British Textile Industry: Will 200 Thousand Jobs Be Created In 5 Years? Is It A Lofty Aspiration Or A Castle In The Air?

After the United States accelerated the return of manufacturing, the British government had also moved.

In November 2nd, a theme was "new dawn" to rebuild Britain.

The conference on manufacturing was held in the UK.

The guests were not only government officials, university professors, research commissioners, but also from the industry.

And retailers.

In the backdrop of the persistent employment situation in Britain, the government hopes that the reconstruction of the textile industry will create 200 thousand jobs in 5 years.

This rather ambitious goal has been evaluated by the industry as impractical. Although the British textile industry has an advantage over high value-added products, whether the industry can get rid of the dependence on imported products and whether the lack of professional personnel can be improved, these factors may determine the recovery pace of the British textile industry for a long time.

Employment stimulating vision brings about a revival plan.

The British media has pointed out that the fundamental purpose of the government's textile revival plan is to create 200 thousand jobs in 5 years, which is two times the number of employed people in the industry.

Despite spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing, the United Kingdom still has a good performance, most textiles.

The company has the ability to produce high-quality fabrics that meet customer requirements, but the recent sales and profits of the British textile and garment industry have declined. It is not realistic to hope that the industry will turn a profit in a short period of time and boost large-scale employment.

In the past few decades, Britain and France and Germany have lost their main manufacturing capability as well.

At first, British purchasers purchased products from textile and apparel clusters in northern Romania and Western Poland, and then moved to Turkey and Balkans.

Today, its procurement network is located in Southeast Asian countries, and the pace of expansion is much faster than that of US retailers.

According to statistics from the British textile and Apparel Association (UKFT), sales of textile and clothing industry in Britain reached 8 billion 100 million in 2011, accounting for 91% of exports, or about 7 billion 100 million pounds.

From the point of view of imports, British clothing imports amounted to 17 billion pounds in 2011, of which more than 75% came from countries outside the EU.

In the British clothing sales market, only 4.8% of the products are produced by local enterprises.

Vince Cable, Secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, pointed out that government departments have seen the good return of the textile industry, but the dawn of the textile industry is uncertain.

The return of British manufacturing industry really needs to seize opportunities and not just illusory vision.

Local purchasing advantages or inexhaustible driving force

Actually, push.

The motive force of the return is not only due to the government's expectation of employment, but also from the change of retailer's purchasing ideas.

Those who support the revival of textile industry believe that it is very difficult for them to make accurate purchasing forecasts for clothing at this stage. Therefore, the most important thing is to make quick response based on forecast correction.

And the procurement plan for the 70% Asian market is difficult to change in the short term. Even if the purchasing power of neighboring countries is increased, it is difficult to alleviate such problems. The most effective way is to increase domestic procurement.

Almost all the clothes in the British market come from abroad.

Compared with domestic procurement, buyers need to face a series of problems such as longer delivery time, lagging response period and more complex inventory systems.

An example of Accenture consulting shows that multinational procurement requires two times more time and effort than domestic procurement to build channels.

"In the apparel retailing industry, purchasers of each quarter will forecast the consumption demand of the market.

Once the forecast deviations, pnational procurement is obviously more costly than domestic procurement to make up for the losses caused by the wrong prediction.

The company's investigators explained.

Carle, a professor of textile technology at University of Manchester, believes that industry competition, trend change and technological innovation have caused more frequent changes in products. Manufacturing overseas will continue to increase supply chain costs, and there is no quick response to product changes.

Many clothing products are ordered from Asian suppliers at a high price, and when they arrive, buyers find that they can only be sold at a discount price in the domestic market, because fashion trends have changed.

"Though on the surface, procurement in countries such as Turkey and India can achieve higher profits.

Once the sales price premium and pportation cost are taken into account, its profits will be less impressive.

It is profitable to buy Textile and garment products in the UK, and the high cost disadvantage of the workforce can be offset by the influence made in the UK.

Carle added.

Lack of talents constraining industrial return

Businessmen believe that the constraints on the revival of the British textile industry are not from low-cost competition in other countries, nor in the depressed market demand, but in how to attract employment, train professionals and stabilize employment.

Bill Macbeth, director of a training and Research Institute in the United Kingdom, said that 54% of the British textile and garment employment staff were over 45 years old, and the industry lacks the charm of attracting young workers. Only 61% of the workers had more than 5 years of work experience.

49% of British companies believe that the difficulty they face in recruiting is the lack of skills of applicants.

The study also found that textile subjects offered by British institutions did not provide training in basic skills, and many college graduates lacked professional knowledge and professional competence.

Insiders pointed out that the upstream textile enterprises in the UK would be the first to regain their vitality. The premise is to improve the investment situation in the field and enable employees to receive formal training.

Compared with decades ago, the British government has a deeper understanding of this.

On the positive side, the British textile enterprises have the ability to develop new customers.

At present, the global economy is still growing, and the textile enterprises in the UK are capable of developing continuously in the market with potential growth, and the British government is also willing to provide support for this.

It is understood that in September this year, the British government spent 2 million pounds on strengthening cooperation with employers to help them carry out staff training.

In fact, the British textile industry has always had its unique potential for development.

In the past decades, Britain has trained a group of designers with innovative thinking.

Paul Smith, a British designer who was knighted by the queen of England, pointed out that Britain has the ability to create good things, just like other countries.

He thinks that finding differentiation is the key to the growth of the textile industry in the UK. "British companies need to know what advantages the competitors in other countries do not have. Only by constantly strengthening their competitiveness can we promote the revival of the industry."

Smith said.