KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 — For the first time, Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba or Alibaba Group) has revealed its New Manufacturing model, the Xunxi Digital Factory (Xunxi).
Powered by Alibaba’s cloud computing infrastructure and IoT, the Hangzhou-based factory offers SMEs a digitalised end-to-end manufacturing supply chain that allows for fully-customised, demand-driven production.
This gives smaller businesses and manufacturers, in particular, the ability to benefit from the digitalisation of China’s over RMB30 trillion (over RM16 trillion) manufacturing market through being able to respond better and quicker to customers’ changing needs.
“Data is the core of New Manufacturing and harnessing data insights is key to capturing new opportunities in the shift in consumer preference for personalised rather than mass-produced goods,” said Alibaba Group, Xunxi Digital Technology Company chief executive officer, Alain Wu in a statement.
The introduction of New Manufacturing is another milestone in the implementation of Alibaba’s ‘Five New’ strategy which was first introduced by founder Jack Ma in 2016, and comprises New Retail, New Manufacturing, New Finance, New Technology and New Energy.
Powered by new technologies, the factory is able to produce small-batch orders at reasonable costs and with shorter delivery times, consequently increasing manufacturing efficiency from 25 per cent to an average of 55 per cent.
Since its inception, the factory has collaborated with Taobao and Tmall merchants, live streaming broadcasters and streetwear designers to explore and experiment with new possibilities of apparel manufacturing.
In the future, Xunxi Digital Factory will help apparel customers reduce inventory levels even further, while continuing to increase efficiency as well as the level of customisation. — Bernama
