Speech by Mr. Yang Xiaojing, Chairman of the China Sewing Machinery Association, at the 2025 China Sewing Machinery Industry Conference

Distinguished directors, supervisors, representatives, and colleagues from the industry,

At a time when the whole country is earnestly studying and implementing the guiding principles of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, we gather here in Guangzhou to attend the 2025 China Sewing Machinery Industry Conference and the Fifth Meeting of the 11th Council of the Association. On behalf of the China Sewing Machinery Association (CSMA), I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all directors, supervisors, and representatives for their continued support of the Association’s work; to all invited guests for their insightful speeches and valuable perspectives; and to the Guangdong Sewing Equipment Chamber of Commerce and enterprises in Guangdong for their strong support and active participation in this conference.

Today’s meeting has been compact in arrangement, pragmatic in content, and highly strategic, instructive, and forward-looking. The conference reviewed and approved the Secretariat’s 2025 Work Report and Financial Report, heard the analysis and outlook on the industry’s performance and development trends in 2025, and listened to the briefing on preparations for the upcoming council transition, leading to the establishment of the Leadership Group for the election of the 12th Council. Centered on the theme of “Embracing Artificial Intelligence, Innovating the Future of Sewing,” Dr. Hu Wenhai of Jack and Professor Hu Tianliang of Shandong University delivered comprehensive and in-depth keynote presentations, offering constructive recommendations on how the industry can seize future opportunities and embrace artificial intelligence. In addition, Professor Hu Tianliang, Mr. Ru Shuiqiang of Dahao, Mr. Xie Ruiqing of Zoje, Mr. Zhang Runming of Yida, and Mr. Chen Bo of Chunxiao shared their perspectives based on the macroeconomic environment and their own reflections, presenting many detailed and targeted practical suggestions that have been highly inspiring.

The year 2025 has been one in which the industry has overcome challenges, demonstrated remarkable resilience, and maintained an overall positive development momentum. It is also a pivotal year marking the successful conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the transition toward planning and launching the 15th Five-Year Plan. The entire industry has continued to advance high-quality development in depth, further consolidating China’s position as a leading manufacturing power and making outstanding contributions to the nation, society, the industrial chain, and the fulfillment of people’s aspirations for a better life.

First, new-quality development has gained strong and positive momentum. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the industry overcame the risks of market stagnation caused by the pandemic, achieving steady overall growth. A new industrial system has been accelerated, with manufacturing standards and capabilities reaching world-leading levels. Digital transformation has been steadily deepened, with companies such as Jack, SGG, and Sewpower being recognized respectively as Future Factories, Smart Factories, and 5G Factories. The industry’s international standing and influence have been significantly enhanced, alongside continuous improvements in brand recognition and reputation.

Second, the industrial structure has been continuously optimized. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, industry concentration has steadily increased, with the number of above-scale enterprises growing by more than 20 percent. Nearly one-third of these enterprises have been recognized as Single Champion Enterprises or Specialized and Innovative enterprises, and 21 companies have been awarded the title of Specialized and Innovative  “Little Giant” enterprises by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The product structure has been rapidly upgraded, with automated equipment accounting for over 90 percent of output. Digitalized and intelligent equipment has developed rapidly, while AI empowerment and humanoid robot-assisted production have begun to emerge, pointing to key future development trends.

Third, scientific and technological innovation has yielded fruitful results. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the China-led intelligent sewing product system has become increasingly comprehensive, guiding global R&D directions. Average R&D investment in the industry has reached 5.43 percent, far exceeding the manufacturing sector average of 1.6 percent. The total number of patent applications has surpassed 36,000, with six enterprises receiving National Patent Awards. The industry’s standardization system has been gradually improved, achieving substantive breakthroughs in leading the formulation and revision of international standards. Meanwhile, the talent structure has continued to improve, with growing proportions of highly skilled, professional, and interdisciplinary talent.

Fourth, market domains have expanded significantly. The international coverage of Chinese products has further increased, with industry exports repeatedly reaching record highs. While consolidating traditional markets such as the Belt and Road regions, ASEAN, and RCEP members, the industry has progressively expanded into emerging mid- to high-end markets in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Intelligent workshop and digital factory solutions have been rapidly popularized, accelerating the transition from manufacturing-oriented to service-oriented manufacturing. Application fields for equipment have continued to expand into new markets such as medical products, carbon fiber, industrial textiles, and automotive interiors.

The year 2026 is approaching, and China will enter a new stage of development under the 15th Five-Year Plan. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee deliberated and adopted the “Proposals of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development,” emphasizing the need to accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance, lead the development of new-quality productive forces, seize the historic opportunities of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and enhance the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. The proposals particularly stress advancing the development of a Digital China, promoting the deep integration of the real and digital economies, accelerating innovation in artificial intelligence and other digital-intelligent technologies, strengthening efficient supply of computing power, algorithms, and data, and comprehensively implementing the “AI+” initiative to drive paradigm shifts in scientific research.

The sewing machinery industry must carefully study, deeply understand, and resolutely implement these national strategies. With high-end, intelligent, and green development as objectives, and digital empowerment as a key means, the industry should effectively research and apply cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, seize commanding heights in industrial applications, and open up new horizons for high-quality development. Just now, Secretary General Chen Ji outlined the Association’s key tasks for 2026, with which I fully agree. Taking this opportunity, I would like to share three points of understanding regarding the industry’s future transformation and upgrading.

First, strengthen confidence and chart a new blueprint for industry development. One of the Association’s key tasks this year has been the formulation of the industry’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which has already undergone three rounds of revision. By the end of this year and early next year, we will further solicit opinions from backbone enterprises, branch organizations, characteristic regions, and local industry associations. This is a matter for the entire industry and concerns the direction of development over the next five years. I sincerely hope that the backbone enterprises present will actively participate, pool wisdom, and contribute constructive suggestions.

I can share that the key tasks of the industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period will include accelerating research and integrated application of modular design and mechanism optimization technologies, three-dimensional sewing technologies, machine vision, and robotic sewing; promoting the upgrading of sewing machinery toward green intelligence, network connectivity, and integrated solution-oriented high-end development; and increasing the proportion of high-end sewing equipment to 50 percent of total output. At the same time, leveraging digital and network technologies, the industry will accelerate its transition toward service-oriented manufacturing, targeting service-oriented manufacturing revenues to exceed 30 percent of total main business income. Continuous efforts will also be made to enhance product quality and brand development, cultivating five to ten globally influential leading enterprises with strong quality competitiveness.

These goals are not overly ambitious, but achieving them will not be easy. The key lies in maintaining confidence, focusing on the core sewing machinery business, inheriting the advantages accumulated during the 14th Five-Year Plan in product chains, industrial chains, innovation chains, and talent chains, and effectively utilizing information, digital, and intelligent tools—including artificial intelligence—to tap new growth drivers, expand new advantages, and build a modern industrial system for China’s sewing machinery industry.

Second, let innovation lead and explore new development models for the industry. Over the more than 230-year history of sewing machinery development, “Made in China” was once synonymous with follower innovation and imitation. However, during the mid-stage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, China seized opportunities and gradually caught up. Today, China is undeniably the world’s largest producer—and indeed a strong producer—of sewing machinery. Our industrial sewing machine output accounts for 87 percent of global production. While some may still question the term “strong,” I believe it is well deserved, reflected in a complete industrial system, strong industrial vitality, high levels of innovation, large volumes and high quality of patent applications, rapidly improving workforce skills, and steadily expanding brand influence and market coverage.

In particular, over the past three years, alongside rapid national development in the digital economy and artificial intelligence, the sewing machinery industry has empowered new-quality development through intelligent sewing, achieving a solid start. This was vividly demonstrated at the recently concluded CISMA 2025. A wide range of intelligent products and solutions—such as Jack’s AI sewing machines and humanoid robot collaboration units, ShangGong Group’s digital flat-bed heavy-duty sewing machines, MAQI’s Quick Order King, Hikari’s new-generation intelligent lockstitch machines, Zoje’s Bird’s Nest intelligent thread control IoT flat sewing machines, Dahao’s A15 PRO personalized embroidery electronic control system, Kawada’s AI vision system, and Ina’s AI intelligent hanging system—have integrated innovations in mechanisms, motor-driven intelligent control, industrial robotics, computer vision, laser applications, equipment interconnectivity, big data analytics, and cloud computing. These innovations target key processing pain points in market demand and downstream industrial chains, guiding the direction of intelligent development in the sewing machinery industry and opening new pathways from single-machine intelligence to intelligent sewing units, production lines, cloud platforms, and smart factory construction.

Going forward, industry enterprises should further enhance their understanding and application of artificial intelligence, human–machine interaction, network communications, the Internet of Things, big data, and cloud computing, overcome core barriers in computing power, algorithms, and data, and explore new tracks and models for industry development in line with practical realities.

We must strengthen research into sewing fundamentals, encouraging researchers to focus on frontier disciplines such as artificial intelligence, conduct pioneering and original research, optimize foundational sewing theories around key application scenarios, and provide strong theoretical support for building an innovative industry ecosystem. We must also intensify breakthroughs in core technologies, focusing on specialized automated sewing units for specific digital production scenarios, as well as cloud platforms and numerical control systems integrating intelligent IoT technologies, AI large models, and sewing process databases, thereby establishing proprietary product technology systems and consolidating overall competitiveness. Furthermore, we should promote the application of new business formats and models, guided by national digital transformation action plans, and build intelligent collaborative sewing systems centered on coordinated design, intelligent production, online inspection, predictive maintenance, and smart marketing.

Third, assume responsibility and optimize the industry’s development ecosystem. The entire industry must focus on the tasks of the 15th Five-Year Plan with a strong sense of responsibility. We must adhere to high-end, intelligent, green, and integrated development, advance digital transformation and equipment upgrading, and deepen the integration of industrialization and informatization. We should continue to promote specialized and innovative development, accelerate comprehensive enterprise transformation, strengthen product R&D in response to market demand, enrich product offerings, improve quality, and enhance service supply. At the same time, we should actively promote the dual-circulation development pattern, expand global layout, enhance international operational capabilities, and build a market structure where domestic and international markets reinforce each other.

We must also strengthen talent development. Talent is the foundation of long-term success. First, we should accelerate the cultivation of scientific and technological talent, pooling resources to nurture more leading scientists and outstanding engineers and stimulate innovation vitality. Second, we should optimize the structure of skilled talent, building a workforce centered on highly skilled professionals through skills competitions, CNC contests, and vocational qualification programs. Third, we should strengthen the training of management talent by integrating industrial chain resources and cooperating with research institutes, universities, and professional organizations to cultivate interdisciplinary talent aligned with industry needs.

Finally, we should further improve industry self-regulation mechanisms, explore rational and cooperative competition models, maintain sound development order, and fully leverage the functions of industry associations to enhance service capabilities, policy interpretation, industry research, standardization, and talent development, thereby creating a healthier development environment and a new industry ecosystem.

Distinguished directors, supervisors, and representatives, “the road ahead is long and arduous, yet we must forge ahead anew.” The new journey of the 15th Five-Year Plan is about to begin. Under the correct guidance of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, let us build our foundation through technological innovation, enhance quality through application empowerment, and unite strength through openness and cooperation to accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system. The China Sewing Machinery Association will continue to work hand in hand with member enterprises and industry colleagues to promote positive and sustainable development of the sewing machinery industry and make new contributions to economic and social progress and to improving people’s quality of life.