| Innovate and prosper, the shoe company way |
| Thursday,April 19,2007 Posted: 09:21 BJT(0121 GMT) cantonorg.com.cn |
By Jonathan Yeung Shoes and caps may seem too mundane to have anything to do with scientific innovation. But then how will enterprises engaged in producing them break free of the vicious circle created by a number of factors, such as the yuan's appreciation, increase of raw material prices and trade barriers? Canton Fair News spoke with a few enterprises dealing in shoes and caps to find their answer to the problem. Improving raw materials Rongguang Group, famous for producing cloth shoes and sneakers and selling them in more than 30 countries and regions, including the United States, Europe, Middle-East and Africa, is a large State-owned enterprise engaged in shoe production and one of the largest export-oriented township enterprises. Zhang Dehong, manager of the group's international business department, said his firm had made some changes in its products for this year's fair, especially in its range of sneakers, with respect to style, color and change in raw materials. "All of the changes have been made in line with the requirements of clients who participated in last year's fair," Zhang explained. Rongguang's "innovation" follows the market. "All of the raw materials that Rongguang uses are environment-friendly and they are put into shoe production only after they pass the examination and attestation requirements of overseas inspection centers," Zhang said. Focusing on R&D Qingdao Double Star Export and Import Ltd is China's largest shoe production enterprise to date. In addition to commissioning 10 strategic management areas, more than 200 sales agents and a sales network composed of over 3,000 chain stores in the country, the company set up 10 branch companies overseas while establishing trading partnerships with over 200 overseas clients. It is also the sole firm in the nation to own a State technological and scientific development center, as well as an inspection center for leather shoes. The arrival of every Canton Fair indicates new births in Double Star's production line, which are always characterized by higher value, superior quality and greater professionalism. According to Double Star manager Zhou Yan, shoes in ordinary colors and styles turned out by the company's existing production equipment can no longer meet the increasing demand of consumers for progressively higher quality products. "We have invested a lot into establishing a product research and development (R&D) center as well as an inspection center and imported an automatic production line from Germany¡we also set up a research department for biofriendly materials," Zhou said. "Every pair of Double Star shoes comes out only after a series of stringent inspections," he assured. (Source: Canton Fair News) |
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