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To Win The "Survival War", See How Japanese Textile Enterprises Can Play A Joint And Horizontal Game

2024/7/22 14:06:00 23

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　　 At a time when environmental protection and low carbon have become the rigid indicators of the textile industry, the innovation difficulty of various R&D has increased and the field of involvement has become increasingly extensive, it is increasingly difficult for enterprises to cope with the ever-changing and diversified demands of the market alone. A "co creation and cooperation" mode of thinking is not only prevalent among functional departments within the company, but also among companies. The deep cultivation and achievements of major Japanese textile enterprises in this field may serve as a reference for the future development of China's textile industry.

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　　 Join hands with supply chain and scientific research enterprises to break the shackles of innovative thinking

　　 In recent years, Toray has been particularly active in the field of co creation and cooperation. Yaya Guangxiong, the head of the society of Toray, said that their action policy clearly highlighted the importance of cooperation and co creation. They are committed to creating new value through close collaboration within the Group and co creation with supply chain customers and trading partners. The strategic cooperation with Uniqlo is their successful case.

　　 The concept of "Life Wear" held by Uniqlo is highly consistent with that of Toray, which has become the key to their successful cooperation. It is in this cooperation that epoch-making products such as "Heartech" were born, which has changed people's lifestyle. Similarly, the success of "Ultra Light Down" and "Kando Pants" series products can not be separated from the fiber technology of Toray and Uniqlo's unique commodity planning and sales strategy.

　　 Looking forward to the future, Toray will continue to devote itself to the development of global sustainable products and contribute to solving global problems. Their fiber recycling brand "&+" is another successful case of co creation and cooperation. This brand originally generated recycled polyester fiber raw materials by recycling PET bottles, and in 2023, in the brand remodeling, recycled nylon fiber with recycled fishing net components was added. The successful building of the brand can not be separated from the active participation of the final consumers, the establishment of the recycling system, and the professional technical support of Xieyong Industrial Company, which is responsible for the processing of masterbatch. This series of cooperation has formed a complete closed loop.

　　 "Historic innovation is often led by young people and start-ups." Koshiro Kudo, president of Asahi Kasei, said that for Asahi Kasei, which has developed to its current scale, innovation has become increasingly difficult. How to find and join hands with promising start-ups has become a major challenge for the company. "Therefore, in the field of research and development, we will continue to strengthen co creation and cooperation with external enterprises."

　　 Teijin's president, Edmund Uchikawa, put forward the company's strategic idea of horizontal division of labor and vertical combination at the same time, aiming to solve social problems through cross field and cross company cooperation.

　　 The practice of Teijin has also proved this. In terms of men's suits recycling, due to the complexity and diversity of suit fabrics, including wool, cuprammonia fiber and polyester fiber, it is difficult for a single company to complete product recycling and classification of various materials. In order to achieve a circular economy, they need to work together with partners in many fields. In addition, Teijin also carried out division of labor research with Axcelead in the field of health care to jointly explore new ways of drug development. This cross field cooperation not only creates new value, but also improves the research strength of both sides.

　　 "As the issues facing enterprises become more and more complex, it is difficult for a single company to cope with them and make breakthroughs." Ueno Xiusi, president of Unijik, also deeply recognized the importance of cooperation. He pointed out that it is an inevitable choice to cooperate across the boundaries of the same industry and supply chain.

　　 Ueno shared the experience of 20 years ago when he cooperated with energy companies to operate factory self generating equipment and carry out electricity sales. This experience made him deeply realize the win-win way in cooperation. "Open innovation" has become one of the trends of the current era. In terms of recycled products, each link in the process of raw material recycling, regeneration, productization and circulation requires close cooperation of all parties to achieve recycling. The cooperation between Unijico Trading Company and SHIKIBO Company, a subsidiary, has gone through three years and achieved remarkable results. They have jointly written a brilliant chapter with a sales volume of about 300 million yen. Although the cooperation between textile material manufacturers and downstream enterprises is common, the cooperation between the two textile material giants, such as Unijico Trading Company and SHIKIBO Company, is undoubtedly a new trend. "We have perfectly integrated the advantages of both sides, worked together, and carried out in-depth cooperation by virtue of similar value chains and overseas strongholds. Looking forward to the future, we will continue to integrate each other's technologies, build a closer cooperation relationship, and also look forward to promoting this cooperation model to a wider range of fields."

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　　 Break through information barriers between departments and tap their own potential

　　 In addition to setting up projects for joint research and development among companies, Japanese textile enterprises have also been trying to break the information barriers within the company, achieve horizontal integration among departments, and further tap their own potential.

　　 Koshiro Kudo, president of Asahi Kasei, Japan, once said that co creation and cooperation within the group, namely horizontal alliance, has become an important means for the company to achieve diversified operations and exert its overall strength. As a holding company, we were faced with the dilemma that our subsidiaries were independent and weak in horizontal cooperation. To this end, we have set up a digital co creation headquarters, which is committed to promoting digital technology and co creation inside and outside the company horizontally within the group to drive change. We have gathered digital talents from multiple departments and introduced external elites to accelerate this process.

　　 "Keli, which started from textile, has now grown into a leading enterprise in the field of special chemicals in Japan. Although it has launched many R&D products, it has become increasingly difficult to promote the development or business of complete innovation." Keli Nagagawa Renben also stressed the importance of co creation within the company. This is not only a dilemma for our company, but also a challenge for the whole industry. Therefore, co creation and cooperation have become our indispensable help.

　　 To this end, Keli established the Innovation Networking Center (INC), which has 30 full-time staff and 40-50 part-time staff, becoming a large organization with horizontal functions. Through co creation and cooperation within the company, we provide customers with comprehensive proposals. INC covers not only research and development personnel, but also the heads of marketing, sales, engineering and management. Our advantage is that we have diversified skills and talents, so that we can comprehensively review and evaluate each proposed topic.

　　 It has been more than two years since the establishment of INC, and we have successfully proposed more than 20 potential theme programs. At present, most of the schemes have entered the set stage 1 to 2, and some have formed promotion teams or project teams. We believe that these programs will bring more innovation and value to the company in the near future.