Towards ‘Digitalization’ and Supporting Enterprise Upgrades — Industry Digitalization Technical Reform Service Visited Changli

From February 23 to 24, the China Sewing Machinery Association, in collaboration with the Beijing Research Institute of Automation for Machinery Industry and other professional organizations, organized a specialized expert group for the sewing industry’s digital technical reform. The expert group visited the birthplace of loopers — the Hou Shuang Industrial Area in Changli, Hebei Province, to provide on-site technical consultation services for local sewing machine looper manufacturers. The activity was led by Chen Ji, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of CSMA.

The expert group visited the production lines of key enterprises such as Huajie and Jinshan, listened in detail to their manufacturing processes. The group focused on studying current production workflows, key tooling and equipment, quality control measures, and related core needs. Based on the challenges faced by the manufacturers in their technical reform, the group conducted an initial diagnosis on-site, offering directions and suggestions for future corrective actions.

The service activity received significant attention and active cooperation from the Changli County Party Committee and the county government. During the event, the expert group held in-depth discussions with County Party Secretary Sun Weiqing, County Magistrate Li Qing, Qinhuangdao City Science and Technology Bureau Director Feng Zhien, and other key leaders and relevant departments. At the meeting, the experts detailed the current progress of the on-site service activity, they also provided specific recommendations for upgrading the production processes and equipment of looper and other spare parts produced in Changli, based on the current status of China’s sewing equipment manufacturing and the digital development level of general machine tools. The Changli County Party Committee and the County Government fully affirmed the expert service activity. Secretary Sun Weiqing remarked that, as a typical traditional manufacturing industry, the Changli looper industry has developed over the past 50 years. Although it has accumulated a relatively complete manufacturing experience and has secured a place in the global sewing industry, there is an urgent need to optimize and upgrade products, materials, processes, equipment, and the business model of enterprises. He hopes that the collaboration between enterprises, government, and associations will continue to deepen, creating a long-term industrial service platform to help companies break through development bottlenecks and achieve high-quality growth.

The activity received unanimous praise from the manufacturers. Liu Zhengqing, Chairman of Huajie, and Liu Ximin, Chairman of Jinshan, both expressed that the CSMA’s digital transformation service is practical and innovative, providing key support to resolve difficult technical reform issues. Moving forward, they will further align with the expert group’s suggestions, identify pain points based on the actual situation of the enterprises, simplify processes, and gradually expand the work to ensure steady progress.

Chen Ji stated that through in-depth communication and effective interaction, the technical service activity in Changli achieved its expected results. CSMA will continue to strengthen communication with relevant enterprises, expert teams, and government departments, actively coordinate and implement the outcomes of the event, and promote the new industrialization construction of the Changli looper industry cluster. In recent years, the industry’s digital transformation and upgrading have been deepening, with intelligent digital reform becoming a new common need across the sector. The association will leverage its service functions, effectively integrate resources, and provide specialized digital transformation and upgrading services for member enterprises. In the future, the association will continue to assess the specific needs of the entire sewing machinery industry chain, introduce expert resources, optimize service measures, and guide deeper industry transformation, accelerating the construction of a modern sewing machinery industrial system.