Qingdao FTZ boosts production with policies

In January 2024, the Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Qingdao FTZ) unveiled a set of supportive measures aimed at helping enterprises maintain production stability and foster growth during the Spring Festival period. The zone recently implemented these policies for 80 companies, yielding positive results.

The Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone. [Photo by Miao Hongtian/for chinadaily.com.cn]

Data reveals that as a result of these incentives, the overall production capacity of key industrial enterprises in the zone has surged by over 15 percent, accompanied by a roughly 10 percent increase in output value.

Various strategies were employed to promote these initiatives, including platform notifications, multimedia explanations via video, and personalized visits to encourage businesses to continue operating during the holiday season and facilitate employees' early return to work.

"Our company has traditionally experienced instability with our factory staff prior to and following the Spring Festival. In past years, we have had to resort to recruitment drives post-festival to address temporary labor shortages. However, the new policies implemented by Qingdao FTZ have significantly alleviated our immediate staffing needs. With a post-festival return-to-work rate of 100 percent, we are now running at full productive capacity. Compared to last year, we have seen a more than 20 percent increase in production capacity, resulting in a surge of over 10 million yuan ($1.39 million) in output value," said Liu Shuangcai, general manager of Panasonic Industrial Devices (Qingdao) Co Ltd.

Weng Feike, general manager of Qingdao Haier Special Refrigeration Appliances, highlighted that his company specializes in manufacturing large, premium household refrigerators, and that his company's products are industry leaders.

"Following the return-to-work policy guidance, we were able to get employees timely back to work more quickly, adjust production plans and pace, and swiftly ramp up to full production capacity post-festival. Our production efficiency has surged by 10 percent from the previous year, allowing us to secure new orders and anticipate a further 20 percent growth in output value," said Weng.