The sound of the Tang Dynasty sock machine is like a pair of socks in the world. The Datang sock industry in Zhuji, Zhejiang, originated from the reform and opening up. After 40 years of tempering and five generations of market changes, it has developed into a prosperous industry with an annual output of over 25 billion pairs of socks and a production value of over 70 billion yuan. Its output accounts for about 70% of the country's and one-third of the world's total.
With 194 sock industry digital workshops and over 20000 sock industry intelligent devices, in just a few years, the "International Sock Capital" Zhuji has formed the world's largest sock industry digital production cluster, achieving fruitful results in the intelligent transformation and digital transformation of traditional industries. In recent years, under the guidance of the Zhejiang Digital Economy Innovation and Quality Improvement "No.1 Development Project", Zhuji has launched a series of "combination punches" to accelerate the entry of the sock industry into a new track of digital intelligence transformation.
On the policy side, the sock industry has continuously introduced a reward and subsidy policy for digital transformation. For sock industry enterprises that purchase intelligent equipment such as weaving, sewing, and flipping integrated sock machines, automatic packaging machines, and automatic sewing and flipping integrated sock machines, and are recognized as municipal level digital workshops, subsidies will be provided according to the quantity and scale, with the highest subsidy reaching 50% of the enterprise's investment amount, effectively promoting the acceleration of "smart transformation and digital transformation" of sock industry enterprises. On the financial side, four banks including Zhuji Rural Commercial Bank signed a cooperation agreement with the local government and sock industry association, with a total credit of 11 billion yuan. Sock industry enterprises enjoy specific benefits such as unsecured, low interest rates, and installment payments for digital transformation, reducing the funding threshold for upgrading and upgrading. On the server side, dedicated personnel and teams are deployed locally to promote the implementation of digital transformation in enterprises, providing full process services in project application, machine installation, and fund disbursement, and timely disbursing "real money and silver" to enterprises.
The digital transformation brings about a holistic transformation and all-round empowerment. For enterprises, it not only compresses the production cycle of orders and improves the quality of socks, but also reduces about 45% of the company's labor, significantly improves production efficiency, and directly enhances the competitiveness of the enterprise. At present, sock machines manufactured in Zhuji not only account for 93% of the domestic market, but also become an important part of the Datang sock industry cluster in terms of sock machinery and equipment.
Old industry, new look. Nowadays, the self operated export of Datang Socks has maintained a steady growth rate of over 10% for three consecutive years, and the digital transformation of the sock industry is still constantly advancing.
Source: Economic Daily
