A whole-house customization order from Singapore reached the smart factory of Fulang Wood Industry in Nanxun District, Huzhou, directly through the cloud. The digital system instantly parsed the order and generated information for hundreds of components. Once instructions were issued, robotic arms precisely picked up panels and completed cutting amid flashes of laser light. About 60 days later, a full set of high-end customized home furnishings would begin its overseas journey. This kind of efficient, technology-driven production scene has already become common in Nanxun.

Facing market change and homogenous competition, Nanxun's wood industry has set its sights on becoming China's capital of high-end customized home furnishing and launched a systematic transformation of going deeper vertically and expanding horizontally. This traditional industrial cluster, with more than 2,000 manufacturing enterprises and output value exceeding 10 billion RMB, is undergoing a comprehensive renewal in products, services, and industrial ecology.

At the Bo'er Customized Flooring Innovation Institute in Nanxun Economic Development Zone, flooring is no longer a standard product but a space artwork that blends modern aesthetics and personalized design. Relying on a self-developed system, customers' ideas about color, size, and wood type can quickly be transformed into 28,000 visualized solutions. At present, annual design and R and D spending among Nanxun wood enterprises above designated size is growing by nearly 30 percent, and innovation has become the core driver of industrial upgrading.

Driven by digital transformation, more and more enterprises are shifting from selling single products to providing complete home solutions. At Henry Milan Wood Industry in Nanxun Town, customers only need to provide their preferred style and floor plan, and they can work with designers to plan the space together. In the past two years, more than 40 wood enterprises above designated size in Nanxun have completed similar transformation, with average output value rising by about 20 percent.

Industrial upgrading cannot happen without ecological support. Nanxun integrated seven specialized industry associations and established a home furnishing association to connect the full chain of design, research, manufacturing, and testing while also promoting green development. By holding the Global High-End Customized Home Furnishing Design Conference and launching the High-End Home Furnishing Innovation Research Plan, the area has linked up with global creativity and cutting-edge technology. Nanxun has also introduced policies encouraging technological upgrading and innovation. In the past two years, wood enterprises above designated size in Nanxun have implemented more than 130 key technical transformation projects, and annual technological upgrading investment has grown by over 15 percent. At present, high-end customized products account for 35 percent of output value, and the fastest delivery cycle for personalized orders has been shortened from 30 days to around 15 days.

After this upgrading, Nanxun wood industry's competitiveness in going global has grown significantly. Since the beginning of this year, exports of Nanxun wood products have reached 810 million RMB, and international markets have become a new growth point.

Source: Zhejiang Daily