May-Jul 2021 “Hong Kong Industrialist”

一場新冠肺炎，讓香港人一夜之間覺 醒本土製造業的重要性，也成就了口罩工 業一年來的興盛。當疫苗面世及開始普及 接種，口罩可能漸漸會從我們的生活中消 失，但這場突如其來的工業復興，卻為香 港工業的未來留下一點啟示。 口罩本來是一個低成本、低技術的製 品，香港租金、人工等經營成本高昂，此 類低增值製造業難以生存，必須借助外觀 設計、品牌建立、科研技術及市場營銷等 擴大產品差異及增加市場優勢。雖然港資 廠商北移，但他們當中不少以香港為總部 並使用上述的生產性服務，這類行業仍然 十分活躍，不斷為香港品牌增值。部份本 地口罩製造商如GoodMask，受惠於香港 此方面的專業，得以在激烈競爭中脫穎而 出。當工業越盛，相關專業亦會得到更多 發揮機會，如SPARKLE即使是一個小眾設 計品牌，亦找到機會設計聯乘口罩，雙方 可說是互惠互利。 然而，近年業界推動積極香港發展的高 端製造業，所需的支援更廣泛，技術要求 亦更高，如科研、工業設計、機械維修、 認證及品質管理等。正如NASK的經驗所 示，在香港從事高端製造的企業面對上述 技術服務缺乏、專業人才斷層等無形制 肘，難免窒礙了發展。 在高端製造業繁榮的地方，不難發現 生產性服務也遍地開花，兩者結合共生所 形成的產業化能力是難以複製、取代的優 勢。香港的「再工業化」，除了生產線回流 之外，亦絕不能輕視扶植技術性的生產性 服務發展，以作為工業的後盾。現時的香 港經濟數據中，並未為生產性服務業作劃 分，難以反映工業的全貌。「再工業化」作 為經濟的新增長點，政府和業界必須掌握 工業的經濟數據，針對弱點對症下藥，方 可為香港規劃更長遠、全面的工業政策， 建構香港的高增值產業鏈。 The COVID-19 has unexpectedly waken us up on the importance of local manufacturing, and brought about the prosperity of the surgical mask industry in the past year. With the introduction of territory-wide vaccination programme, surgical masks may gradually disappear from our daily lives. Nevertheless, this sudden revival of manufacturing might have enlightened us on the future of Hong Kong's industry in some ways. Surgical mask is a typical low-cost, low-tech product. While Hong Kong’s operating costs such as rent and manpower costs are high, such low value-added manufacturing does not have any room to survive unless the manufacturers use design, brand building, technology and marketing tactics to differentiate their products from the rest of the market. Although Hong Kong manufacturers have moved north, many of them take Hong Kong as headquarters and the above-mentioned producer services are still actively contributing in adding value to Hong Kong brands. Some local surgical mask manufacturers, such as GoodMask, benefit from Hong Kong’s expertise in this area and are able to stand out from the fierce competition. When manufacturing becomes more prosperous, related professions will also get more opportunities to come into play. A great example is the SPARKLE, who found the opportunity to cross-over with mask manufacturers even though it used to be a niche design brand. The two industries leveraged the strength of each other to create mutual benefit. Besides, as local industries pursue developing advanced manufacturing in Hong Kong in recent years, even more extensive and sophisticated producer services are needed, such as R&D, industrial design, machinery maintenance, certification and quality management. As we can tell from NASK’s story, companies engaging in advanced manufacturing locally face invisible constraints like the lack of technical producer services and professional industrial talents, which inevitably hinder their development. In places with a strong advanced manufacturing sector, it is not difficult to find that the producer services industries there also blossom. The industrialisation capabilities formed by the combination of the two is an intangible advantage that can’t be easily replicated or replaced. While Hong Kong marches on the way of "re-industrialisation", other than the revival of production lines, we must also devote ourselves to develop the producer services needed to back advanced manufacturing businesses. As current economic statistics in Hong Kong do not come with stand-alone figures on the producer services industries, stakeholders can hardly see the full picture of local industrial developments. While "re-industrialisation" is a new growth engine for our economy, the government and industry should be able to capture the needed economic data and formulate specific policies to address the weak links in our ecosystem. As such, we can map the right track for long-term and comprehensive industrial development and build up high value-added industrial value chain in Hong Kong. BEHIND MANUFACTURING: WHAT THE SURGICALMASK INDUSTRY TOLD US 工廠背後： 口罩工業的啓示 5-7/2021 | 25