"Even if most operations in the apparel industry will soon be done online, we can handle it. This is because we have been an Internet-ready company for a long time," says Ruth Kan, financial controller of TAL Apparel Limited.

Her words describe how a traditional local garment manufacturer has adapted to the arrival of the e-commerce era, and further expanded its business by making full use of this opportunity.

TAL Apparel Limited is a Hong Kong-based garment company with a long history. In the 1950s, crowds of textiles and clothing industrialists emigrated from Shanghai to Hong Kong and set up business here. These industrialists grouped together in the '60s and formed the Textile Alliance Limited. Then in the '80s, this group underwent a re-organisation and the garment manufacturing section split to form TAL Apparel Limited, which still operates today. TAL has set up its operation headquarters here, while its production lines are spread across Asia in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

It is easy to think that such a long-established company would resist adopting such changes as information technology, but that is far from the truth. TAL was one of the manufacturers in Tradelink's 1996 pilot programme for its "SilkNet" electronic services for Restrained Textiles Export Licence application. When Tradelink launched other pilot programmes in subsequent periods, TAL again showed full support by participating in them. Eventually, TAL became a registered customer of Tradelink in 1997, again as one of the earliest to register. Apart from electronic Restrained Textiles Export Licence, TAL also uses a whole range of Tradelink services, such as electronic trade declaration, electronic Certificate of Origin and electronic Carrier Notification.

All these innovations were initiated by TAL's managing director, Harry Lee. Harry has been involved in the preparatory work for the electronic conversion of government trade documents for a long time, and it was under his influence that TAL started its computerisation to prepare for the future. Since adopting Tradelink's services, the company's efficiency has increased considerably.

Ruth says: "In the past, we had to assign two colleagues to handle all the trade declaration lodgements. Most of the time, they would end up queuing for the whole day in the Collection Office, which was a huge waste of time. Now, as all lodgements are processed electronically, our colleagues no longer have to leave the office and once the declaration forms are sent they can take up other duties. Switching to electronic lodgment has not only saved a lot of processing time, it has also improved staff efficiency indirectly. As the entries of our declaration forms are quite similar, we can prepare new declaration forms by using the 'cut and paste' function with old forms, saving time and reducing the chances of incorrect data being input."

But there is another more direct benefit from this service - reducing the amount of late lodgement charges. "Ever since we've been using Tradelink's services, our late lodgement charges have plummeted. I believe this is because the system automatically notify us about any rejection of the declaration forms 30 minutes after submission, which makes it easier and faster for our staff to follow up. And that contributes to keeping the penalty charges at a minimum," Ruth notes.

TAL has installed the electronic lodgement system in its production factory in mainland China and now the staff there are responsible for submitting the trade declarations. The whole manufacturing process, from actual production to delivery and the processing of all trade documents involved is thus better coordinated. This means that overall operation efficiency is increased.

With the many changes taking place in world economies, the local garment industry is facing an enormous new challenge. The current quota system will disappear after China registers officially as a member of the World Trade Organisation and the industry is still contemplating the impact of such a change. However, it is certain that in order to increase their competitiveness, Hong Kong garment companies have to provide more value-added services to their clients.

Faced with such a harsh business environment, TAL took the bold step of breaking the industry norm by initiating more marketing activities and actively seeking out potential clients. The company also set up its own design department to provide alternative designs and offer clients more choices. TAL has also developed new techniques in garment manufacturing, including their patented "Pucker Free" process that can be incorporated into their production.

In addition, TAL took on the responsibility for managing clients' inventory. By employing advanced information technology, TAL hooks up to clients' data networks, monitors the sales of each product at stores and sends replacements when stores run out of stock. This ensures that clients' sales will not be affected by interruptions in supply. With such a comprehensive range of services, it is easy to understand why such renowned brand names as Brooks Brothers, Debenhams PVH, GAP, Giordano, J. C. Penney, J Crew, Marks & Spencer, Nautica, Nike and Tommy Hilfiger have chosen TAL as their supplier.

Looking into the future, TAL will further harness the power of information technologies (like EDI and supply chain) and other e-commerce services to align itself with the fast-changing business environment. Ruth adds: "We cannot let any opportunity slip away." This is the attitude that has helped TAL to prosper amid turbulent competition - and this is the attitude that will help our garment industry get through any imminent challenges.