Integrate resources, innovate technology, and promote industry development

Deputy Secretary-General of China General Chamber of Commerce, Director of the China General Chamber of Commerce Laundry and Dyeing Professional Committee, Wang Shuyuan

Since entering the 21st century, especially in the past decade, with the development of the social economy, deepening international exchanges, and technology introduction, China's laundry and dyeing industry has achieved rapid development. Whether in laundry and dyeing technology, equipment, or enterprise management levels, historic leaps have occurred, striving to catch up with the modern levels of the global industry. According to preliminary estimates, in 2009, there were about 250,000 professional laundry shops (factories) nationwide, employing more than 1.2 million people, with an annual turnover exceeding 50 billion RMB. The laundry and dyeing industry provides washing services for residents, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools, and other units, while also offering numerous employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, playing a positive role in promoting economic development and social harmony. Overall, the achievements are encouraging.
However, facing a situation of both opportunities and challenges, we must objectively examine our shortcomings to properly solve bottleneck problems restricting industry development and promote sustainable development. For example, overall, the industry's standardization and marketization levels are still not high; malicious competition and irregular operations affecting market order still occur; modern management and operation mechanisms have not been fully established in enterprises, with some still operating at a low level; the foundational strength of some brand enterprises is not solid enough, their technological innovation level and capability have not reached international standards, and their products have not truly opened international markets; some enterprises' equipment is relatively outdated and does not meet environmental protection, quality, and safety requirements; corporate culture concepts remain superficial and materialistic, lacking conscious internal drive, manifested by the absence of integrity, altruism, and win-win concepts, and short-sighted behaviors damaging corporate integrity and market position.
Therefore, we must start from improving the external environment for enterprise development, perfecting internal operation mechanisms, increasing efforts in technological research and development, and exploring the cultural construction of the laundry and dyeing industry, integrating laundry and dyeing resources, promoting technological innovation, and facilitating the sustainable development of China's laundry and dyeing industry.
1. Fully leverage the association's functional role to create a favorable environment for industry development
Since the establishment of the China General Chamber of Commerce Laundry and Dyeing Committee, great importance has been attached to the construction and role of local laundry and dyeing industry associations. It is hoped that associations truly become bridges for understanding and communication between enterprises and governments, become loyal supporters and promoters of industry development, and propose the work philosophy of "harmony, cooperation, win-win, development," encouraging and supporting associations to carry out their work.
Reviewing the association's work over the years, first, coordinating with the government to establish and improve industry regulations and promote the laundry and dyeing industry into a standardized development track. Currently, there are 29 provincial and municipal laundry and dyeing industry associations nationwide, covering all regions. In 2007, the national "Laundry and Dyeing Management Measures" was introduced, marking the direction for standardized operation and development of the laundry and dyeing industry. On this basis, many laundry and dyeing industry associations have been "in position" and "active," operating positively, refining and improving local industry standards according to the "Laundry and Dyeing Management Measures" and local realities, regulating the market environment, reducing conflicts and disputes, and strongly promoting orderly competition and healthy development of the industry. The laundry and dyeing industry associations of the three municipalities directly under the central government—Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai—have taken the lead in institutional and standardized management of the industry with the support of relevant government departments, playing a good exemplary role in promoting the healthy development of the national laundry and dyeing industry.
Second, leveraging their own advantages, actively carrying out association activities to promote the industry's advancement. Under China's market economy conditions, the status and functional role of associations are still somewhat limited. Nevertheless, many associations can fully utilize objective conditions, leverage their advantages, and actively carry out work. For example, industry associations in Shanghai, Sichuan, Dalian, and others actively coordinate with the government to formulate industry norms, promote the transformation of enterprise management mechanisms, organize technical training, technical exchanges, skill competitions, participate in industry exhibitions, organize personnel to study abroad, and pave the way and solve difficulties for enterprise development, significantly promoting technological progress and business development in the industry.
Given the uneven construction and work progress of industry associations, the industry management and market order in some regions lag behind, even restricting local laundry and dyeing industry development. In the future, we will further strengthen the construction of industry associations and promote work progress. We will learn from the successful experiences of advanced associations to lead healthy industry development. We will also draw on the experience of developed countries to promote the formulation of relevant regulations for industry associations, realizing the lawful establishment, democratic management, industry standardization, and self-discipline development of industry associations. Following the principle of market-oriented development direction, clarifying the functional status of associations, optimizing the structure of industry associations, enhancing service functions, and better promoting industry development.
2. Vigorously carry out industry activities to promote the overall level of the industry
Over the years, in guiding the development of the laundry and dyeing industry, we have summarized and launched the "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Summit Forum," "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Vocational Skills Competition," and "Laundry and Dyeing Industry Exhibition," collectively known as the three major "brand activities."
The annual laundry and dyeing industry exhibition, especially the 2009 "China International Laundry and Dyeing Festival," has built a bridge for the display, exchange, and cooperation of new domestic and international technologies and products, greatly enhancing the influence and reputation of China's laundry and dyeing industry and making outstanding contributions to promoting the sustainable development of China's laundry and dyeing industry.
The Laundry and Dyeing Industry Summit Forum has concentrated the elite advantages of China's laundry and dyeing industry, opening the main channel for technological innovation and progress at the level of combining academic discussion and practice, solving many prominent technical problems restricting industry enterprise development.
The vocational skills competition is a technical contest for frontline personnel in the laundry and dyeing industry. By introducing incentive mechanisms, it promotes the overall quality and service level of the laundry and dyeing industry. This activity not only motivates participants to improve their quality but also requires judges to enhance their professional level. Its benefits are social, bringing improvements in laundry and dyeing service quality and enterprise efficiency.
In the future, we will stand at a high starting point and carry out this work better.
3. Attach importance to talent resource development and promote technological innovation in the laundry and dyeing industry
Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and talent resources are the most active and valuable factors among productive forces. Therefore, we have always attached great importance to the development and utilization of talent in the laundry and dyeing industry. To coordinate and leverage talent resources better to serve industry development, we established the Laundry and Dyeing Industry Expert Committee, gathering 95 experts related to the laundry and dyeing industry, formulating the "China General Chamber of Commerce Laundry and Dyeing Industry Expert Management Measures" and the "China Laundry and Dyeing Industry Association Expert Committee Work Norms," rewarding experts and meritorious figures who have made outstanding contributions to the laundry and dyeing industry; concentrating experts' professional advantages, compiling professional books such as the "National Skill Appraisal Theoretical Knowledge and Practical Operation Question Bank for Laundry Workers"; leveraging experts' intellectual advantages, carrying out the Laundry and Dyeing Industry Summit Forum and technical exchange activities, achieving significant effects in promoting technological innovation in the industry.
We strongly support technical experts from research institutions and brand enterprises, actively carry out scientific research activities and the development of new technologies and new products, driving technological innovation and progress in the laundry and dyeing industry. Many industry experts have enhanced their company brands by developing green, environmentally friendly, energy-saving, and quality-leading new products and processes, becoming leaders in industry technological innovation.
President Zhang Zhigang expressed high hopes for the laundry and dyeing industry in his inscription for "China Laundry": "Low carbon and environmental protection, safety and quality, modern management, and scale development." Among these, he emphasized profound insights and a clear attitude towards technological innovation. We will continue to follow this direction, leveraging the think-tank advantages of industry elites to promote the overall improvement of the industry.
4. Vigorously cultivate outstanding enterprise brands to drive comprehensive industry development
Our brand creation activities in the laundry and dyeing industry, carried out through the "Top Ten Enterprises" platform, have achieved very good results. In 2009, 48 well-known brands in the laundry and dyeing industry passed the review. These brand enterprises collectively demonstrate advantages in talent, technology, management, service, and product market orientation, showing excellent demonstration, leading, and diffusion effects. They have driven the expansion of a group of enterprises, with many outstanding brand chain stores spread across the country, becoming the main force in the laundry and dyeing industry.
We also observe that many excellent brands are still introduced and grafted types, while domestically created brands face the test of time. To ensure the value of outstanding brands, we closely monitor the dynamic changes during brand creation and growth, introduce the market economy's survival of the fittest competition mechanism, and mobilize industry associations, experts, a wide range of internet users, and the public to participate extensively in phased evaluation activities, basically stabilizing brand quality.
In the future, we will continue to support and encourage outstanding brands, especially the creation and growth of domestic brands, while adhering to the principles of objective and fair brand review and evaluation, so that our brand enterprises truly become the banner of the laundry and dyeing industry. We also look forward to more domestically created outstanding brands going global with strength and bringing honor to the industry!
5. Integrate information resources, leverage the advantages of resource sharing, and promote industry development
Under market economy conditions, information resources are key factors for enterprise survival and development; in a sense, information means efficiency and money. To integrate information resources and better serve the national laundry and dyeing industry, we are determined to establish an information sharing mechanism benefiting the entire industry. To this end, the China Commercial Federation Laundry and Dyeing Committee has invested a large amount of human, material, and financial resources, initially forming an information dissemination system centered on the "China Laundry" journal, the "China Laundry" and newly launched "China Leather Care" publications and websites, supplemented importantly by the "China Laundry" and "China Leather Care" QQ groups, "China Laundry Newsflash," and "Work Reports." Additionally, media such as the "China Laundry" and "International Laundry" newspapers, managed by the Laundry and Dyeing Committee and founded by Jilin Province Hengtai Garment Laundry Science and Technology Research Institute, basically cover the nationwide laundry and dyeing technology information dissemination function and are welcomed by many enterprises and users.
We hope everyone makes wide use of these resources and also hope that enterprises with poor information flow quickly break out of self-isolation, take wings of modern technology and modern management, and join the great tide of modern laundry and dyeing industry development.
6. Create an advanced corporate culture to inject lasting vitality and energy into industry development
China's laundry and dyeing industry has begun to enter the era of large-scale laundry and dyeing, requiring a group of entrepreneurs with culture, thought, and vision. In resource allocation, the cultural thinking of entrepreneurs often determines the rise and fall of enterprises. In other words, the type of corporate culture determines the form of the enterprise. The success of many enterprises fully reflects the rule "where people gather, wealth gathers; where people disperse, wealth disperses," indicating that among people, wealth, and materials in resource allocation, people are the most important. The ultimate competition in enterprises is talent competition. The entire industry should establish a "people-oriented" philosophy and promote the industry development cultural concept of "harmony, cooperation, win-win, and development," injecting lasting vitality and energy into industry development.
The laundry and dyeing industry serves society and benefits people's livelihood. The progress of social and economic life inevitably requires the progress of the laundry and dyeing industry. Therefore, the laundry and dyeing industry has broad prospects and great potential! We hope colleagues in the national laundry and dyeing industry join hands and work together to achieve the "12th Five-Year Plan" goals for the industry and contribute to its sustained development. "Rise with the wind and clouds, forge industry brilliance!"