Shangtex to focus on expansion and boosting innovation

The time-honored Shangtex Holding (Group) Corporation is on its way to boosting innovation and promoting transformation.

With more than 130 years of history, Shangtex is a veteran foreign-trade company in the textiles industry, which used to be honored as the "Mother" industry in Shanghai. It has been aiming for transformation since 2009, when the financial crisis broke out, by exporting funds, talents, technology and management, as well as goods and services.

"Now Shanghai has been actively building itself into an international trade center and will become an excellent global city by 2040. It means the city should participate in the markets with global competitiveness," said Tong Jisheng, chairman of the group.

"Our goal is to become a multinational group with a global footprint. We can achieve this with international competitiveness and brand influence," Tong said.

Shangtex is the largest international trade group in Shanghai and also a comprehensive enterprise group, integrating science, industry, trade and a complete textile industry chain.

The group has constantly extended its business through the value chain, from traditional manufacturing to services. It has boosted its innovation, hoping to develop more opportunities based on its traditional pathway.

For example, the group has introduced the radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology into its textile products, such as towels, bath towels, quilt covers and pillowcases.

"With the use of RFID technology, staff can easily know the number of items by sweeping the terminal. Back-office staff can know how many towels have been used as well as the usage frequency," said Zhu Yong, president of the group.

"It not only helps save labor, but also allows management to become more accurate and improve the life cycle of textiles. In this way, we not only sell products but also provide service," Zhu said.

At present, the company has ongoing negotiations with some overseas hotels and laundry company, which wish to introduce the full set of technology and services.

Shangtex has invested heavily in the R&D sector. So far, the group has applied for more than 600 patents, and also established the Textile Patent Search Database.

Shangtex is currently one of the largest national enterprises in textiles and garments exportation. It has clients in more than a hundred countries and regions.

In 2015, the group's revenue reached 46 billion yuan ($6,770 million) while its total import and export volume reached $4.84 billion, the highest in China's textile products export industry.

According to the plan recently released by Shanghai municipality, the city will foster certain domestic brands with global influence, promote the exports of brands, patents, technology and service.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/11/2016 page7)