Digital & Diversified Transformation, Building Foundations through Specialization and Innovation — Perspectives on the New Journey of Sewing Machinery Spare Parts Development during the 15th Five-Year Plan Period

Recently, the China Sewing Machinery Association (CSMA) Spare Parts Branch Convening Conference and 2026 Annual Theme Meeting, themed "Digital & Diversified Transformation, Building Foundations through Specialization and Innovation," was held in Chongqing. The meeting brought together leading Spare Parts manufacturers to discuss new pathways and directions for development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Selected speeches are compiled and published below for reference by industry enterprises.

Opportunities and Challenges Coexist: Spare Parts Enterprises Plan for Transformation and Upgrading

Wu Jiling, Vice Chairman of China Sewing Machinery Association and Director of the CSMA Spare Parts Branch

From the perspective of development trends in the sewing machinery industry:

First, production and sales volumes are approaching their ceiling, while structural adjustment is accelerating. In the short term, industry scale has reached its upper limit, and the market has entered a stage of reallocating and competing for existing resources. At the same time, the industry has entered a new phase in which growth is driven entirely by technological innovation. New technologies and products are emerging continuously, while product restructuring and upgrading are accelerating. Spare Parts manufacturers must become more responsive, take proactive action, and better demonstrate their value.

Second, the industry landscape has become relatively consolidated, while specialized enterprises continue to show strong vitality. The top ten sewing machine manufacturers now account for nearly 70% of total industrial sewing machine output. Nine leading manufacturers have established production bases in Taizhou, and Jack alone accounts for more than one-third of total industrial sewing machine production, with its share continuing to expand. Meanwhile, some small and medium-sized manufacturers focusing on specialized and niche machine categories remain highly dynamic, generating demand for Spare Parts characterized by multiple varieties, small batches, and relatively stable orders.

Third, quality requirements continue to rise, and cost-performance will increasingly drive demand. As sewing equipment accelerates its transition toward automation and intelligence, requirements for product quality and reliability continue to increase, driving overall demand for high-quality Spare Parts. At this stage, Spare Parts enterprises must focus on producing premium products to secure sustainable orders and stable partnerships. They must also seek a new balance between cost reduction and quality improvement to deliver competitive value-for-money products.

Looking at development trends within the Spare Parts sector itself:

First, the industry landscape continues to be reshaped and differentiated. As sewing machine production capacity in Taizhou continues to expand and concentrate, localized supporting supply chains are rapidly strengthening. Technological capabilities are improving quickly, production capacity is becoming increasingly concentrated, and a number of large-scale Spare Parts manufacturers with annual output value exceeding RMB 50 million have emerged. Regionalization, localization, and ecosystem-based, faction-like collaboration centered around major machine manufacturers have become increasingly evident. Meanwhile, industry-wide and cross-regional exchanges among Spare Parts enterprises have declined, intensifying market segmentation.

Second, survival challenges continue to increase. Most Spare Parts manufacturers still rely on mass production and low-margin, high-volume sales to sustain operations. Under current market conditions, cost reduction and efficiency improvement are approaching their limits, while price cuts and pricing pressure continue, leaving profit margins increasingly thin. At the same time, fluctuations in raw material prices, rising labor costs, and increasing environmental compliance investments have further intensified cost pressures. "Growth in volume without growth in efficiency" has become commonplace, and some enterprises have even fallen into the predicament of continuously declining profitability or operating at a loss. Companies must be willing to break through existing constraints, strengthen their sense of innovation and pioneering spirit, and continuously explore the development paths and models truly suited to their circumstances.

From the perspective of external machining technology development trends:

First, digitalization and intelligence are becoming increasingly integrated. Modern manufacturing no longer relies on experience but is built on a foundation of data. Through industrial internet platforms, enterprises can monitor equipment status in real time, optimize processing parameters, and predict maintenance requirements. AI technologies are gradually becoming the core decision-making hub of machine tools, deeply embedded into CNC systems and directly governing the entire process from programming to machining. AI-powered intelligent machine tools are about to enter practical application.

Second, high-precision machining centers will become standard equipment. As high-quality development across industries continues to raise precision requirements for Spare Parts, advanced equipment such as micron-level (μm) machining centers and five-axis machining centers will become rapidly and widely adopted.

Third, composite machining technologies are gaining momentum. Turn-mill compound machining centers, grinding-machining compound machine tools, and similar equipment will see broad application, enabling "one setup, complete processing," significantly reducing production cycles and minimizing cumulative errors caused by multiple clamping operations.

Fourth, human-machine collaborative production lines will rapidly expand. Robots will be widely deployed, independently completing the entire workflow of loading, unloading, clamping, and simple tool-changing, while workers shift toward high-value technical roles such as programming, commissioning, and maintenance. In the future, traditional factories characterized by high costs and low efficiency will gradually be marginalized.

Fifth, green manufacturing is becoming an inevitable trend. Through measures such as optimizing cutting parameters to reduce energy consumption, adopting environmentally friendly cutting fluids, and implementing waste recycling and reuse systems, enterprises will build more sustainable production models.

In response to these manufacturing technology transformations and upgrades, the Association's Guiding Opinions on the High-Quality Development of China's Sewing Machinery Industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan Period has established a target of raising the proportion of high-precision, advanced processing equipment to 60% of total industry processing equipment. The document also identifies Spare Parts automation, digital manufacturing, and Spare Parts quality enhancement as special key initiatives deserving encouragement and support. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Spare Parts enterprises must accelerate their transition toward advanced manufacturing, advancing from automation further toward digitalized, intelligent, and human-machine collaborative manufacturing.

Cai Xianfeng, Vice Director of the CSMA Spare Parts Branch and Chairman of Ningbo Sewing Machinery Association

As a traditional stronghold for high-end premium Spare Parts, Ningbo's Spare Parts manufacturers have entered a critical phase of in-depth transformation and upgrading. Key issues such as empowering core businesses, diversified development, succession planning, and international expansion urgently require solutions. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, enterprises must adopt broader thinking and perspectives, continue striving forward, expand into new fields, and seek fresh opportunities.

For Ningbo enterprises, the way forward lies in "specialization and innovation, diversification, digitalization, intelligence, branding, and expansion into the social aftermarket sector." The approaches of several representative companies are illustrative. Deying emphasizes "maintaining focus on its core business" and continues investing in digital technical upgrades, with a clear goal — to become the world's leading rotary hook brand. Yuning, while strengthening its aluminum Spare Parts business, has actively extended into automotive parts, new energy, robotics, and drone sectors to establish a second growth curve. Kawei focuses exclusively on the niche segment of "electronic feed wheels," avoiding excessive diversification and instead striving only to master its specialty thoroughly. Today, business leaders share the consensus that competition should no longer be based on low prices but on precision, durability, and customized services, and they are willing to invest in technical upgrades and R&D.

The outlook for the next phase of sewing machinery Spare Parts development can be described as "cautiously optimistic, with steady progress." Several key directions are evident. As the apparel industry undergoes digital upgrading, demand for automated and intelligent Spare Parts will gradually be released. Domestic demand remains relatively weak, the industry will continue to reshuffle, small enterprises will exit the market at an accelerating pace, and the concentration of leading players will increase; intelligent sewing systems and automated production lines will drive demand for high-end Spare Parts. Exports will remain the primary growth engine. Although overseas markets have generally slowed, demand for equipment replacement and aftermarket parts at factories in Southeast Asia and South Asia remains resilient. The industry has entered a new development stage in which the underlying logic of competition has shifted away from scale and cost toward specialization, branding, and cross-industry adaptability.

Xi Lili, Vice Director of the CSMA Spare Parts Branch and General Manager of Jiangyin Xinggang Lvye Co., Ltd.

While observing industry changes and trends, we must also maintain a relatively stable core. Foremost among these is the powerful resilience accumulated by the sewing machinery Spare Parts industry over decades of development. This resilience is key to the industry's existence and enterprise development, and an important source of confidence and momentum that can drive development and sustain forward progress.

Today, intelligent upgrading, digital transformation, and AI integration are increasingly becoming the chosen path for more and more machinery manufacturers. On one hand, the sewing machinery industry pursues both quality and low prices, leaving many Spare Parts products with little or no profit margin — or even on the edge of losses — especially products with high material costs and low labor value. In addition, investment costs are very high, with suitable automation and digital equipment often costing several million yuan, creating enormous pressure. On the other hand, by remaining committed to sewing machinery Spare Parts while actively pursuing diversified transformation, Xinggang has gradually evolved from a traditional machinery manufacturer into a technology-driven enterprise featuring fully automated production, digital intelligence systems, and AI robotics applications. This has achieved a tremendous leap forward and greatly strengthened the company's confidence in the manufacturing sector.

The development of the Spare Parts industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan period faces increasing challenges. But we must firmly believe that without challenges, there would be no impetus for progress — these are two sides of the same contradiction, unified as one. As long as enterprises master their internal capabilities, they can surely stand out even in precarious circumstances. Companies must strengthen their confidence and continuously optimize and integrate every aspect of their internal operations, including processes, management, and teams.

Targeted Development: Focusing on Digitalization, Diversification, Specialization, and Innovation

Wu Jiling, Vice Chairman of China Sewing Machinery Association and Director of the CSMA Spare Parts Branch

Enterprises must master their internal capabilities and place greater emphasis on building systemic advantages. Competition has entered a refined era centered on "core capability rivalry." Beyond manufacturing excellence and technical expertise, Spare Parts enterprises must make comprehensive efforts across market positioning, digital management, team building, customer collaboration, efficiency and cost control, equipment and technology upgrading, and more. They must evolve from relying on isolated strengths to developing capabilities on multiple fronts, demonstrating overall corporate strength and brand image while moving closer to becoming advanced manufacturing enterprises. In the future, enterprises without systemic advantages will find it difficult to stand out in the ultimate competition, and difficult to meet downstream machine manufacturers' demands for stable, long-term, high-quality delivery.

At the same time, enterprises should redefine their positioning and pursue distinctive, independent development paths. Moderately raising output value, improving profitability, and stabilizing the workforce are important measures for Spare Parts enterprises to escape current development difficulties, and diversified development and positioning are imperative. Enterprises should look outward, broaden their horizons, proactively break through, transform themselves into providers of professional precision machinery Spare Parts processing solutions, and expand into related industries. In the future, key Spare Parts and high-end equipment will become top priorities for China's development, and emerging industries such as robotics will remain key directions cultivated by the state. Enterprises should actively follow these new tracks, position themselves early, and seek suitable development opportunities.

They should also focus on niche segments and build comparative advantages. In targeting niche tracks and developing core products, two key points matter: first, accurately locking onto niche demand — rather than pursuing "big and comprehensive" strategies, focus on the "small corners" overlooked by leading enterprises and master them thoroughly; second, establishing rapid iteration mechanisms that create a fast "customer feedback–product adjustment" closed loop. Abandon comprehensive competition in favor of niche tracks; abandon "big and comprehensive" products in favor of high-value core products; abandon scattershot customer development in favor of cultivating high-value core customers; abandon extensive management in favor of refined operations that protect profitability. Spare Parts enterprises must persist in seeking and building differentiated advantages, concentrate limited resources on areas of core advantage, and continuously create distinctive and irreplaceable capabilities within the industry.

In terms of business model innovation, enterprises should transition toward service-oriented manufacturing. First, shift from "machining to customer drawings" to "collaborative R&D" — participating in customers' early-stage R&D, moving upstream to new-product initiation, and using process data and production experience to optimize designs, evolving from "replaceable" to "hard to replace" and becoming an exclusive supplier. Second, shift from "supplying single parts" to "delivering modules" — assembling individual parts into modules and delivering "semi-finished products" to customers, making operations easier for them. Third, shift from "one-time transactions" to "long-term service" — proactively providing customers with "full-lifecycle product management services," including periodic inspections, predictive maintenance, and end-of-life replacement reminders, turning one-time sales into ongoing partnerships. Fourth, shift from "brochure marketing" to "online engagement" — skillfully using internet-based communication to efficiently connect with users, sharing production philosophy and the R&D and manufacturing process, while focusing on buyers' pain points by demonstrating equipment operation, efficiency comparisons, and after-sales processes to activate targeted inquiries.

Wang Xiaoyong, Vice Director of the CSMA Spare Parts Branch and Chairman of Ningbo Yinzhou Yongyao Sewing Machinery Co., Ltd.

Yongyao has cultivated rotary hook R&D and manufacturing for nearly thirty years, accumulating 75 patents in total, including 8 invention patents. Drawing on the "Toyota model," the company has built a lean production model suited to its own development, fully launched 6S management in November 2025, and is steadily advancing toward becoming "a world-class manufacturer of sewing machine hook Spare Parts."

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Yongyao will continue to focus its efforts in three directions. First, continue to dig deeper into new pain points. Heat generation under high-speed operating conditions, the adaptability challenge of having to change the rotary hook whenever materials change, lubrication stability during high summer temperatures — these have all been added to the R&D list, and new technologies such as intelligent early warning and self-lubrication upgrades are being accelerated into practice. Second, continuously improve the product matrix. The five core technologies are only a starting point; going forward, the company will introduce more functional series tailored to niche scenarios, so that every user can find the most suitable option within Yongyao's product lineup. Third, organize quarterly user technical exchange meetings, inviting machine mechanics and workshop supervisors to sit down with R&D and sales staff to discuss pain points face to face, view new products, and offer suggestions, keeping product development always close to the market.

While advancing on the product side, Yongyao has also taken solid steps on the market side. To date, it has established partnerships with more than 400 machine-assembly supporting enterprises at home and abroad, including 129 domestic agents and 113 overseas agents, with global brand coverage reaching 90%. The company stays close to the market and to users, precisely solving various sewing pain points, and has upgraded its QR-code traceability system to support authenticity verification and dealer-outlet notifications. It has completed the rollout of refreshed packaging for both domestic and overseas markets, adjusting the logo to "China Red" and presenting a brand-new image at home and abroad. It has established a closed-loop "R&D–validation–release–iteration" mechanism: every new product must undergo on-site field testing at user locations before release, with feedback collected afterward, good cases promoted, and problems corrected immediately. It is precisely this rapid responsiveness that has turned "Choose Yongyao · No Thread Snags" from a slogan into a trust passed on by word of mouth among users.

Shen Jianchun, Chairman of Hunan Kaisi Machinery Co., Ltd.

Throughout Kaisi's nearly 60-year history from founding to the present, the company has always treated "long-term change" as the foundation of its development. Fluctuation and stability are both temporary and relative; only change is absolute. On one hand, Kaisi upholds its positioning as a "professional machinery Spare Parts manufacturer," choosing not to engage in simple processing and production but instead focusing on user needs that demand high precision. At present, in addition to sewing machine housing products, Kaisi also supplies core Spare Parts for specialized equipment in rail transit, construction machinery, and tobacco machinery, and has ventured into high-end equipment supporting fields such as aviation. Relying on hardware and software strength including nearly a thousand CNC machining centers, robotic welding, and electrophoretic coating production lines, Kaisi can also provide integrated OEM supporting process services — such as metal casting, CNC precision machining, and robotic welding — according to customers' customized and personalized needs. On the other hand, when an enterprise has ample funds, it should make continuous project investments and pursue diversified development to prepare for the future.

My view is that the business an enterprise does today will certainly be upgraded and iterated in the future. To achieve long-term development, a company must begin preparing while conditions allow, starting from its own foundation and strengths, seeking new fields and market space, and purposefully reinforcing and enhancing its endogenous momentum and capabilities through experimentation. Judging from Kaisi's practical experience in crossing over into multiple fields, viewing short-term, large-scale investments rationally and making reasonable assessments and decisions is conducive to an enterprise's long-term and healthy development.

From a global market perspective, China's equipment manufacturing exports have maintained rapid growth, accounting for nearly 50% last year and expected to exceed half this year. Among the drivers, opportunities such as AI and artificial intelligence, the explosive development potential of Africa, and the reflow and restructuring of manufacturing in Europe and the United States are all generating momentum and demand in the equipment market. I would suggest that colleagues in sewing machinery Spare Parts seize this rare window of opportunity, seek out and expand market space, and achieve new development.

Li Xiaogang, Chairman of Zhejiang Fengwu Technology Co., Ltd.

The online sale of sewing machinery Spare Parts has become a trend that the industry — and indeed the global market — can no longer ignore. Over the past five years, online sales realized through livestreaming, online stores, cross-border e-commerce, and other channels have continued to climb, daily shipment volumes have grown geometrically, and a steady stream of best-sellers has emerged. Fengwu's daily shipments stood at 60,000 units in 2024, and by 2026 this figure had already surpassed 80,000 units. This is true not only domestically; overseas dealers have also begun to participate, actively trying online sales. One sewing-machine dealer in Indonesia has reached daily shipments of four to five thousand orders, with strong growth momentum. This shows that online sales of Spare Parts have become a model recognized by users worldwide.

Compared with traditional wear parts and replacement parts, Fengwu places greater emphasis on new types of products — developed according to user needs and then produced by suitable contract manufacturers — with more than several dozen patents filed each year. New and newly added products are incremental categories, and the positioning and operating model of "small innovation, large market" applies equally to the sewing-accessories field. The conventional sewing-accessories market is in cutthroat competition, racing to cut prices, whereas the new-category field competes on innovation and on conveying value. Ankexin's thread snips are priced at RMB 35.9, dozens of times more expensive than conventional products, yet demand in the user market outstrips supply. This fully demonstrates that demand for functional, differentiated, and high-end sewing accessories exists in the end market and is enormous in scale, requiring enterprises to proactively explore and meet it.

According to the Association's statistics, the global installed base of sewing equipment is estimated at 80 million to 100 million units. Given such a vast space for Spare Parts demand, China — as a world sewing-machinery power, with the experience and strength its many Spare Parts enterprises have accumulated over decades of development — is fully capable of, and most likely to, satisfy demand across different categories and tiers. Spare Parts enterprises must actively embrace the internet, facing users and the market directly. Where the traffic is, there the market is. Only by placing themselves within the flow of traffic and in open online environments can they gain more exposure; both positive and negative interactions are beneficial to enterprise development.