Innovation in Action

Recently, Zhejiang Shengxue Leisure Products Co., Ltd. held its product innovation competition under the theme “Innovation Without Limits, Growing Through Renewal.” Seven project teams from the International Marketing Center and the company’s Hangzhou and Shanghai subsidiaries competed through four stages: collecting market requirements, screening concepts, producing prototypes, and final evaluation. A number of outdoor-product concepts combining originality with strong commercial potential emerged, demonstrating Shengxue’s innovation capacity and R&D strength in the outdoor folding table and chair industry.

Turning Market Needs into Product Ideas

This was more than a creative contest. It was a practical exercise in Shengxue’s strategy of using market demand to drive product innovation. Every project originated from frontline customer feedback and market data gathered by the International Marketing Center and the cross-border teams of the Hangzhou and Shanghai subsidiaries.

Each team followed a “market + R&D + sales” collaboration model. Marketing contributed customer needs and competitor intelligence; R&D translated those needs into technical solutions and prototypes; and sales assessed commercial value and order potential.

“We encourage every member of the R&D team to move beyond established thinking and develop products through market- and scenario-driven innovation,” the judging panel said. The teams focused on real-life settings such as camping and road trips, exploring functional redesign, new materials, smart connectivity, and modular design. Each proposal was supported by a clearly identified customer pain point or sales opportunity.

Projects Designed for Real Outdoor Scenarios

During the final, each team presented its work through product assembly, folding and storage demonstrations, and load-bearing tests. The teams also answered questions about material costs, structural advantages, and differentiation from competing products. Leaders from R&D, engineering, and sales scored the entries in five areas: product innovation, market application value, manufacturability, presentation and defense, and teamwork and R&D growth.

The “RV Chair” delivered an outstanding performance. Designed specifically for recreational-vehicle travel, it achieved meaningful improvements in folding structure, load-bearing stability, and portability. The judges praised it for combining structural innovation with strong market insight.

The “New Fully Folding Chair Innovation Solution” stood out for its folding mechanism, ease of assembly, manufacturing quality, and adaptability to multiple scenarios. The “Reimagining the Outdoor Leisure Audio Experience” project integrated an audio module into outdoor furniture, responding precisely to consumers’ experiential needs and demonstrating an innovative cross-industry application of components in folding tables and chairs.

Other notable entries included an innovative beach chair, a folding fishing series, and a fireside gathering series. Their concepts explored microclimate adjustment, terrain adaptation, and modular configurations.

Building a Complete Path from Idea to Order

The competition set a clear objective: to produce at least three or four innovative products suitable for market launch, or to generate valuable patents. After the event, winning projects will enter the company’s product-development pipeline for patent applications, prototype optimization, and customer trials—creating a complete cycle from idea to prototype, patent, and order.

Shengxue is the lead drafter of China’s group standard for Outdoor Leisure Furniture and the principal drafter of Zhejiang manufacturing group standards for Outdoor Folding Tables and Chairs for Camping and Outdoor Folding Fabric Tables for Camping. The company holds more than 400 independent intellectual-property rights and has commercialized approximately 310 R&D achievements.

Recognized as a National Intellectual Property Advantage Enterprise, Shengxue operates a provincial enterprise technology center, a provincial industrial design center, and a provincial enterprise research institute. It has four R&D teams in China and overseas, while R&D investment accounts for more than 4% of revenue from its principal business.

Making Innovation Part of the Organization

The competition is not merely an event; it is an important platform for shaping an innovation-oriented culture. It encourages tolerance of failure, strengthens employees’ sense of accomplishment, enables efficient technical collaboration across teams, and helps identify and develop people with innovation potential.

Following the competition, the “market + R&D + sales” collaboration mechanism will become a regular part of product development, enabling teams to jointly study requirements, advance projects, and share results.

Shengxue will continue advancing four operational priorities: globally oriented marketing, people-centered team development, ecosystem-based innovation alliances, and digital, green manufacturing. The company will deepen its core outdoor folding table and chair business, pursue dual growth through ODM and proprietary brands, and gradually expand into a broader range of outdoor categories.

This competition reflects a traditional manufacturer’s determination to transform through intelligent manufacturing and creativity. At Shengxue, innovation is becoming more than a slogan: products begin with the market and return to the market, while every developer becomes both an interpreter of user needs and a creator of better outdoor living.

Source

Translated and adapted from the original WeChat article published by SUNSHINE / Shengxue Leisure Products. Original article