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| Issue date:01/04/2008 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Apr 2008 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
by Annie Yang
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| Established in 1975 in Taiwan, New Wide Group (旭榮集團) is now one of the leading textiles manufacturers producing a variety of knitted fabrics, especially those for sports and casual wear. It aspires to serving as a major supplier of international garment brands. |
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The New Wide Group first developed the Ponte (R/N+OP) fabric in 1990, which guickly gained popularity in the markets of Europe and North America. The name of New Wide spread among western buyers, and the Taiwanese manufacturer subsequently developed itself as an integrated supplier providing services of dyeing and finishing, knitting and fabric manufacturing, as well as garment making.
"The Chinese economy is booming, and domestic demand is also growing drastically." Chairman Tony Huang (黃信峰) said: "The people in Taiwan and China share the same language and ethnic origins. It is a right time to enter China (and built production facilities). Above all, our move should neither be more aggressive than it should be, nor over conservative."
The New Wide Group was among the top three knitted manufacturers in Taiwan by 2000. As wages and labor costs there surged, it established an office in Shanghai. "As a steadily growing private enterprise, we would like to take the right steps whenever and wherever they suit," he said. In recent years, the company has also increased the sales in the mainland China market and become a supplier of both fabric and garment for a number of mainland brands.
Vertical integration strengthens market position
Executive Director, Sunny Huang (黃冠華), explained that the company adopted an expansionary strategy in a flexible manner. From 2003 onwards, New Wide Group entered the field of garment making with substantial investments. Through a series of acquisitions and new establishments, New Wide established a chain of garment-making facilities in which the production is made in the fast-responding Cambodia region and the African duty-free areas in Lesotho and Kenya. Meanwhile, the facilities in Taipei and Kunshan are responsible for training the staff and control orders. Dyeing and finishing processes, as well as fabric development remain in Taipei, Changzhou, Kunshan and Qingdao.
Until this year, about 60% of the business of New Wide Group is fabric manufacturing, while the remaining 40% is garment making. The group achieved an annual sales volume of US$300 million.
New Wide's factory in Changzhou |
"Compared to that of our counterparts, our advantage lies in the quick response made possible through our full services of knitting. We built up the capability of garment making on our 30 years' experience in knitted fabric production. We made this strategic move (of expanding to garment making) to offer our clients a wider product portfolio and thus improved flexibility in their sourcing decisions," Mr Huang explained. Rather than a single product, the company offers a complete supply chain through vertical integration from fabric to garment.
Sunny Huang |
With this vertical integration strategy, the company is now able to provide more unique fabric choices to upmarket brands. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart and other mass-market retailers can make use of New Wide's various factories with products made at different origins for such attributes as duty-free access under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and quick delivery of low-labor-cost Southeast Asian regions. Consequently, retailers are able to obtain their desired goods at a relatively competitive price level.
Mr Huang said that the company achieved a marked improvement in sales volume under the innovative vertical integration framework. It is currently a supplier of several international brands, including Adidas, Reebok, Russell, Capezio, Lerner, A&F, Sara Lee and Zara.
Quality serves as core value
New Wide Group has keen able to make profits for the past 33 years, thanks to the company's continued pursuit of quality, Tony Huang said.
There is a specialized department to implement the total quality management (TQM) in the company. Quality is controlled vigorously to avoid quality discrepancy across the geographically different factories.
"The TQM is implemented across various internal departments of the company, working in small groups and reporting any problem they find to the headquarters for corrective actions," said Mr Huang, adding that a global meeting is held every week to solve identified problems, and to discuss possible ones that may arise. Some of the departments are headed by foreigners with strong know-how to maintain quality in every key aspect.
Samples that show fabric quality |
New Wide has established its quality management concept. He said: "Quality management at the lowest level is to identify problems in product inspection along production lines. A higher level is to perform well the role of control and avoid quality problems. Most ideally, every staff market in the company is aware of quality, and that quality management is embedded into the corporate culture, towards which we are working."
The company's in-house laboratory was accredited and approved by Adidas, Wal-Mart, and Liz Claiborne, whereas its Changzhou factory was the first enterprise in Jiangsu province that was certified by Adidas. Its garment-making factory in Lesotho, Africa, was also honored by Business Initiative Directions (BID) the "International Gold Star" award for quality in 2006.
According to Sunny Huang, quality management in Taiwan and mainland China can vary as the fabric manufacturing sectors in the two regions operate differently. The one in Taiwan is characterized by a high level of specialization. Taiwan is relatively advanced in fabric manufacturing, and these fabric suppliers often operate in a small scale and specialize in few fabrics with outstanding quality.
On the mainland, manufacturers often look to enlarge their production volume so as to enjoy the economy of scale in production. Mr Huang said, "the strategy of scaled production has its merits, especially when the industry faces thinner margins. Profits are enhanced by scaling up production."
As small, substandard factories in China which have failed to meet the environment compliance are driven out of the market, he is optimistic with the future: "The government introduced institutionalized rules and regulations to reduce non-standard competition. This helps the industry and the market to develop in a healthy way."
Cooperating with leading fabric suppliers
Research and development (R&D) enables New Wide to develop product differentiation as its competitive advantage in the market, Mr Huang commented.
The company established a specialized R&D department in the late 1990s, and put considerable efforts on new material search and development of new processing techniques. Its new products include fibers made from soybeans, milk and bamboo. Innovative products made of Modal, recycled fibers and high-elastic fibers were developed and introduced to the market as well.
The company also actively develops an array of functionality such as anti-bacterial, moisture-management, far infrared ray resistant and ultra violet light blocking properties.
A recent fabric presentation of New Wide |
In late 2007, New Wide Group was honored as an enterprise of developing knitted fabrics for sports and casual wear by the China Textiles Development Center (中國國家紡織產品研發中心).
Above all, the company cooperates with reputable fabric suppliers in the world, including Dow Fibers Solutions with Dow XLA, and the US-based Noble Fiber Technologies with its X-Static silver fibers.
New Wide annually develops approximately 2,000 variations of fibers and fabrics. In a recent fashion fabric competition for Autumn/Winter 2008/09 held in China, the company showed its four recent fabrics, including a new striped fabric of man-made cotton and polyester blends, and a new Polly fabric knitted with different textured yarns in a half-transparent structure to absorb moisture more effectively.
Being aware of the fashion power in driving fabric development, New Wide has regularly announced fabric updates combined with trend reports since 1997, which have been well-received in the industry.
This was an important note the company made in the industry. Mr Huang said: "In comparison with knitted fabric suppliers in China, New Wide is strong in developing new fabrics from different materials. In fact, knitted fabrics are suitable for producing sports wear with comfortable hand feel. This is universal across markets in the West and in the East. We add value further to our fabrics with the trend reports and analysis. Instead of selling garment or fabric, we deliver value with new information of our trendy fabrics launched every season."
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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