The world-famous JUKI sewing machine manufacturers, Shanghai Weishi Machinery Co. Ltd, is today’s largest manufacturer of laundry equipment of South China. Clean India Journal visited Weishi’s state-of-the-art multi-storeyed facility in Shanghai and also visited some of the facilities with Weishi machines in operation. A Report
Situated in the industrial area of Songjiang, the Weishi’s factory has one line of production for the Juki sewing machine and another facility for manufacturing Laundry Equipment, Ironing Machine, Roller Press, Industrial Finishing machine and Folding Machine. The fully atomised manufacturing unit produces 10 tunnel washers every month. “For every tunnel washer, we manufacture two feederironer- folder systems. The warehousing facility is huge with 100,000 cubic metres storage capacity,” said the official taking us on a tour.
The equipment is indigenously manufactured. “Each and every part, right from the screw, is designed and made in-house. In fact, we also supply to other manufacturers across the globe.”
Operational round the clock, the facility also manufactures for some major European brands. “We started selling to Korea and now all the neighbouring countries are buying from us. In Chengdu, we have another factory making the washer and the presser.”
In comparison to manufacturing in Europe, the official said that the usual practice is to outsource manufacturing of all the parts which are then assembled by the manufacturer. This also limits the volume of production.
Speaking on the demand for tunnel washers, the official said that it is more so in Europe as they face a lack of manpower and hence, need these kinds of machines. “We don’t have a machine in India yet. We are willing to provide all possible support to the buyer of the first machine in India. We are looking at prospective partners to penetrate the Indian market.
“Explaining about the Indian Railways, our machines can process one lakh pieces every day. However, when it comes to investing over Rs.65 lakhs against engaging cheap manpower to process the linen manually, the tilt is more towards the latter.”
Emphasising the need for expanding beyond China borders, Weishi believes that the domestic market is limited and could get saturated.
Weishi machines are being operated to process hospital linen and also hotel linen. During the site visit, the official explained the entire process of receiving soiled linen, sorting, washing, drying, ironing, folding and then packing. The high capacity machines process and churn out high volumes of linen.