"Chain Dynamics" of GBA Enterprises | Guangdong's Daily Chemical Leader Liby and its "Chain Power"

30 years ago, the advertising slogan "hand caring, Liby providing" by famous Chinese comedian Chen Peisi paved the way for a local daily chemical enterprise to break through the siege of foreign brands. From humble beginnings as a detergent maker, Liby has grown into one of China's top 500 private enterprises. With revenue exceeding 28.4 billion yuan, Liby now takes up nearly half of China's detergent industry.

While the rise of traditional brick-and-mortar enterprises often rode the wave of their era, today's rapidly evolving digital landscape requires companies to find new breakthrough points for sustainable development. Imbued with the spirit of "Guangdong innovation," Liby took early action. In 2015, Liby had already proposed a digital transformation strategy, becoming one of the first traditional enterprises in China to embrace this change.

But it wasn't smooth sailing for Liby at first. "At that time, the digital foundation of the entire industry was relatively weak, and we had no successful experience to follow," recalled Chen Zebin, chairman of Liby Science and Technology. Moreover, as digital reform made information more transparent, it inevitably ran counter to the interests of some departments, leading to internal opposition and resistance from employees to hinder the reform.

However, time waits for no one. Facing challenges such as managing over ten thousand employees, increasing sales channels, and mitigating risks in R&D, quality control, and warehouse management that were previously handled manually, Liby leveraged the power of data, which ultimately led to improved quality and efficiency across all operational aspects, allowing this traditional enterprise to operate as nimbly as an internet company.

But data alone was not enough to propel Liby further along its journey. Unlike most companies, Liby wasn't going it alone. With the help of its supply chain coordination management platform, Liby can immediately assign production tasks once downstream distributors place orders. As soon as upstream suppliers upload new bidding applications or production data, Liby can calculate current production demands accurately and make procurement decisions accordingly. With a tight task schedule of nearly 2,000 daily orders on the platform, this "chain-style digitalization" integrates suppliers and distributors and solves problems efficiently.

More importantly, compared to isolated improvements, chain reactions bring greater benefits. With over 800 partner companies in the supply chain achieving digital transformation, new product development becomes easier, operational costs decrease, and inventory turnover speeds up.

The success of this "small supply chain" led to further expansion of the "chain" landscape. In 2021, drawing on earlier experience, Liby launched an industrial online platform called Rihua Zhiyun (Daily Chemicals Smart Cloud), where any daily chemical raw material supplier, brand owner, processing plant, or channel distributor can find solutions, negotiate business, and develop products. Previously, due to a lack of understanding and funding, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) had little internal motivation for digital transformation. Now that the platform has been established by the industry leader with ready-to-use tools, attracted by the prospect of increased orders, many SMEs are willing to come on stage. In recent years, the GMV of this platform has exceeded 6 billion yuan, and the overall digitalization level of the daily chemical industry has improved.

The tailwinds of "Guangdong manufacturing" have awakened a new trend of equipment upgrading and digital and intelligent transformation. After self-upgrading, Liby led the establishment of a robust ecosystem for the entire industry. It has become an ideal blueprint for "chain-style digital transformation." As the chain is established, the whole ecosystem flourishes. Perhaps this is the true essence of "chain-style digital transformation."

出品：南财国际传播中心 21新媒体中心 创意互动中心

策划统筹：于晓娜 丁青云

内容统筹：谭婷 谢珍

责任编辑：李香香

执行统筹：黄欣然 

设计统筹：林军明

视频统筹：白宇航

监制：施诗

英文翻译&配音：李莹亮

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪

运营支持：曾静娇

审校：张晔  黄志明