Baseball production swings big in Dushan county

Quality control is of utmost importance when weighing in on world-class balls

At the workshop of Dushan Runyang Sports Equipment Co in Dushan county, Guizhou province, a scale machine is used to strictly control the weight of each baseball the factory manufactures－between 142 and 147 grams.

Here, more than 10,000 baseballs roll off the production line every day and are exported to Europe and the United States.

Li Guangxiu, 67, a villager in Dushan county, has finished her work at a tea-making plant and returned home. She washes her hands and starts to watch TV while sewing the outside leather covers for a baseball.

"Sewing a baseball is to tie a shoelace on the ball," said Li, who has never played the sport and has barely watched it on TV.

More than 3,000 people in Dushan and four other counties in the region have been working at the production of baseballs, contributing to the growth of the local economy, said Shi Jinfen, a worker at the Runyang factory where she earns a monthly salary of about 5,000 yuan ($785) in the peak season while the sum is between 2,000 to 3,000 yuan during the rest of the year.

"To make one baseball, it takes seven steps, including making the cork center, wrapping it with leather and sewing the stitches by hand," said Shi.

Lu Zhidai, a villager in Dushan, said it took her 15 days to learn the craft at the factory. After passing a test, she can supply 20 baseballs a day that can sell for 1.65 yuan per ball to the factory.

To make a high-quality baseball, quality control is crucial.

"Customers have strict requirements for the weight of the ball. A small deviation can have a big influence on its trajectory and speed," said Wu Jili, a quality inspector at the company.

Nine out of 10 baseballs Runyang produces are exported to the US, and the rest to the European market and Japan. The total number of exports from Runyang amounts to about 50 percent of China's total baseball exports.

Geography makes Dushan an important link between inland Guizhou and major coastal ports in Guangdong province and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Products can be transported to ports in one day.

According to Jiang Shaohong, the company's production director, the factory has grown from a small workshop to a complete baseball production line that employs more than 200 people.

The production line, although not complicated, requires manufacturing facilities and equipment that are self-developed to achieve manufacturing efficiency. But most importantly, the skills of employees have served as the key to the success of the factory.