COMPANY: TRISTATE HOLDINGS LIMITED BUSINESS: GARMENT MANUFACTURING & TRADING EMPLOYEES: 20,000 FOUNDED: 1999 REVENUE: HK$2,858 MILLION WEBSITE: WWW.TRISTATEWW.COM

Ask anybody in the garment industry and they will all agree that each shipment requires a lot of tedious paperwork. Before the latest fashion must-haves leave Hong Kong for malls halfway around the world, essential documents need to be submitted to the government. One of them is the textiles notification form, which is required for each textile shipment leaving Hong Kong for mainland China, United States or Europe, and for every textile shipment entering Hong Kong from China. It is not unusual for some to submit more than 300 forms a month.

To make things easier for textile traders, Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited established the electronic Textiles Trader Registration Scheme (TTRS) service in 2003 to allow companies to submit their textiles notification forms electronically. Tradelink also provides a range of other services to help textile traders meet statutory requirements, including electronic submissions for essential documents such as Production Notifications, Certificates of Origin and Trade Declarations.

To encourage more companies to convert to electronic submission, the Hong Kong SAR Government has implemented a new fee structure for TTRS, effective June 25. The annual registration fee has been reduced from HK$2,825 to HK$718. Each electronic submission costs HK$0.5 while paper submission costs HK$4.3 each. This means a saving of HK$3.8 for each submission. For companies handling hundreds or even thousands of forms each month, choosing the electronic method means significant savings.

Sophie Leung, a Legislative Council member representing the Textiles and Garment Functional Constituency, expresses her support for the new TTRS fee structure. “It provides an additional financial incentive for textile traders to migrate from paper to electronic submission, which enhances operation efficiency for both the government and the traders,” she said.

One company that has benefited from the electronic TTRS service is Tristate Holdings Limited. The publicly listed garment manufacturing and trading company started using the electronic TTRS service in 2003 and now uses it for up to 98% of all its textiles notification form submissions.

Tristate produces a wide range of garment products for world-renowned brands – formal attire, work suits, sportswear, casual wear and outerwear for men and women. It operates ten factories in four countries – mainland China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, with sales/liaison offices in, among others, Hong Kong, Seoul and New York. Having a global operation and clients from high-end fashion brands means a high demand for quality and timeliness in the production process and supply chain operations.

To improve efficiency, every month Tristate submits 400 to 600 textiles notifications forms using primarily the electronic method. “Although submitting a textiles notification form electronically requires a bit more work in the beginning, it reduces a significant amount of administrative work later on, so in fact electronic TTRS does save us time and resources,” explains the company’s Logistics Manager Leena Chiu.

Seamless process

While it takes time for a company to input the essential information into the electronic TTRS system, once it is done, the raw data can be transferred, through Tradelink’s ValuNet Deluxe software, to other important electronic documents such as import or export declaration forms. This cuts down on the time spent filling out these documents. The checking function in the electronic TTRS system also helps filter out any erroneous data that have been input in the fields, such as the arrival, departure or declaration date.

As soon as the form is submitted to the electronic TTRS system, it immediately becomes effective. Tristate can then email the form to the designated freight forwarder anywhere, anytime. This saves Tristate the time and money that would otherwise be spent on hiring couriers to deliver hard copies.

Additionally, submitting a textiles notification form electronically also allows Tristate to retrieve it easily at a later date. To locate a submitted form, the user only needs to input the reference number in the system, and the file will be brought up immediately.

“This results in a better organisation of the forms and raw data,” said Chiu. “Since we usually submit more than 600 forms a month, that’s a big plus.”

Another benefit is that electronic TTRS operates every day of the week from 7am to 11pm, giving textile traders more flexibility. If an urgent shipment is required over the weekend, users can still lodge in the forms and go ahead with the shipment.

“The longer service hours means fewer time constraints, which is ideal for us due to the timely nature of the fashion industry,” said Chiu.

Given the importance of green business practices nowadays, the electronic TTRS service also helps significantly reduce the amount of paper used. By using electronic submission, Tristate alone saves 600 sheets of paper per month. Combine this with the added flexibility and time-saving attributes and it is evident that electronic TTRS is the way to go for trade companies seeking to streamline their logistics function.