On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, CCTV's Dialogue launched a program series called China Industrial Landmarks. Its first stop focused on Foshan, arousing widespread attention across the city.

Presenting Foshan’s manufacturing advantages

Su Yan, head of Foshan's municipal bureau of commerce, said that the choice of Foshan as the first stop for the China Industrial Landmark series fully displays the status of Foshan's manufacturing.

Long Jiangang, chairman of the Foshan Cultural Development Foundation, said that the program focused on "Foshan manufacturing transformation and upgrading," demonstrating the strength and status of Foshan's manufacturing industry in China, as well as representing an important direction for the future development of China's manufacturing industry.

When talking about the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea Group, said that the problem of enterprises is that they rely too much on traditional experience and they will not upgrade if insisting on the way they used to follow.

In this regard, Deng Weijian, chairman of Foshan Chengde New Material Co., Ltd, felt the same. He said that to build an environmentally-friendly and smart stainless-steel enterprise, the corporation dismantled the old production line and established modern production equipment, while resisting huge external pressure at that time.

Motivation of industry transformation: entrepreneurship and craftsmanship

In the Dialogue episode, entrepreneurship and craftsmanship are hot topics that guests discussed. Li Baiqian, a Foshan artisan who is also deputy general manager and chief engineer of Foshan Rifeng Enterprise Co., Ltd, said that thanks to entrepreneurship and craftsmanship passed down from generation and generation, Foshan can become one of the industry landmarks in China. He suggested that governments and departments should organize experts to investigate artisans' craft methods in Foshan to refine and summarize them into standard processes and allow new employees to follow.

Joint efforts from governments and enterprises needed

It is very important that governments and enterprises should interact and make full use of each other's strengths, according to Long. He suggested that governments should help enterprises obtain accurate direction in the wave of industrial transformation and the key is to fortify their service ability, helping enterprises see the development situation and future pattern clearly, creating synergy between enterprises and the market.

Zhong Feijian, director of the Foshan municipal human resources and social security bureau, said that Foshan will strengthen the construction of doctoral and post-doctoral talent teams by recruiting talents and organizing related activities to meet the demand of high-qualified and highly skilled talents in manufacturing enterprises,

Deng expressed hope that the governments could further optimize the business environment, increase subsides for industrial electricity use, reduce enterprises costs, and support the development of the real economy.

According to Lu Yi, Party chief of Foshan, enterprises and government have formed a very good relationship in Foshan. "The enterprises are the main source of innovation and creation in this city. As a service provider, the government helps enterprises by building platforms to enhance their productivity," he said.

"Foshan is striving to build itself into a global manufacturing innovation center and the government must be willing to spend time, to invest, and to even give up temporary reputations, while maintaining its strategic positioning as a manufacturing city."

CCTV's China Industrial Landmarks gets underway in Foshan. [Photo/ WeChat account foshanfabu]