A Perfect Fit

China's model shirtmaker

Five years ago, morale was bad and production worse at the tiny Haiyan shirt factory in Zhejiang province, 69 miles from Shanghai. The enterprise was in such dire condition that workers who were ready to retire could not do so because of an empty pension fund. The value of the plant's assets totaled only $10,000, and profits rarely topped $2,300.

Today Haiyan is one of China's fastest-growing garmentmakers, with a labor force of 630, assets of $817,000 and 1983 profits exceeding $242,000. The state-owned factory's success is the result of a new policy by the Chinese government that has given virtually unheard-of powers to managers in consumer-goods industries, including expanded rights to hire and fire, to lay down work rules and to award bonuses for good performance.

The Chinese thus hope to develop more badly needed consumer industries by encouraging enterprising managers who know how to use the new freedoms to create profits. The transformation at the Haiyan shirt factory is the work of one such man, Bu Xinsheng, 52, its manager. The son of a Shanghai tailor, Bu started sewing shirts at the factory in 1956, and moved up in the ranks by earning a reputation as a hard-driving worker. When industry officials decided in 1979 that the factory needed revitalizing, they tapped Bu for the job.

At the time, the plant was like most others in China. Absenteeism, sleeping on the job and a hearty disrespect for managers were only a few of the problems. Bu quickly changed all that. Among other moves, he demanded strict discipline, firing workers who ignored his rules. Angry workers and local party officials opposed the reforms. One fired worker tried to kill Bu with a pair of scissors before being overpowered by employees, and Bu became the target of political attacks. They stopped only after laudatory reports about him appeared in the People's Daily and on Chinese television.

With such struggles behind him, Bu continued to revitalize the company. He has introduced benefits like subsidized housing, and even composed a company song. Now he is working on marketing approaches that have included adding new colors and giving Haiyan shuts their first brand names: Tangren (Tang Dynasty Man), Shuangyan (Double Swallow) and Sanmao (a character in a popular cartoon strip). Says Bu: "When I die, I want no wreaths, just the logos of these shirt brands placed on my box of ashes."