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(jī)器人的前進(jìn)速度或許比人們擔(dān)心的慢一些：至少在新興市場(chǎng)的生產(chǎn)線(xiàn)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(tuán)(Crystal Group)正押注于人類(lèi)勞動(dòng)者而非自動(dòng)化——該公司正試圖從馬莎(Marks and Spencer)、優(yōu)衣庫(kù)(Uniqlo)和H&M等客戶(hù)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(tuán)最近在香港啟動(dòng)首次公開(kāi)發(fā)行(IPO)，籌資4.9億美元。該集團(tuán)表示，縫紉機(jī)器人在成本上可能競(jìng)爭(zhēng)不過(guò)發(fā)展中國(guó)家的人類(lèi)勞動(dòng)者。該集團(tuán)計(jì)劃在未來(lái)數(shù)年將孟加拉國(guó)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(tuán)行政總裁羅正亮(Andrew Lo)表示：“機(jī)器人真的很難處理柔軟面料。”在IPO后，羅氏家族持有該集團(tuán)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(guó)Softwear Automation研發(fā)的Sewbot縫紉機(jī)器人等創(chuàng)新很“有趣”，將攪動(dòng)起一些波瀾。但他不認(rèn)為處于初期階段的縫紉機(jī)器人在不久的未來(lái)能與低成本國(guó)家的人類(lèi)勞動(dòng)者競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

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(zhǎng)將來(lái)自孟加拉國(guó)和越南——為逃避全球最大服裝制造國(guó)、占全球服裝市場(chǎng)逾30%的中國(guó)迅速上漲的薪資，晶苑集團(tuán)以及其他服裝制造商一直在將生產(chǎn)遷往這兩個(gè)國(guó)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(tuán)在孟加拉國(guó)、柬埔寨、斯里蘭卡和越南的工廠已占到其銷(xiāo)售的三分之二左右，羅正亮預(yù)測(cè)，隨著該集團(tuán)在其他低成本國(guó)家擴(kuò)張，中國(guó)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(guó)南方制造業(yè)中心的勞動(dòng)力成本已超過(guò)每月700美元，是越南和孟加拉國(guó)平均月薪的兩倍多，這兩個(gè)國(guó)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(chǎng)研究公司歐睿國(guó)際(Euromonitor International)的數(shù)據(jù)，按產(chǎn)量計(jì)，晶苑集團(tuán)去年是全球最大服裝制造商，不過(guò)該集團(tuán)在這個(gè)高度分散的行業(yè)所占市場(chǎng)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(tuán)實(shí)現(xiàn)利潤(rùn)1.45億美元，營(yíng)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(kuò)大其在孟加拉國(guó)和越南(該公司的兩個(gè)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(jī)器人無(wú)法與孟加拉國(guó)等地方的人類(lèi)勞動(dòng)者競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。這種機(jī)器人的開(kāi)發(fā)得到零售商沃爾瑪(Walmart)以及美國(guó)政府下屬的美國(guó)國(guó)防部高級(jí)研究計(jì)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(bǔ)充稱(chēng)，該行業(yè)的種種變化將讓他的機(jī)器人變得具有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力，因?yàn)榭鞎r(shí)尚零售商謀求縮短生產(chǎn)時(shí)間并讓制造地更靠近客戶(hù)。

“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(guó)使用自動(dòng)化技術(shù)可能不是合理選擇，因?yàn)槟闳孕枰\(yùn)輸，但如果你在美國(guó)生產(chǎn)，那么使用自動(dòng)化技術(shù)就是更合理的選擇了，因?yàn)檫@樣一來(lái)就省去了(進(jìn)口)稅，也省去了運(yùn)輸，你更接近客戶(hù)，交貨時(shí)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(jì)劃在未來(lái)12到18個(gè)月在美國(guó)推出首條自動(dòng)化T恤生產(chǎn)線(xiàn)，然后將繼續(xù)進(jìn)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(jī)器人具備處理柔軟面料的靈敏性和視覺(jué)化技能，但哪怕是制作一件簡(jiǎn)單T恤，都需要10到20個(gè)不同步驟，要讓機(jī)器人完成這些步驟，工程師需要花時(shí)間編程，而需要70至80個(gè)步驟才能制作好的襯衫將是下一個(gè)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(chǎng)機(jī)器人縫紉革命，但他承認(rèn)，未來(lái)20年，自動(dòng)化最多將占到全球產(chǎn)量的四分之一。