Related stories

District Head: Come to Xuanwu for Business, Culture Call for Toilets in Business Venues to Open to Public Indoor‘Silk Market’ Open For Business HSBC Receives Approval for Joint Venture Fund Management Company in China Criteria Set for Banks to Select Overseas Investors

Beijing Garments for Europe

When my friend Lothar asked me if I wanted to accompany him to Pinggu to have a look at a textile-design centre focused on the German market, my mind immediately went into high gear in search of ways to decline.

The last time I was in Pinggu -- way out of town, about 80 kilometres east of Beijing -- the place was nothing but a collection of shacks and low buildings, frankly speaking. That was in 1989, and the only reason I went there then was to go sailboarding. So I had my doubts.

I took some time and plumbed the depths of my consciousness to find a way to say, "No," but, in the end, the idea of getting out of the city for a day -- even though it meant rising at a ghastly early hour -- won out. I gave myself a nudge, and I'm glad I did. After a short drive up the airport expressway and a detour or two, we found ourselves heading east on a new four-lane highway. Within less than an hour we found ourselves approaching a new metropolis, Pinggu a thriving borough of Greater Beijing.

We were met at the Wanxing textile factory design centre by Alois M., who asked that his full name not be used, a personable gentleman from Germany, who works as a manager at the centre.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" I asked, in my inimitable forthright manner.

Without the slightest hint of hesitation or embarrassment -- he must have been asked this question before - Alois M. said: "As the saying goes, the people in the clothing industry are one big family, the world over. Everyone knows everyone else, and one keeps meeting the same individuals in different countries. I was in Korea from 1999 to 2000 when I heard that a German textile agency in Beijing was intending to set up a design centre. I applied and to my surprise was invited for an interview. Everything went well, and I was offered a one-year trial assignment. 'It's a risk I will take,' I thought, and I accepted the job.

"That's how I ended up here in Pinggu. Having been hired only on a trial basis, I really had to put my head to the grindstone to make a go of it. How to produce a collection for German companies: that was the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.

"Of course, looking at it from an economic point of view alone, doing this work in China makes a lot of sense. The cost of a final sample, ready for mass production, was 1,500 euros - 2,000 euros in those days, if done in Europe, but only 10 percent of that in China. With about 500 samples needed every season -- twice a year -- it does not take an Einstein see the cost advantage of a place like Pinggu."

Scepticism

Alois M. went on to say that, despite a measure of professed interest, the prevailing attitude was: "This will never work!" As is so often the case with some German-Chinese economic collaborations, scepticism prevailed back home. It was left up to the agency -- with none of the resources of the big boys of the German garment industry -- to build up the centre. Everyone else just stood by and watched. Luckily, though, the Chinese partner did support the project, not the least because an excellent rapport had been created over the years between the agency and the Beijing Garment Corporation. That's how the corporation came to take control of the centre.

When it became evident that Alois M. was not only proficient and reliable, but also capable of working in a spirit of harmony with the centre's Chinese employees, he found himself with a new employer. A decision was made by the corporation to invest in a completely new, state-of-the-art, design centre, with a brand new building, equipped with everything that was needed: the latest computers, sample lines, the lot. With the unqualified support of the corporation, Alois M. has been able to produce new collections that meet the highest demands of the centre's clientele.

So far, the cooperation is working well, and, five years after their lack of interest, major companies in the European garment industry are relying on the Pinggu design centre -- mere spectators in a game that is being controlled by the corporation. In 2004, 6,000 sales samples were produced for Germany. This, by the way, is only the tip of the iceberg. Millions of pieces of clothing sold in Europe every year provide employment for tens of thousands of workers in Beijing.

With textile quotas abolished as of this year, it is expected that Chinese exports in this sector will increase by around 30 percent across the board, both in finished products and raw materials.

Solid training

So far so good, but let's go back for a moment and listen to some more of what Alois M. had to say: "We began upstairs with ten seamstresses and two computers. We cut patterns, developed collections, made up samples, and approached the German market step by step. The first and foremost task was to train our employees, because when we started out there was not even one person able to handle a typical European pattern.

"I don't know how much you know about the CAD system, but it works like this: The customer supplies the basic data, from which a standard German size 38 pattern is cut out by hand. A prototype is then made up and sent to the customer for approval. Invariably, alterations will be needed before a final agreement on a basic pattern can be reached. Finally, that pattern is entered into the computer, plus the scaling in all the sizes that are required. That can be quite a large number, going up in steps over the entire range of the collection. Germans come in all shapes and sizes, you see.

"That kind of knowledge simply did not exist here before, at least not with the degree of precision needed for Europe. There seem to be far fewer differences in body sizes with the Chinese people than there are with Europeans. We had to -- and keep having to -- train our staff in the handling of basic patterns and familiarising them with the process of scaling so they can understand the exacting requirements of our hard-to-please customers."

Softly, softly to success

"Those were the first steps, and they went in the right direction," Alois M. said, and not without a slight hint of satisfaction.

"You certainly don't need congratulations from someone who isn't an expert," I muttered and tried to change tack. "Where do you see the differences between the working environment of this country and what you are used to in Germany?"

"In the cultural arena, of course; this affects everything: the way of thinking, and the approach to work."

"Could you be more specific?" I nudged.

"Well," Alois M. took a deep breath. "What I would call a sense of duty towards one's work, a sense of strictness, a sense of wanting to get it just right. Perhaps that's a very German way of looking at things."

"Is that so? How does one handle something like that?"

Suddenly, it struck me that Alois M. would be just the right person to take this kind of venture to success. He was so serious, so sincere, and yet so -- if I may say so -- gentle.

"First of all, one has to deal with different ways of thinking. We need to lead our Chinese colleagues to understand what it is the European customer wants. That's not easy at times. Talking about millimetres to people for whom even one centimetre seems just about right -- chabuduoba! -- is a challenge, I tell you."

"You sound tough when you say that, but this place doesn't look like a sweatshop to me," I replied.

Alois M. thought for a moment, and then said, "It all depends on building a team spirit. That means talking to my staff about anything and everything that concerns them and, most importantly, not taking any liberties. I have to act as I expect them to act. One very good thing is that my Beijing partners are 100 percent behind me and have complete confidence in what is happening here. They have made available the most capable people imaginable to support this endeavour."

I was fascinated. Alois M. got me thinking, and I did not regret having spent almost the whole day at the centre. I also had the good fortune of meeting the charming Chinesee leader of this project. We were able to discuss the difficulties involved in finding qualified people before our discussion was suddenly interrupted by hundreds of young people getting on their buses to take them on their long journeys to their native provinces far away for the Spring Festival.

Their joy was being celebrated with fireworks greeting the Year of the Rooster. It came to me that without this young generation not a single project might be feasible in China.

As I left the centre, surrounded by mountains and blue skies, I realized there had been many positive changes in Pinggu. An idealistic sentiment came to mind: that human beings -- whatever their languages and ways of thinking may be -- can accomplish great things through cooperation, and that skilled foreigners in China, such as Alois M., can find a niche in the country far from the bright lights and clamour of its biggest cities.