Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, is a famous city of clocks and watches in China.

　　The spread of the global epidemic makes more than 90% of Zhangzhou watch enterprises relying on exports face a big test.

　　It's hard to make a forest out of a single wood. More than 200 watchmakers in Zhangzhou city did not wait, instead, they gathered together to deal with it. On the road of pioneering full of brambles, they actively responded to the "cold in the late spring" of export.

　Yang Huiyan, tour guide of Haixi watch Museum "live delivery"

　　Challenge: epidemic spreading and foreign trade difficult

　　"From the end of February to the beginning of March, our industry was basically back to work. We worked overtime to catch up with the foreign trade orders before the festival. I didn't expect that in the middle and late March, the global epidemic spread, and orders in Europe and the United States were almost all suspended or cancelled, which made our whole clock industry face unprecedented challenges. " On April 10, Shao Yueming, chairman of Zhangzhou clock trade union and chairman of Hengli Electronic Company, said. The first challenge is to be able to produce without orders.

　　Coincidentally, Li Jiancheng, the head of Zhangzhou new Lizhu Hardware Products Co., Ltd., which is engaged in the production of clock movements, said frankly that the current situation is more worrying. Even if there are orders to be produced, most of the finished products are squeezed in the warehouse. It's another challenge that some goods can't be delivered.

　　A series of chain reactions caused by the epidemic, such as cancellation of orders, closure of customs, delayed payment for goods, overstocked warehouse of finished products, capital pressure, and price rise of raw materials, caught many watchmakers in Zhangzhou a little unprepared. Only Hengli clocks and watches company cancelled orders of more than 12 million yuan for exports to Germany, the United States and France, and more than 150000 clocks were affected by shipments, resulting in economic losses of nearly 5 million yuan.

In the production workshop of Zhangzhou Hengli clock, technicians are assembling the dial. Photo by Lin Conghua

　　Breaking the ice

　　"Of course, the epidemic has also given us a lot of inspiration. For example, the domestic market share of Southern watch enterprises is relatively small and they lack the ability to resist international market risks. " "At present, orders from India and Pakistan have not had a great impact, but there will be no orders to produce by the end of April, and the way out for workers will be a problem," Li said. After the epidemic, the overwhelming orders will lead to the lack of work in the factory. "

　　There are always more ways than difficulties. All relevant functional departments of Zhangzhou city visited enterprises for many times, solicited their appeals, and actively issued policies of "dry goods" to help enterprises, such as job stability guarantee, tax relief, social security delay and financial credit, to help enterprises out of short-term difficulties. Zhangzhou watch trade association also plays a role of bridge and link. In early March, it conducted a visit and investigation, formed a written analysis report, and mobilized member enterprises to join forces to cope with the difficulties.

　　At present, under the initiative of Zhangzhou clock trade association, nearly 50 clock enterprises plan to build a cloud platform for clock sales with 500 domestic and international brands to develop online marketing market; at the same time, enterprises in the jurisdiction change the way of insurance application for export insurance, integrate large-scale policies to strive for preferential insurance rates and reduce production costs; speed up the approved blessing Build provincial industrial design and Research Institute, improve product design and R & D capacity, and improve market competitiveness of enterprises A series of combinations greatly boost the confidence of industry development.

　Shao Yueming, chairman of Zhangzhou watch trade association, went to the workshop of the enterprise to find out the production situation. Photo by Lin Conghua

　　The way out: new mode of crisis

　　"The epidemic has led to the reduction of orders. We have just used this time to transform the production line, improve the degree of automation, and speed up the process of machine change, which can not only alleviate the difficulty of recruitment, but also improve production capacity." Shao Yueming said that many watchmakers plan to upgrade their automatic production lines in the near future.

At the same time, Shao Yueming, as a senior watchman, quickly changed his thinking, focused on the domestic market for new product research and development, and strengthened product promotion through e-commerce platform. At the same time, we will continue to promote the construction of industrial tourism factories, open time restaurants, welcome guests and friends, and minimize the impact of the epidemic on enterprises.

"This is an economical and practical clock, suitable in size, accurate in travel time, very suitable for young people's home use..." In April 13th, Yang Huiyan, a guide to the Museum of horcological Museum, used the gap between work and tiktok to bring the goods to live. Affected by the epidemic, the Haixi clock museum was closed for a period of time. After reopening, the tour guides also opened the "online delivery" mode

At the beginning of April, more than 200 clock enterprises in Zhangzhou are working hard to resume production. As the largest quartz clock production base in the world, the most complete industrial chain and the largest industrial brand cluster in China, Zhangzhou watch industry strives for progress in stability. (Liu Xiaoyu)