Ruili Laundry Listed on the New Third Board, the First Listed Company in China's Laundry Industry

The listing ceremony was held in Beijing

On August 15, Ningbo Ruili Laundry Co., Ltd. held a listing ceremony at the National SME Share Transfer System located in Beijing, marking Ruili Laundry (830907) officially listed on the New Third Board. This is also the first laundry company in the national washing and dyeing industry to be listed on the New Third Board. Wang Shuyuan, Director of the Washing and Dyeing Committee of the China General Chamber of Commerce, Zhao Yanhong, Chairman of Ningbo Ruili Laundry Co., Ltd., and Lin Weiming, Deputy District Mayor of Zhenhai District, Ningbo City, attended the listing ceremony. During the listing ceremony, Chairman Zhao Yanhong delivered a speech on behalf of Ruili. She said: "Ruili Company was established at the beginning of the 21st century. After more than ten years of development, with the care of the Washing and Dyeing Committee and the support of the district government, it was finally approved to be officially listed on the New Third Board. This will be a new starting point and driving force for Ruili Laundry Co., and the company will take the standardization of the laundry industry as its responsibility and contribute to the healthy development of the laundry industry. After the listing ceremony, Director Wang Shuyuan said in an interview with CCTV reporters: "Ningbo Ruili Laundry Co., Ltd. is a director unit of the Washing and Dyeing Committee, a well-known brand in China's washing and dyeing industry in 2014, and one of the top ten laundry enterprises nationwide. The successful listing of Ruili Laundry Co., Ltd. on the New Third Board will further promote the active development of the industry."

The first domestic laundry company listed on the New Third Board

On July 25, an ordinary summer day became a historic day for Ningbo Ruili Laundry Co., Ltd. Chairman Zhao Yanhong received the long-awaited securities registration certificate in Beijing, successfully landing on the New Third Board. Ruili Laundry is also the first laundry company in China to successfully list on the New Third Board.

Listing financing, becoming a leader in the laundry industry, and building a laundry industry empire — this dream has lingered in Zhao Yanhong's mind since she founded Ningbo Ruili Laundry Co., Ltd. more than ten years ago. However, due to the special circumstances of the laundry industry, attracting capital seemed out of reach.

At the end of 2013, a piece of news from the capital market caught Zhao Yanhong's attention. The New Third Board plan broke through the pilot restrictions of national high-tech zones and expanded to all enterprises that meet the New Third Board conditions. "Abroad, many large laundry companies are listed companies with complete supporting laundry industries," said Zhao Yanhong. Every year, she makes special trips abroad to inspect the laundry industry. During inspections in many developed countries, she found that foreign laundry industries not only do traditional single businesses like sheet washing but also extend to industries such as sheet and mattress rental. The production lines are also quite segmented; for example, a laundry company in Japan has three washing lines for elderly diapers.

"What is foreign today is our tomorrow." After multiple overseas industry inspections, Zhao Yanhong became more determined to grow and strengthen the company. It is not easy to grow a company strong by one's own efforts. Until the emergence of the New Third Board, the possibility of financing gradually approached. With the dream of a laundry empire in mind, Zhao Yanhong did not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Starting from the end of 2013, Zhao Yanhong began preparing for the listing. She contacted brokers, clarified assets, and improved internal management. After more than half a year of preparation, at the end of July this year, she finally achieved her wish and successfully listed on the New Third Board, becoming the first company in the industry to be listed on the New Third Board.

Ruili Laundry creates multiple industry-leading achievements     

In November 2006, Zhao Yanhong, as one of the representatives of 12 laundry companies nationwide, participated in a study tour to Japan organized by the Washing and Dyeing Committee of the China General Chamber of Commerce. During a visit to Mitsubishi's laundry company in Japan, she learned that the laundry raw materials used were d-limonene essential oils extracted from the peels of citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruits. At that time, the popular dry cleaning agent in China was still tetrachloroethylene solvent, and traditional detergents caused certain environmental pollution. Subsequently, Ruili Laundry introduced Japanese Mitsubishi's fruit essential oil dry cleaning machines at a high price.

The fruit essential oil dry cleaning machine not only has strong cleaning power and no pollution but can even be used as a food additive. Most importantly, it does not damage the fabric material; clothes washed are even brighter and like new. How to attract the growing middle class? Relying on improved service might help, but technological innovation can bring stronger competitiveness. At that time, only six companies in Japan were using fruit essential oil dry cleaning machines.

In addition to essential oil washing machines, Ruili Laundry was also diligent in updating its production lines. In 2006, Ruili Laundry invested tens of millions of yuan to expand the company scale. The introduced efficient automated production process enabled the company to have an annual washing capacity of nearly 10,000 tons. Various internationally leading specialized washing equipment could provide different washing processes for different fabric materials, and the company also established a professional transportation fleet.

In 2014, amid the nationwide trend of replacing workers with machines in production enterprises, Ruili Laundry took the lead and imported a complete production line from Germany and Denmark. The total investment in this equipment was 30 million yuan, the first fully imported equipment set in the domestic laundry industry. "The traditional washing method uses washing machines; 10 washing machines require 10 workers to manage. The entire washing to drying process requires at least 30 workers. With the new equipment, the entire factory only needs 10 people," Zhao Yanhong told reporters. The fully automatic equipment is precisely controlled by computer, maximizing efficiency in detergent addition, fabric weight preparation, cleaning time, and other processes. Currently, the daily washing capacity can increase to 300 tons, while costs can be reduced by at least half.

Exploring the IoT OTO path

On June 29, the first 24-hour smart laundry cabinet project in the community landed in Ningbo, attracting active inquiries from many venture capital institutions. "Citizens place orders and pay through collected terminals. Our platform immediately sends the orders to the corresponding central laundry factory and delivers the washed clothes to the respective cabinets. Consumers receive corresponding QR codes and can complete the clothing pickup service at these cabinets," Zhao Yanhong briefly introduced, presenting a brand-new laundry delivery model to everyone...

Currently, OTO is a hot topic among various merchants. As a laundry industry player, Ruili Laundry, like many e-commerce companies, has started actions to set up points in communities and office buildings.

Zhao Yanhong introduced the operation mode of the terminal: after customers put their clothes into the terminal device, they can select the clothing category, quantity, washing method, and other information on the device's touchscreen, and settle the payment using a UnionPay card. After the information is fed back to the company's IoT platform, the company will dispatch a special vehicle to pick up the clothes. Afterwards, customers can check the washing status of their clothes via SMS or the company's official website video. After cleaning, the clothes are delivered to various outlets by the special vehicle.

"The appearance design will also be more beautiful. The automatic laundry terminals in Europe and America are designed somewhat like ATMs, and in Japan, they are semi-self-service. We have combined the advantages of all sides, creating a very distinctive style of our own," said Zhao Yanhong.

"We will also take this as an opportunity to introduce IoT technology into the entire company, build an IoT platform, design a 'one-card system', and achieve one-stop service," Zhao Yanhong said. However, since there are no domestic cases to refer to, how to promote automatic collection and delivery terminals and how enterprises will develop are still being explored.