The laundry and dyeing industry has great potential to serve people's livelihood

----Interview with Zhang Zhigang, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Economic Committee and President of the China Commercial Federation
"China Laundry" Reporter Lai Qian Gan

Editor's Note: Zhang Zhigang, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Economic Committee and President of the China Commercial Federation, recently gave an exclusive interview to our magazine. He fully affirmed the social role of the laundry and dyeing industry, pointed out the direction for its future development, and kindly inscribed a dedication for our magazine. We hope that all colleagues will earnestly study and implement Chairman Zhang's speech and inscription spirit, and create new brilliance in the new year.

Reporter: Chairman Zhang, thank you for your concern, attention, and support for the laundry and dyeing industry. At the beginning of the new year, please give some guidance to the laundry and dyeing industry. First, please talk about the social role of the laundry and dyeing industry.
Chairman Zhang: The laundry and dyeing industry is very hard-working and is a genuine typical service industry, occupying an important position among service industries. This is reflected in: First, it is indispensable to people's livelihood. "Clothing, food, housing, and transportation" are the most basic aspects of people's livelihood. This "clothing" certainly includes "laundry." With the improvement of people's living standards, people wear increasingly high-end clothing, and household labor is becoming socialized. The laundry and dyeing industry has become a necessity in people's lives, and its livelihood nature is obvious. Second, the laundry and dyeing industry provides important supporting services for hotels, catering, medical care, and other industries. In the past, hotels, catering, and medical industries washed their own linens, but now this is also becoming socialized, with laundry and dyeing companies providing washing services. This type of washing service is now called public textile washing service. Its efficiency and quality to some extent affect tourism and even the city's image. Whether it is the washing of linens in hotels, catering, or hospitals, there is also the issue of preventing infectious disease transmission, which is closely related to people's health. Third, the role of absorbing employment should not be underestimated. The Ministry of Commerce's "Guiding Opinions on Further Developing the Laundry and Dyeing Industry" pointed out that "in 2009, there were about 250,000 laundry shops (factories) nationwide, with 1.2 million employees." It can be seen that the laundry and dyeing industry contributes to alleviating employment difficulties. Fourth, it promotes the development of machinery and chemical industries. The laundry and dyeing industry has increasingly high technological content. Traditional manual washing processes are gradually being replaced by automated modern washing methods combining physical machinery and chemical detergents. The development of the laundry and dyeing industry inevitably promotes the development of machinery and chemical industries.
It is very important to correctly position the laundry and dyeing industry and understand its social role and value. This is conducive to striving for government policy support and helps laundry and dyeing enterprises enhance confidence and find the focus of development.
       
Reporter: With the progress and development of the economy and society, the laundry and dyeing industry has made great strides. What are the key factors to maintain sustained, healthy, and orderly development?
Chairman Zhang: I think the healthy and orderly development of an industry requires joint efforts from multiple aspects. At least there must be a good external environment, a good internal mechanism, and a good intermediate bridge, summarized as "internal, intermediate, and external consistency." The development of the laundry and dyeing industry has a gradual growth process. A good external environment mainly refers to government-level institutional and policy support to create a good development space and external environment for the industry. A good internal mechanism mainly refers to the organic combination and harmonious coordination of the industry's internal enterprise software (management), hardware (facilities), and employee quality to produce the best effect. A good intermediate bridge refers to industry intermediary organizations, such as industry associations (chambers of commerce) and other civil organizations, which can fully play the role of bridge and link for industry development.
We have noticed that in recent years the laundry and dyeing industry has developed rapidly, and the above three levels have played a positive role. First, government functional departments have attached great importance to the laundry and dyeing industry. In 2007, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the State Environmental Protection Administration jointly issued the "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Management Measures." In 2010, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Developing the Laundry and Dyeing Industry" to national commerce authorities. In 2006 and 2010, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Laundry Worker Occupational Standards" and "Leather Care Worker Occupational Standards," respectively. The introduction and implementation of these systems, policies, and standards provide guarantees for the development of the laundry and dyeing industry. Second, laundry and dyeing industry associations (chambers of commerce) at all levels have done a lot of effective work for the industry's development. For example, the Laundry and Dyeing Committee has done an excellent job in formulating industry standards, vocational qualifications and skills training, promoting brand building, holding industry forums, organizing skills competitions and exhibitions, and international exchanges, strongly promoting industry development. Third, the service capabilities and service quality of laundry and dyeing enterprises themselves, as well as consumer satisfaction, are continuously improving. Local brand enterprises are developing rapidly, and the breadth and depth of services are continuously expanding and extending, and so on.

Reporter: 2011 is the first year of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan." What key tasks do you think the laundry and dyeing industry should focus on in this opening year?
Chairman Zhang: I think that in the opening year of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan," while ensuring current development, it is necessary to formulate a five-year development plan that is both forward-looking and practical to lay a good foundation for the development during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan." In 2011, the laundry and dyeing industry, as well as other commercial service industries, should earnestly understand the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee and the 2010 Central Economic Work Conference, and focus on keywords such as "people's livelihood," "low carbon," and "prices" to find the entry points and focus of their own development. Commerce authorities at all levels below the provincial level and the laundry and dyeing industry should conscientiously implement the "Guiding Opinions on Further Developing the Laundry and Dyeing Industry" issued by the Ministry of Commerce. The spirit of this document is consistent with the requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference. Based on these principled guiding opinions, localities can issue implementation opinions according to local conditions and effectively implement them in practice.

Reporter: Chairman Zhang, what are your expectations and prospects for the laundry and dyeing industry during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan"?
Chairman Zhang: The development of the commercial service industry in the next five years has entered another golden period of development. Some issues are related to the industry's individual development. It is necessary to quickly improve and perfect the industry's legal, regulatory, and standard system to ensure scientific and standardized operation and development; integrity management, energy conservation and emission reduction, low carbon and environmental protection, safe production, innovative service concepts and methods, and continuous improvement of service quality and consumer satisfaction are common issues for the commercial service industry during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan." From the perspective of the laundry and dyeing industry's development trend, the "Five Transformations" during the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" are worth looking forward to: 1. The traditional laundry and dyeing industry will transform and upgrade, and the path of scale development will become broader. It is increasingly clear inside and outside the industry that the traditional front-shop, back-factory laundry business model has some shortcomings in energy saving, cost, environmental protection, and safety, while the reasonable decentralized collection points and centralized factory washing scale operation model overcomes these shortcomings and has good development prospects. 2. Outdated washing equipment with high energy consumption, low technological content, and non-compliance with environmental standards will be eliminated, and environmentally friendly, highly automated washing equipment will gradually replace them. 3. The current modern management level of the laundry and dyeing industry is not high. In the next five years, the share of e-commerce will gradually increase, and the level of informatization will improve significantly. 4. Chain-operated convenient laundry stores will continue to extend into residential areas and communities, making the washing of daily clothing more convenient. 5. With social progress and development, consumers' demands for laundry and dyeing services are increasing, which will promote the improvement of service quality and service level in the laundry and dyeing industry, accelerating brand building. In short, the laundry and dyeing industry serves people's livelihood and has great potential, with a promising future.

Reporter: Thank you, President, for accepting the interview and for your attention and high expectations for the national laundry and dyeing industry. The vast number of colleagues in the laundry and dyeing industry should earnestly study and implement the spirit of your above speech, striving to elevate the ability and level of service to people's livelihood to a new height.