Shandong Rifa: Birth of a hidden champion

By+Zhao+Zihan

Today， Shandong Rifa has been equipped with four core product lines of “air-jet looms， rapier looms， terry towel looms， and water jet looms”， covering hundreds of series of looms for a wide range， which are mainly used for making high-end fashion fabrics， top-grade looped and jacquard fabrics， industrial fabrics， upholstery， and so on. A number of products have filled the gaps in the domestic weaving industry， which are the key products for industrial updating and upgrading. The products are exported to more than a dozen of countries in Europe， Asia， and Africa， and cover more than 20 provinces all over the country. Various types of high-end looms rank the top three in output and sales within the industry.

Brand building —To start a new undertaking

Shandong Rifa is one of the earliest manufacturers of shuttleless looms in China， being dedicated to the manufacture of various types of shuttleless looms complying with international standards. Formerly Liaocheng Changrun Textile Machinery Co.， Ltd.， Zhejiang Rifa became an independent legal entity held by Zhejiang Rifa Textile Machinery Co.， Ltd. in 2005， and since then， the company has been constantly increasing investment into brand and R&D， opening the “second undertaking” mode and finding a new way to change the local brand.

During the early period after the merger， there was only one product line – rapier loom， for which the company was at risk of being marginalized even in China. However， Faced with the grim situation， Shandong Rifa seized the opportunity to launch the spinning basis in the South and weaving basis in the North of China with a “dumbbell” management style， introducing the air-jet product line. Meanwhile， Shandong Rifa attached great importance to R&D and marketing sectors to continuously improve marketing and product development capabilities while continuing to improve production management. Based on the concept of “market always comes first”， market segments and product breakdown were necessary， which required the company to keep a close eye on the big market and the best-selling models， while seizing the small markets and special needs.

In order to expand the market and enhance brand influence， the company carried out a series of famousproduct strategies of “High， Quick， New， Exceed”.“High”， i.e. a high beginning， means todevelop the leading products in the world. “Quick” means quick product development， winning by fast change. “New” refers to constant acceleration of product updating and upgrading. “Exceed” is the possession of intense superior consciousness. The company has already set about the transformation and upgrade of products which are still in hot selling.

At present， Shandong Rifa has already built a product structure covering such leading products of RFJA10 and RFJA20 series of air-jet looms， RFRL30/31， RFRL20 and GA731-II series of rapier looms， RFTL60 and HST series of terry towel looms， and RFJW10 intelligent water jet looms. The products are made by adopting the optical and electrical integrated high technology， featured by energy-saving， environmental protection，high degree of automation， as well as high speed and efficiency， reaching the international advanced level.

The Chief Engineer of Shandong Rifa cited a case that RFRL31 energy-efficient and high-speed rapier loom could save energy by more than 20% compared with similar products； RFJW10 intelligent water jet loom showed 5% reduction in energy consumption， while using the new energy-saving ceramic nozzle makes a single loom save water by over 20%. Once industrialized， these two new products will yield obvious social benefits with significant energy-saving and costreducing.

Just last year， Shandong Rifa completed air-jet towel loom project for new product development， and won the appraisal of scientific and technological achievements jointly organized by Shandong Economic and Information Technology Committee and Liaocheng Technology Bureau. Different series of air-jet towel looms of 2.1m， 2.3m， 1.9m， and 2.8m can be developed at the same time， which reached the international advanced level and filled the domestic gaps.

The products from Shandong Rifa have successfully stepped into the international market from import substitutes. Today， it is enjoying a more than 30% average annual growth of output and sales revenue thanks to the long-term cooperative relations with more than 500 domestic textile enterprises and more than 20 countries， such as India， Bangladesh， South Korea， Turkey， and Italy. Output and sales of various high-grade shuttleless looms rank first in the same industry， while the production share of leading air-jet looms， rapier looms， and terry towel looms accounts for over 20%.

Innovation-oriented —To improve productivity from science and technology

The Chairman of Shandong Rifa believes that the most crucial point about keeping the companys leading position in the industry lies in technological innovation， scientific analysis of the market characteristics， and study of foreign advanced technology. To this end， the comapny has been annually putting 5% of sales revenue into technical R&D.

The Chief Engineer of Shandong Rifa told the reporter that since 2007 the company， in accordance with the requirements of modern management， has gradually improved the technological innovation system， including product development strategic planning， organizational system of technological innovation， new product project review procedures， new product development process， technology promotion support processes， R&D investment accounting system， product data management systems， and R&D staff assessment & reward system.

Shandong Rifas product development speed in the industry is very fast. Development time is set in such a way： setting up a project – winning project approval – developing a detailed project implementation plan （including the progress and indicators）. The required time depends on the complexity of the project and the staff， and the implementation follows after the approval of the companys Product Commission. For example， the development of RFTL60 high-speed towel looms， RFRL31 energy-saving high-speed rapier looms， and RFJA20 jet looms made a success and saw volume sales in that very year.

The leading products such as air-jet looms， rapier looms， and towels looms have reached the international advanced levels， and the independently researched and developed new products have won more than 20 provincial and municipal awards for scientific and technological progresses. In the past three years， four new products （RFTL60， HST40， RFJA11， RFJA20） have passed the technical appraisal for new products organized by the Economic Information Commission of Shandong. RFRL60 high-speed towel looms won the third prize for Science and Technology Progress issued by China Textile Industry Association in 2012； RFJA20 jet looms won the second prize for Science and Technology Progress granted by Textile Engineering Society of Shandong； RFHST40 towel looms won the third prize for Science and Technology Progress granted by Textile Engineering Society of Shandong in 2011. The company also has 38 patented technologies authorized by the state. However， the Chief Engineer emphasized that product development must be market-oriented， therefore， what we have developed is market-oriented“commodity” rather than “scientific and technological achievements”.

Seeing that many common key technologies of shuttleless looms have to depend on the combination of production， teaching and research， Shandong Rifa has been attaching particular importance to the cooperation， targeting the high-end. Based on the market trends of the industry， the company identifies new technology as well as new product R&D direction， and actively carries out scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges at home and abroad to establish long-term and stable cooperative relationships with universities， research institutes and counterparts， including Donghua University， Qingdao University， China Textile Academy and other universities and research institutes.

The cooperation has not only advanced the technical level of developed products but also improved the professional standards of technical personnel. During the interview， the reporter learned that all products in Shandong Rifa are made by adopting the optical and electrical integrated high technology， featured by energy-saving， environmental protection， high degree of automation， high speed and efficiency， which are mainly used for making high-end fashion fabrics （linen， silk， etc.）， high-end looped and jacquard fabrics （textile， towels， etc.）， industrial fabrics （fiberglass， etc.）， upholstery， and so on. The brand Rifa has successfully stepped into the international market， laying a solid foundation to “create a world manufacturing base of shuttleless looms”.

Stressing soft power —To win benefits based on management

Effective management has become an important topic that cannot be ignored in business， which is also the problem that the Chairman of Shandong Rifa has been thinking about all the time. He is acutely aware that merger is not a simple replacement and superposition of turnover and equity assets， but to join different companies together in order to achieve new productivity through making full use of the advantages of the resources of the parties.

To this end， the comapny proposed a “global sourcing” mode for integration of global resources to its benefits. Differenct departments are required to share information and providers， highlighting the idea of balanced production and immediate production， which is to be helpful in strengthening supplier management and ensuring that the required parts are capable of enjoying make-to-order output immediately. Easy coordination among internal supply， production， and sales of various departmetns will help organize specialized productionto achieve internal collaboration. Meanwhile， sales of dif-ferent business units play a dual role in management， which on the one hand is internal vertical management， and on the other hand is the marketing center management.

Shandong Rifa attaches great importance to information technology， building an enterprise information platform in order to maintain the same level of information as that in Rifa Holding Group. To this end， the company introduced the Lanling OA system， BenQs EHR human resources management system； besides， the introduction of the U.S. PTCs Pro/E three-dimensional design software， can carry out three-dimensional dynamic model assembly test in the computer environment， thus greatly improving the accuracy of product design while shortening the product development cycle.

There is such a saying popular in Shandong Rifa as “product is your character”. In the comapany， quality management strategy is reflected in the stabilization of product quality by preventive means， the improvement of product quality through critical information， and the strengthening of execution via indicator assessment， which are mainly reflected in the following aspects： restocking quality control， product quality control， measurement testing， quality management system， aftersales quality information and customer complaints.

For this purpose， Shandong Rifa insists on quality reward and punishment as well as feed back system， together with strict implementation of “Shandong Rifa Quality Management Assessment Regulations” to continue to make traceable records of production form， so that the distributed equipment， once with problem， can be traced to a specific supplier and the assembly workers. The company also adheres to the principle of “rapid response” to the customer service issue. Customer complaints， consultation， communication calls， etc. are to give a reply within two hours， and the on-site service is to be completed within 24 hours after the reply.

The reporter was also told that Shandong Rifa is not simply to sell products to customers， but to pursue fine and professional in every aspect associated with the customers. In such a way， through quality services before， in， and after the sales， the customers expecta- tions will be outperformed in terms of the environment， products， and service quality， which will win customer loyalty， improve brand influence and stabilize the marketplace.

Valuing Culture —To unite the staff with “Mustang Spirit”

For an enterprise， living one year depends on luck， a decade years require management， and a century relies on culture. The highest lifelong spiritual realm that the staff in Shandong Rifa are motivated to strive for is “A people who creates happiness for others is the happiest person in the end”， which is also the ultimate reflection of Rifa culture.

Rifa Group founder Wu Liangding always mentioned about “Mustang Spirit”， meaning strong vitality and vigor， besides， accumulation in life is also a must. He often told his staff that “You have not had the luck to own money and right before 30 years old.” The company will encounter many problems in the past， at present and in future development. Rifa staff armed with “Mustang Spirit” are equipped with great vitality， untamed spirit， good environmental adaptability， strong physique， good group spirit and hard-working characteristics.

“Six Words”， namely， obedience， loyalty， diligence， vision， courage， and perseverance， give a clear definition to the code of conduct for each staff in their daily work life， which is the companys compass. Employees develop their strategic growth trajectories based on the companys strategy， the company culture for their own behavior standards， market-oriented and customer-focused as the starting point and destination of work， timely driving themself to achieve their strategic goals， thus supporting the success of companys strategic objectives.

Layout planning —To march towards intelligentization and digitization

In recent years， although the shuttleless looms in China have begun to take shape， there is still a gap in reliability and adaptability compared with imported looms. Domestic and international air-jet looms follow such a trend towards high-speed， intelligent， and networking， expanded weaving range， flexible transformation of varieties， increased degree of automation， reduced energy consumption， and attention to environmental protection.

In line with the new situations， Shandong Rifa put forward a mission “To provide a single piece of equipment in industrial processes， the steps， the workshop， the combination of the production line to customers to the customers in the field of mechanical and electrical product manufacturing to help customers achieve the dream of Digital Factory”. For the mission， the company is dedicated to creating a fresh “Digital technology”concept for the establishment of an interactive platform of “people flow， logistics， and information flow” in the future complete machine production， achieving the harmony of technology， environment， and manufacturing.

August 20th， 2012， “Rifa modern new Textile Machinery Technology Park Project” covering an area of 1，550 mu with an investment of 4.9 billion yuan was officially settled in Liaocheng High-tech Industrial Development Zone. In the opinion of the Chairman， the signed Technology Park Project marks that Rifa Group has achieved the official launch of “the spinning basis in the South and weaving basis in the North of China”. This means that Rifa Group realized double improvements in product transformation and output capacity scale based on the completion of the existing industrial upgrading.

Speaking of diversification， he did not shy away， but advocated for business expansion on the basis of the bigger and stronger main business. Shandong Rifa is also considering cross-sectoral development， planning to introduce microelectronic devices， stepping onto the road of electromechanical products.

Along with the intelligent design of textile factories being an important part of infrastructure construction in textile industry， Shandong Rifa is a designing a bigger plan to realize its unmanned workshop dream with the support of high-tech. It is reported that there is no mature experience for the unmanned shop in the world， and Shandong Rifa is also in the period of exploratory practice， but Rifa believes that this is the trend.

Wu Liangding， the founder of Rifa Group， revealed his greatest wish that the company can grow into a centennial business. This year is the 10th anniversary of Shandong Rifa， centennial Rifa journey has only just begun， and is a brilliant start. We have enough reasons to believe that Shandong Rifa will be able to work miracles.