China News Service, Guangzhou, March 28 (Reporter Sun Qiuxia) In Zhangcha, Foshan, a famous knitting town in China, a 5,000-square-meter digital factory is operating in an orderly manner. The intelligent hanging machine delivers the cut fabrics to the workers' seats in each process in sequence, turning "raw materials" into "ready-made garments" in as little as 7 minutes.

The picture shows a sewing worker hanging the cut clothes on a smart hanging machine. Photo by Sun Qiuxia

　　"Our digital factory started operation in November last year. The display screen in the workshop can display the production volume of workers in real time. Especially for production scheduling, its advantages are very obvious." Foshan Ruihuan Clothing Co., Ltd. (referred to as " Said Feng Yongguo, chairman of Ruixan Clothing").

　　The textile and clothing industry is one of Guangdong's strategic pillar industry clusters. The reporter recently visited a number of companies and found that the policy of super deduction of R&D expenses encourages textile and garment companies to increase investment in R&D and carry out intelligent transformation of production workshops to achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

The picture shows the automatic cutting machine at work. Photo by Sun Qiuxia

　　Feng Yongguo said that in order to increase the company's industry competitiveness, more than 10 million yuan was invested last year to improve the production workshop from equipment to management. In the first three quarters of 2023, the total deduction for R&D expenses will exceed 3.3 million yuan.

　　"Our early investment in R&D expenses is relatively high. Without the support of preferential tax policies, the pressure on corporate expenditures will be considerable." Feng Yongguo said.

　　As early as 1988, Guangdong Esquel Textile Co., Ltd. ("Guangdong Esquel"), a large-scale product export-oriented and high-tech textile enterprise, invested and built a factory in Gaoming, Foshan, with annual sales of approximately 4 billion yuan.

　　Yang Gang, deputy director in charge of the company's digital transformation, said that in 1995, the company began to build a full supply chain system from cotton spinning, fabrics to garments and even accessories. Later, through automation and intelligence, machines replaced people in sewing operations.

　　"It used to take 2 to 3 months to complete a garment order, but now it can be completed as quickly as 2 to 3 weeks," Yang Gang said.

　　It is understood that Guangdong Esquel invests more than 200 million yuan every year in innovative research and development and automation transformation. In 2023, Guangdong Esquel expects the additional deduction for R&D expenses to be approximately 50 million yuan.

The picture shows the linked automated production line of the garment factory of Guangdong Esquel Textile Co., Ltd. Photo provided by interviewee

　　"The most direct manifestation of the super deduction policy for R&D expenses is to reduce corporate tax burdens, allowing us to have more funds to promote technological innovation." Li Jing, financial director of Guangdong Esquel, said that thanks to the digital transformation, the company has achieved cost reduction and growth. Effectively, the gross profit margin this year increased by approximately 300% compared with the same period last year.

　　With the help of Guangzhou's mature clothing industry chain, Kuaishang Fashion (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. ("UR") has gradually grown and developed. Through its self-developed digital product management platform and self-developed supply chain collaboration platform, from raw material procurement to production process, Then to the storage and logistics of finished products, real-time monitoring and optimization of each link is realized, greatly improving the collaborative efficiency of the supply chain.

　　"With the guidance of the tax department, we have received a total of about 8 million yuan in export tax refunds in recent years. The timely arrival of tax refund funds has accelerated the company's capital return, allowing us to invest more funds in the road of digital transformation and upgrading. " said Mr. Du, general manager of UR Financial Center. (over)