Wenzhou, A 150 Person Small Shoe Enterprise, Has More Than 30 Invention And Design Patents

The factory price of a pair of leather shoes is 300 yuan, but the retail price in Russia is 1500 yuan, and the supply exceeds the demand. Customers have to pay 30% of the purchase price in advance before the company delivers the goods. The business is very good.

What is more surprising is that this is a small shoe company with only 150 employees, and it is also a national high-tech enterprise, which has created a remarkable performance of 50 million yuan of annual output value, which makes the industry marvel.

The predecessor of this enterprise is an unknown small shoe enterprise founded in the early 1980s. For decades, by virtue of immersing itself in technological transformation and independent research and development of advanced production processes, it has simply turned the traditional manufacturing of "meager profits" into high profits, drawing a stunning "smile curve" on the development track.

　 Seems like ordinary leather shoes but hides "core technology"

This shoe enterprise, called "Monlani Shoes Co., Ltd.", is located in Wenzhou High tech Industrial Park.

Two days ago, in the office of Zhu Chengkui, a shoe craftsman of Monlani Company, the reporter saw this pair of leather shoes. They are a pair of high tube leisure aviation security shoes, which are no different from ordinary leather shoes in any way.

"This pair of aviation security shoes has subverted the manufacturing process of traditional leather shoes. It uses injection molding to combine the outsole with the vamp, overcoming the shortcomings of traditional manufacturing processes such as degumming and environmental protection." Zhu Chengkui analyzed the uniqueness of this pair of leather shoes to reporters one by one, talked about the excitement, and compared leather shoes made by traditional processes from time to time.

He said that the batch of aviation security shoes produced by the company were all exported to Russia, which belongs to OEM. The local retail price in Russia is more than 1500 yuan per pair, which is 10% to 20% higher than the price of leather shoes produced by traditional shoemaking technology. However, the production profit is as high as about 10%, nearly double the average profit of the shoe industry. Part of the profit comes from the reduction of production costs after the adoption of the new process. The traditional industrial molding workshop needs 70 to 80 people, and only 20 people are needed after the injection molding process is adopted.

With the advanced injection molding technology, the company has been on the fast track of development. The company has also moved from Shuangyu Street in Lucheng District to the new factory building in the high-tech industrial park, which now covers an area of nearly 8 mu, and the scale has doubled.

　　 Research and development of new technology brings an international lawsuit

The transformation of Monlani dates back to 2003.

At that time, the decline of the traditional manufacturing industry was gradually apparent, and it was difficult to win by low prices. Zheng Guohong, the chairman of Menglani, felt that this was not an issue, decided to suspend production for a year, and closed the door to research and develop new technologies to find a way out.

Until 2004, he began to study the shoemaking technology of the international brand "Aibu", which fascinated Zheng Guohong.

ECCO, which is affiliated to the "Aibu" brand, is a giant shoemaking enterprise founded in Denmark in 1963. In the shoe production process, it does not use any glue, but uses low-pressure injection molding to combine the outsole and vamp. This process has always been among the best in the world. Zheng Guohong is determined to innovate on this basis.

Unexpectedly, Monlani, who successfully developed the injection molding production process with independent intellectual property rights, attracted an international lawsuit. ECCO filed a lawsuit to the Chinese court on the grounds that Monlani's design was suspected of patent infringement, forcing Monlani to abandon the market.

"Our patent is not a complete imitation, but a re innovation, and the process is more difficult than theirs." Zhu Chengkui said that after more than two years of argument, he finally won the lawsuit.

With this advanced shoemaking technology, the company was recognized as a national high-tech enterprise in 2010. Monlani, who has only 150 people but owns more than 30 patents for footwear invention and appearance design, has created a remarkable performance with an annual output value of 50 million yuan.

　　 How does the "science and technology style" promote the development of small shoe enterprises

"Technological shoemaking is one of the main directions for the future development of Wenzhou shoe industry." Xie Rongfang, executive chairman of Wenzhou Shoe and Leather Industry Association, said that the requirements for enterprises are far beyond appearance innovation or upgrading of production lines.

The footwear industry is a typical labor-intensive industry. After losing its cost advantage, Wenzhou footwear industry began to explore how to participate in market competition by increasing product added value. Red Dragonfly Group has built the first academician workstation in China's footwear industry; Aokang Group carries out manufacturing process innovation; Kangnai Group has launched a new high-end customized brand, with each pair of prices ranging from 1000 yuan to 50000 yuan to 60000 yuan; Juyi Group, which exports women's shoes, invests 5 million yuan every year for technical transformation, and its efficiency is 20% higher than that of its peers; Jindi Group has also introduced 3D shoemaking technology... leading shoemaking enterprises are vigorously promoting the "wind of science and technology", and the situation is gratifying.

The successful transformation of Monlani is enviable, but many bosses of small and medium-sized shoe enterprises still have realistic concerns. Technological shoemaking is the patent of large enterprises, and it is difficult for small enterprises to put it into practice.

A manager surnamed Ma from Dehuier Shoes told the reporter that they have six or seven sets of abrasive tools, three assembly lines, more than 70 workers, and an annual output value of nearly 15 million yuan. At present, a set of abrasives costs about 60000 yuan, and an assembly line costs about 800000 yuan. Based on the current industry average profit of 5%, if we go to the middle and high end, the cost of equipment renewal will double, which will exceed the net profit of the shoe factory for one year. Manager Ma said that small enterprises are weak and can't stand the trouble.

Xie Rongfang said that no matter how, at present, Wenzhou's traditional industry has developed from imitation to product differentiation, and how to support SMEs to become bigger and stronger, which raises new issues for the government and industry.