medium-sized enterprises in the industrial chain and supply chain through system openness, data sharing, resource collaboration and other means, export transformation capabilities to small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthen supply and demand docking, and accelerate the application and promotion of "small, fast, light and accurate" products to promote chain transformation.
Promote platform development
Activating the “spring water” of industrial upgrading
The wind of chain transformation is blowing towards Zhaoqing, a city on the west bank of the Pearl River. Recently, the "Key Points for the Construction of Digital Zhaoqing in 2024" issued by the Zhaoqing Municipal Government Services and Data Management Bureau proposed to promote digital industrialization, expand and strengthen the electronic information industry cluster, support the development of companies such as Shenghe Microelectronics and Moli Display; promote the integration of digital technology and the real economy, and promote the digital transformation of 230 industrial enterprises above the designated size.
From the perspective of regional distribution, Guangdong's eight trillion-level industries are mainly distributed in the Pearl River Delta region, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, and Dongguan. Starting from key links such as resource sharing and collaborative manufacturing in the industrial chain of industrial clusters, Guangdong has promoted 16 industrial clusters, including Dongguan Songshan Lake Electronic Information, Guangzhou Huadu Shiling Luggage and Leather Goods, Foshan Shunde Small Appliances, and Jieyang Jiedong Plastic Daily Products, to take the lead in pilot projects and explore innovative paths for the overall digital transformation of clusters.
Guangdong is working hard to build a policy system and increase support to promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. It has pioneered the "Guangdong Industrial Internet Industry Ecological Supply Resource Pool", introduced and cultivated more than 370 excellent industrial Internet platforms and digital transformation service providers, and promoted the development of large-scale industrial Internet platforms. At the beginning of this year, Guangdong allocated 774 million yuan in digital transformation funds for small and medium-sized enterprises, focusing on supporting and promoting digital upgrades in all aspects of small and medium-sized enterprises.
At the same time, it took the lead in the country to carry out digital transformation work for cities, supporting the digital transformation of industrial chains and supply chains in various subdivided industries. It promoted Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Zhongshan to be selected as national pilot cities for digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, and took the lead in launching the construction of 14 provincial pilot cities including Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shantou, Foshan, Shaoguan, Meizhou, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhanjiang, Maoming, Zhaoqing and Jieyang.
Since Dongguan was successfully selected as the national and provincial pilot city for digital transformation in 2023, the central, provincial and municipal fiscal funds have invested 400 million yuan to support the digital transformation of Dongguan's small and medium-sized enterprises. In March 2024, the Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Management Measures for Special Funds for the Digital Transformation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Dongguan" to accelerate the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises and improve the efficiency of fiscal funds execution.
The "Implementation Plan for the Digital Transformation of Manufacturing in Guangdong Province" points out that by 2025, the Guangdong Provincial Industrial Internet National Demonstration Zone will play a significant leading role, promoting more than 50,000 industrial enterprises above a certain scale to implement digital transformation, and driving 1 million enterprises to use cloud computing to reduce costs, improve quality and increase efficiency.
Optimizing the industrial chain, supply chain, and value chain through chain transformation is a requirement for Guangdong, a major manufacturing province, to seize the new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. It is also a need to deepen supply-side structural reforms, consolidate the foundation for industrial economic development, and improve the modern industrial system. Song Ding believes that China's high-end manufacturing industry is still stuck in the bottleneck problem, and Guangdong must achieve a breakthrough in the upgrading of the manufacturing industry through chain transformation. For more than 40 years of reform and opening up, Guangdong has always been the vanguard of reform and opening up. In developing new quality productivity and building a modern industrial system, Guangdong's every move has attracted much attention. Guangdong has many large industrial clusters in "chain transformation", a high degree of digitalization of enterprises, and a fast pace of chain transformation, which has shown a certain first-mover advantage. Empowered by chain transformation led by digitalization, a major transformation of the manufacturing industry in the Pearl River Delta has begun.
Expert interpretation
Xie Baojian, deputy director of the Special Economic Zone, Hong Kong and Macao Economic Research Institute of the School of Economics at Jinan University:
Chain transformation will provide a "Guangdong solution" for manufacturing transformation
At present, the digital transformation of Guangdong's industries, especially the manufacturing industry, has reached a critical period. An obvious trend is from large enterprises to small enterprises, and from chain-leading enterprises to upstream and downstream enterprises in the entire chain. Guangdong's proposal of "chain reform" at this time has the significance of a weather vane.
Guangdong's digital economy has always been at the forefront of the country, with a complete industrial system and manufacturing system. However, building a modern industrial system does not mean that a certain chain leader or leading enterprise achieves digital transformation, but rather it means moving from the digital transformation of enterprises to the digital transformation of the industrial chain, and from the digital transformation of the industrial chain to the digital transformation of the industrial system.
It is precisely because of the special stage of linking the past and the future that the chain transformation connects enterprises at one end and industries at the other end. In the Pearl River Delta, cities such as Foshan and Zhongshan, where traditional manufacturing accounts for a large proportion, have a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises. By guiding and helping them to join the chain transformation, on the one hand, it is conducive to promoting small and medium-sized enterprises to reduce the risks of digital transformation, and on the other hand, it can also bring opportunities for the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises.
But we should also see that Guangdong is a major manufacturing province and a strong manufacturing province. The deeper meaning of its industrial transformation lies in that chain transformation will drive Guangdong's industries to be more deeply embedded in the country and even the world, and promote the coordinated transformation of related upstream and downstream industrial chains in other parts of the country, forming a batch of replicable and popularizable experiences.
A trend worth noting is that Guangdong's chain transformation is promoting the transformation of the entire industrial chain from the perspective of application scenarios. This approach is expected to promote the creation of more application scenarios for digital transformation in other places and provide a "Guangdong solution" for the transformation of the manufacturing industry.
Song Ding, researcher at China (Shenzhen) Development Research Institute:
Guangdong will promote industrial upgrading through chain transformation
Guangdong's proposal of "chain transformation" is of great significance. First, it strengthens the government's guidance on industrial upgrading.
Over the years, the manufacturing industry in the Pearl River Delta has basically been following the model of "chain transformation". For example, Huawei's move from Shenzhen to Songshan Lake in Dongguan was led by leading enterprises and laid the foundation for the digital economy to achieve the connection of the entire industrial chain, value chain, and digital chain, which was mainly market-driven at the time.
Although the Pearl River Delta has always shown signs of marketization of chain transformation in the past, in order to cultivate new quality productivity, develop strategic emerging industries, and implement large-scale manufacturing upgrades, the Pearl River Delta must have its own distinctive development path. Based on the actual experience of Guangdong's major manufacturing cities including Foshan and Dongguan over the years, the government has strengthened the guidance of chain transformation. This model will help the Pearl River Delta manufacturing industry to undergo transformation and upgrade again.
Secondly, the responsibility of the Pearl River Delta in leading chain transformation was clarified.
Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, Guangdong has been the vanguard, pioneer and experimental zone of reform and opening up. Cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan and Zhuhai all have Fortune 500 companies or industry leaders, have accumulated rich experience in industrial digitalization, and have spawned a huge industrial chain. With the active guidance of policies, Guangdong's manufacturing upgrade will pay more attention to systematization in the future.
Third, only by promoting chain transformation can Guangdong's manufacturing industry maintain its dominant position. In the first half of this year, affected by real estate, the leading role of some leading enterprises in Foshan weakened. However, Shenzhen and Dongguan achieved good development due to the remarkable results of chain transformation. This is a timely reminder for Guangdong that to build a modern industrial system, it is necessary not only to promote the leading role of leading enterprises in the Pearl River Delta, but also to promote the integration of industrial chains, supply chains, and value chains among cities and industries. Only by advancing in a chess-like manner can Guangdong maintain its dominant position in the manufacturing industry and promote industrial transformation and upgrading.
Nan Fang Daily reporter Zhu Ziqiang, Xiong Cheng, Liao Han
Planning: He Shan
Source: Nan Fang Daily