全球比較大的服裝制造商將繼續(xù)投資于人力

The march of the robots may be slower than feared: at least on the production lines in emerging markets.

機器人的前進速度或許比人們擔心的慢一些：至少在新興市場的生產(chǎn)線上如此。

The world’s biggest maker of clothes is betting on human workers rather than automation as it seeks to win more contracts from clients such as Marks and Spencer, Uniqlo and H&M.

全球最大的服裝制造商晶苑集團(Crystal Group)正押注于人類勞動者而非自動化——該公司正試圖從馬莎(Marks and Spencer)、優(yōu)衣庫(Uniqlo)和H&M等客戶那里贏得更多合約。

Crystal Group, which recently raised $490m in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, said sewing robots could not compete on cost with human labour in developing countries. It is planning to expand its staff by more than 10 per cent annually in Bangladesh and Vietnam in the coming years.

晶苑集團最近在香港啟動首次公開發(fā)行(IPO)，籌資4.9億美元。該集團表示，縫紉機器人在成本上可能競爭不過發(fā)展中國家的人類勞動者。該集團計劃在未來數(shù)年將孟加拉國和越南的員工數(shù)量每年增加逾10%。

“The handling of soft materials is really hard for robots,” said Andrew Lo, chief executive of the company, which is 80 per cent owned by his family after the IPO.

晶苑集團行政總裁羅正亮(Andrew Lo)表示：“機器人真的很難處理柔軟面料。”在IPO后，羅氏家族持有該集團80%的股權(quán)。

He said innovations such as the Sewbot, designed by Softwear Automation of the US, were “interesting” and would cause disruption. But he did not foresee early-stage sewing robots competing with human labour in low-cost countries in the near future.

他表示，由美國Softwear Automation研發(fā)的Sewbot縫紉機器人等創(chuàng)新很“有趣”，將攪動起一些波瀾。但他不認為處于初期階段的縫紉機器人在不久的未來能與低成本國家的人類勞動者競爭。

Most of the growth will come in Bangladesh and Vietnam, where Crystal and other clothing manufacturers have been moving to escape fast-rising wages in China, the world’s biggest producer of clothing with more than 30 per cent market share.

多數(shù)增長將來自孟加拉國和越南——為逃避全球最大服裝制造國、占全球服裝市場逾30%的中國迅速上漲的薪資，晶苑集團以及其他服裝制造商一直在將生產(chǎn)遷往這兩個國家。

Crystal’s factories in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam already account for about two-thirds of sales, and Mr Lo forecast that the proportion of production outside China would continue to grow as it expands in other lower-cost countries.

晶苑集團在孟加拉國、柬埔寨、斯里蘭卡和越南的工廠已占到其銷售的三分之二左右，羅正亮預(yù)測，隨著該集團在其他低成本國家擴張，中國以外產(chǎn)量所占份額將繼續(xù)增加。

He said labour costs in southern China’s manufacturing heartlands were already above $700 per month — more than double the monthly average wages of $300-$350 in Vietnam and $150-$200 in Bangladesh.

他表示，中國南方制造業(yè)中心的勞動力成本已超過每月700美元，是越南和孟加拉國平均月薪的兩倍多，這兩個國家的平均月薪分別為300至350美元和150至200美元。

Crystal Group was the world’s biggest producer of garments by volume last year, according to market research group Euromonitor, although it only has market share of 0.4 per cent in the highly fragmented industry.

根據(jù)市場研究公司歐睿國際(Euromonitor International)的數(shù)據(jù)，按產(chǎn)量計，晶苑集團去年是全球最大服裝制造商，不過該集團在這個高度分散的行業(yè)所占市場份額僅為0.4%。

The company generated profit of $145m on revenue of $1.8bn last year.

去年，晶苑集團實現(xiàn)利潤1.45億美元，營業(yè)收入為18億美元。

The Hong Kong-based company will use the proceeds of the IPO to expand its fabric production capabilities in Bangladesh and Vietnam, its main manufacturing centres.

這家總部位于香港的公司將利用此次IPO所籌資金，擴大其在孟加拉國和越南(該公司的兩個主要制造中心)的產(chǎn)能。

Palaniswamy Rajan, chief executive of Softwear Automation, said his company’s Sewbots, which were developed with funding from retailer Walmart and the US government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, could not compete on cost alone with workers in places such as Bangladesh. Softwear

Automation首席執(zhí)行官帕拉尼斯瓦米•拉詹(Palaniswamy Rajan)表示，僅就成本而言，他的公司生產(chǎn)的Sewbot機器人無法與孟加拉國等地方的人類勞動者競爭。這種機器人的開發(fā)得到零售商沃爾瑪(Walmart)以及美國政府下屬的美國國防部高級研究計劃局(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)的資助。

But he added that changes in the industry would make his robots competitive as fast-fashion retailers look to shorten production times and move manufacturing nearer to customers.

但他補充稱，該行業(yè)的種種變化將讓他的機器人變得具有競爭力，因為快時尚零售商謀求縮短生產(chǎn)時間并讓制造地更靠近客戶。

“Automation in Bangladesh may not make sense because you still have to ship, but if you make in the US, it makes more sense because there’s no [import] duty, no shipping, you’re closer to the customer and there are shorter lead times,” said Mr Rajan.

拉詹表示：“在孟加拉國使用自動化技術(shù)可能不是合理選擇，因為你仍需要運輸，但如果你在美國生產(chǎn)，那么使用自動化技術(shù)就是更合理的選擇了，因為這樣一來就省去了(進口)稅，也省去了運輸，你更接近客戶，交貨時間更短。”

Softwear Automation is planning to roll out its first automated T-shirt production lines in the US in the next 12-18 months before moving on to more complicated items such as jeans and shirts.

Softwear Automation計劃在未來12到18個月在美國推出首條自動化T恤生產(chǎn)線，然后將繼續(xù)進軍牛仔褲和襯衫等更復(fù)雜的產(chǎn)品。

Mr Rajan said his robots had the dexterity and visualisation skills to handle soft materials but that it would take his engineers time to program them to complete the 10-20 different steps needed to make a simple T-shirt, before later taking on the challenge of a shirt, which requires 70-80 steps.

拉詹表示，他的機器人具備處理柔軟面料的靈敏性和視覺化技能，但哪怕是制作一件簡單T恤，都需要10到20個不同步驟，要讓機器人完成這些步驟，工程師需要花時間編程，而需要70至80個步驟才能制作好的襯衫將是下一個挑戰(zhàn)。

But while he hoped his start-up would help launch a robotic sewing revolution, he accepted that automation would at most account for a quarter of global production in the next 20 years.

盡管拉詹希望他剛剛創(chuàng)立的這家企業(yè)將幫助掀起一場機器人縫紉革命，但他承認，未來20年，自動化最多將占到全球產(chǎn)量的四分之一。