Blueprint Unveiled, Focused on New Journey, Anchored in a New Chapter for a Strong Nation — Chairman Yang Xiaojing Interprets the "15th Five-Year Plan" for High-Quality Development in the Sewing Machinery Industry

Recently, at the Standing Council Meeting of the China Sewing Machinery Association, the "Guidance on High-Quality Development of China’s Sewing Machinery Industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidance") was officially released. As the top-level planning document for the industry during the "15th Five-Year Plan," it outlines the overall goals, key tasks, and safeguard measures for the sector, guiding the transformation of China’s sewing machinery industry from "scale leadership" to "quality leadership." To gain deeper insight into the core implications and practical paths of the "Guidance," we specially invited Yang Xiaojing, Chairman of the China Sewing Machinery Association, to provide a detailed interpretation of the industry’s development blueprint for the next five years.

Background Empowerment: Building on Achievements, Overcoming Shortcomings, and Anchoring the New Journey Toward a Strong Nation

China Sewing Machinery: At the key juncture of the successful conclusion of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the full launch of the "15th Five-Year Plan," what is the core background and strategic significance of the release of the "Guidance"?

Yang Xiaojing: Over the past five years, China’s sewing machinery industry has demonstrated remarkable resilience. By the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, 10.15 million units of household and industrial sewing equipment were produced in 2025, a figure similar to the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan." Revenue from 292 large-scale enterprises reached 34.543 billion yuan, a 29.91% increase. The total export volume for the industry amounted to nearly $4 billion, an increase of 68.68%. During the "14th Five-Year Plan," the industry made significant achievements in scale, efficiency, innovation, and exports, achieving global leadership in manufacturing standards and capabilities, and dramatically increasing the share of automated and intelligent sewing equipment.

However, we must also acknowledge that, compared with international advanced levels, the industry still faces numerous shortcomings: the industrial foundation needs to be further strengthened, basic research is insufficient; the industrial structure needs optimization, with a coexistence of overproduction in low- and mid-end products and an imbalance in the supply of high-end products; product quality consistency is weak, and there is intense internal competition within the industry; there is also a need to consolidate the skilled workforce, with a significant gap in professional technical talent.

In the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," a new round of technological revolutions and industrial transformations is accelerating, with AI and other new-generation information technologies deeply integrated into sewing machinery. Downstream industries such as footwear, apparel, and home textiles are accelerating their transformation, and national high-quality development policies are being rapidly implemented. The industry is entering a critical window period for transitioning to intelligent, high-end, and green development. At the same time, challenges such as increased geopolitical uncertainty, global supply chain restructuring, and intensified market competition also exist.

Against this backdrop, the release of the "Guidance" is not only a concrete measure to implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the national "15th Five-Year Plan," but also an inevitable requirement for the industry to address its development shortcomings, cultivate new productive forces, and promote the strategy of building a strong nation. Its core significance lies in the clear shift from an industry led by "product and scale leadership" to a new phase of development characterized by "engineering capabilities, quality governance, and system service capabilities," laying out a clear roadmap for the next five years of high-quality industry development and promoting the creation of a stronger, more innovative, higher value-added, and more sustainable modern industrial system.

Goal Orientation: Multi-Dimensional Efforts, Defining New Connotations of High-Quality Development

China Sewing Machinery: The "Guidance" outlines the overall and specific goals for industry development during the "15th Five-Year Plan." How are these goals defined in terms of high-quality development, and what are the key highlights?

Yang Xiaojing: The overall goal of the "Guidance" is to achieve "qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth" in industry development, ultimately transforming from production-based manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing, becoming a modern industry with innovative leadership, brand influence, and green development demonstration capabilities. To achieve this, we have set specific goals in six dimensions, providing a comprehensive definition of high-quality development.

The first highlight is steady growth in scale and efficiency. We aim for annual growth in industry revenue and profits of more than 5%, with a main business profit margin of over 6%. The production and sales of industrial sewing equipment will remain the largest in the world, with the global share of multifunctional home sewing machines increasing from 20% to 30-40%, promoting the entire industry’s upgrade to the mid- and high-end sectors. This goal emphasizes not just stability in scale but also efficiency improvements, avoiding "false scale growth."

The second highlight is a significant enhancement of innovation capabilities. Innovation is key to cultivating new productive forces. We specify that large-scale enterprises will invest an average of 5% of their revenue in R&D, with leading companies investing more than 6%. We also plan to build an industry research and innovation system at nearly the world’s leading level, developing new products and technologies that meet international standards. This marks a shift from imitation and following innovation to independent and original innovation, giving the industry control over core technological rights.

The third highlight is the continued leadership in manufacturing capabilities. In line with digital and intelligent transformation, we propose building 5-10 intelligent manufacturing demonstration workshops for specialized components, more than 10 automated intelligent production lines, and achieving a 60% share of high-precision advanced processing equipment. Digital transformation penetration of key enterprises will reach 70%. This will drive the industry from "automation" to "intelligence," solidifying its position as a global manufacturing leader.

Furthermore, we have set clear goals for international competitiveness, structural adjustments, and talent development, including nurturing 3-5 internationally renowned companies with revenue over 2 billion yuan, increasing global market penetration for mid- and high-end products to over 90%, adding 30-50 national champions in manufacturing and specialized enterprises, and increasing the share of CNC sewing equipment to 100%. These goals are interconnected, forming a complete system for high-quality development.

Clear Path: Five Key Tasks + Six Major Projects, Laying the Foundation for Development

China Sewing Machinery: To achieve the above goals, the "Guidance" outlines five major tasks and six key projects. Could you elaborate on the core content of these tasks and projects, and how they will drive high-quality development in the industry?

Yang Xiaojing: The five major tasks are the core pathways for industry development, while the six major projects are the specific implementation tools. Together, they are closely integrated to ensure that the goals are achieved.

The first task is accelerating the integration of information technology and strengthening industry leadership. This is crucial for cultivating new productive forces. We will focus on two aspects: first, strengthening basic research, improving the innovation system, and supporting the engineering verification of basic technologies such as sewing dynamics modeling and line tension adaptive control algorithms, while establishing an open-source hardware platform and patent-sharing mechanisms to promote collaboration between universities and enterprises; second, breaking through key technologies, increasing product innovation, and setting up platforms for "challenging key technology projects," focusing on core technologies such as high-speed, high-precision motion control, smart sensing, and robotic collaborative sewing, driving the upgrade from single-machine intelligence to system-level intelligence. Correspondingly, we have deployed the "Basic Theory and Key Technology Breakthroughs" and "Technological Upgrading and Transformation" projects to drive digitalization in manufacturing processes and improve manufacturing precision and efficiency.

The second task is promoting structural optimization and upgrading to enhance development quality. The focus here is to address the imbalance in the industrial structure. On one hand, we will promote product structure upgrades, defining the upgrade directions for various equipment such as fabric laying, industrial sewing, ironing, and embroidery, for example, developing AI-driven intelligent fabric laying equipment, super-thickness automatic cutting beds, and specialized sewing equipment for emerging fields such as aerospace and healthcare. On the other hand, we will optimize enterprise structures and regional layouts, nurturing leading backbone enterprises, and encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to pursue specialized, refined, unique, and innovative development paths, strengthening regional industry clusters in places like Taizhou, Zhuji, and Ningbo, and building world-class industry clusters. The "Product Structure Upgrades" section provides detailed guidance for enterprise upgrades.

The third task is strengthening quality and brand building to enhance international competitiveness. We will focus on the national "three-product" strategy and implement a quality improvement project, guiding enterprises to build full-chain quality assurance systems, address gaps in product precision, stability, and durability, and improve industry standards. This includes active participation in ISO/IEC standard formulation and promoting the internationalization of Chinese standards. We will also strengthen brand-building efforts and cultivate internationally renowned brands.

The fourth task is accelerating the expansion of domestic and international markets, enhancing globalization capabilities. We will establish a "dual circulation" development model, focusing on both domestic and international markets. Domestically, we will better address the "small orders and quick returns" trend and improve response capabilities. Internationally, we will focus on markets such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Central and South America, and North Africa, supporting enterprises to establish localized operations, production, R&D, and service centers abroad.

The fifth task is strengthening the talent pool to enhance the industry’s long-term growth. We will focus on building high-level research teams, vocational skills teams, and leadership development programs to ensure a sustainable supply of talent for the industry's future development.

Ensuring Implementation: Five Measures to Ensure Blueprint Execution

China Sewing Machinery: The blueprint has been drawn, but the key lies in implementation. What supporting measures does the "Guidance" propose to ensure that these tasks and projects are effectively carried out?

Yang Xiaojing: To ensure the successful implementation of the "Guidance," we have outlined five key supporting measures:

1. Strengthen coordination and implementation, establishing a leadership group for strategic planning to guide the implementation and adjusting tasks as needed. 
2. Foster innovation and incentivize enterprise R&D, while protecting intellectual property rights and supporting the integration of national industrial policies. 
3. Promote industry self-regulation to reduce unregulated competition and encourage differentiation and high-end development. 
4. Deepen industry collaboration, fostering synergy between sectors like apparel, footwear, and textiles, while strengthening international exchanges and cooperation. 
5. Expand policy support, advocating for incentives like inclusion in the “old-for-new” policy and optimizing export tax rebate policies.

Outlook: Uniting Efforts to Write a New Chapter for a Strong Industry Nation

China Sewing Machinery: Finally, what are your expectations for the industry during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period? Do you have any message for industry enterprises?

Yang Xiaojing: The “15th Five-Year Plan” is a critical period for China’s comprehensive advancement toward socialist modernization, and also a strategic window for the sewing machinery industry to achieve self-reliance, self-strengthening, and leapfrog upgrading. I hope that through the implementation of the “Guidance,” the industry can achieve three major transformations:
first, from scale expansion to quality improvement;
second, from technology following to innovation leadership;
third, from production-oriented manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing.

By 2030, we aim to achieve internationally leading industrial foundations and R&D capabilities, significantly enhance global competitiveness, truly shed the label of “large but not strong,” and enter the first echelon of global sewing machinery powers.

At the same time, I hope enterprises across the industry will remain focused and united. First, adhere to innovation-driven development, actively embrace new technologies such as AI and digital twins, increase R&D investment, break through core technologies, and build differentiated competitive advantages. Second, prioritize quality, uphold craftsmanship, improve quality systems, enhance product excellence, and build internationally recognized brands. Third, strengthen openness and cooperation, actively participate in industrial chain collaboration, deepen domestic market development, expand overseas markets, and achieve coordinated growth. Fourth, place greater emphasis on talent development, build platforms for talent growth, and cultivate a high-quality workforce to provide lasting momentum for industry development.

The grand blueprint of the “15th Five-Year Plan” has already been drawn. Facing the historic task of deep industrial transformation and upgrading, the China Sewing Machinery Association will work together with all enterprises in the industry to steadily implement all tasks and projects, jointly write a new chapter of high-quality development, and deliver a satisfactory answer to the successful implementation of the national “15th Five-Year Plan” and the goal of building a strong industry.

The release of the “Guidance” provides a clear direction for the development of China’s sewing machinery industry. From basic research to technological innovation, from structural optimization to quality improvement, and from market expansion to talent cultivation, this plan covers all dimensions of industrial development. It addresses current weaknesses while also strategically preparing for the future. In this new development stage, with the leadership of the Association and the joint efforts of the entire industry, China’s sewing machinery sector is well positioned to achieve high-quality development and play a more important role in the global industrial landscape.