Entering SAIC General Motors Co., Ltd

Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd. was established on June 12, 1997, with its headquarters in Shanghai. The Jinqiao base has three vehicle factories and one powertrain factory, covering a total area of 796000 square meters and a building area of over 410000 square meters. At present, Jinqiao Base has built China's first internationally advanced flexible production line, covering the entire vehicle manufacturing process of stamping, body, painting, final assembly, etc., achieving co production of different platform vehicle models. The destination of our visit today is for the body and final assembly workshop of Jinqiao.

At 13:30 in the afternoon, the bus organized by the association slowly drove into SAIC General Motors and arrived at today's first stop - the final assembly workshop. Under the leadership of Jackie, the Secretary General of the Shanghai Branch, everyone gradually entered the workshop. The visit is conducted in the visiting passage on the second floor. Upon entering the second floor, one can see the location of the Cadillac vehicle assembly line offline. Various models slowly move on the circular assembly line, and the diversity of styles and models among them makes us amazed.

Everyone is carefully identifying the models they know: XT5, XT6, CT5, CT6, GL6, GL8, and Cruze Buick and Chevrolet.

The commentator explained to us that currently, this workshop can produce three major series of models: General Cadillac, General Buick, and Chevrolet, and the production process is based on mixed production lines according to orders. Therefore, we can see so many different types and models of car models on the production line. This is also the advanced aspect of this flexible production line, which can timely respond to changes in the market with multiple varieties and small batches.

The commentator continued to lead everyone slowly forward, unconsciously arriving at the center of the workshop, where the entire workshop was at a glance. The assembly line drives cars slowly forward, and assembly workers constantly shuttle between the cars. A small amount of materials are neatly arranged next to the assembly line, supplemented by AGV cars and material personnel from time to time, making everything seem so orderly. After a detailed explanation by the commentator, we gained a general understanding of the operation of the flexible production line.

Firstly, the body part of each vehicle is transported from the spraying workshop to the final assembly workshop through an aerial chain, and then two material trolleys are distributed based on the information sheet of each vehicle. The corresponding materials are stored on the trolleys, and the trolleys are also positioned at the edge of the assembly line on the right front of each vehicle, following the vehicle slowly forward. In this way, assembly workers at each workstation only need to pick up the corresponding materials from the small cart for installation, greatly reducing the risk of incorrect materials and facilitating operation.

Secondly, for large material parts, they are placed on both sides of the corresponding workstations on the assembly line, and the inventory quantity is strictly controlled. According to the narrator, they do not have a raw material warehouse, and the raw materials on the line are directly supplied by the supplier, and they require the supplier to have an online inventory of no more than two hours. When we were asked how this was achieved, the commentator explained to us that this is mainly due to the supplier's inventory warehouses in the surrounding area and the use of a pull delivery system. Therefore, materials are only purchased and settled after being picked up by assembly workers to control inventory buildup and achieve true JIT delivery.

Thirdly, for complex assembly techniques in mixed line production, standard operations and versatile techniques are required. Due to the diversity of vehicle models and complex assembly processes, standard operating techniques were first adopted. Optimize the operation of each workstation through IE's action analysis and standardize the work. Then, the workers will be trained on standard operations. Due to mixed production lines, all workers need to proficiently master the assembly standardization actions of different vehicle models at their workstations, and are required to complete them within a certain time frame, in order to ensure a certain level of efficiency while meeting the quality requirements.

Fourthly, there is a powerful planning and control system - the MES system. After the production plan is input into the MES system, the complex content related to production rhythm control, material distribution information, production efficiency and progress status, quality situation, etc. is completed by a powerful MES. It is precisely because of the existence of MES that production can be carried out in an orderly manner. At the same time, when a vehicle goes offline, the corresponding manufacturing cost information is also completed in the MES system. These all provide favorable data guarantees for future improvement and optimization. After more than an hour of visiting, we ended our visit to the final assembly workshop.

Jackie leads everyone towards the second station body workshop.

Entering the car body workshop, we saw steel frames of different car models lining up and being lifted by the assembly line to be transported to the painting workshop, ready to wear different colorful coats. We knew this was already the offline location of the car body workshop. Not long after we walked inside, the entire body workshop suddenly opened up in front of us. The workshop is composed of small production units, each responsible for a part of the welding process of the car body. Finally, these car body parts are transported to the assembly line for assembly, completing a complete car body.

The biggest characteristics of the entire workshop are mainly two, one is small-scale modularization, and the other is automation. The modular production line is designed to cater to the characteristics of multiple varieties and small batches, meeting the requirements of multiple varieties and small batches. At the same time, the production process needs to be adjusted, which is also very flexible.

In terms of automation, a large number of robotic arms are used to complete welding work, but there are only a few workers in a large workshop, greatly improving production efficiency. In addition, automation has greater flexibility, greatly facilitating process adjustment and meeting market demand.

After the visit, Jackie led everyone to the conference room to share SAIC GM's lean system with everyone. The staff mainly shared the common lean system with us from four aspects: lean history, lean manufacturing system, lean five modules, and lean six key projects.

Firstly, SAIC GM's lean approach is inherited from General Motors. General Motors began learning lean from Toyota in 1984 and established the NUMMI factory with Toyota that year. A large number of General Motors' management took turns working at the NUMMI factory, thus bringing lean to the entire General Motors and ultimately forming its own lean system, the GMS system. In 1997, SAIC General Motors was established. By drawing on the existing manufacturing system of GMS, SAIC General Motors gradually formed a scientific, rigorous, and covering the entire business chain of lean manufacturing system.

Secondly, SAIC GM's lean manufacturing system covers all aspects of the business chain from product design, process planning, production manufacturing to logistics operations, and extends vertically to upstream and downstream suppliers, deepening the integration and unification of system specifications across business chains.

Thirdly, SAIC General Motors has five lean modules, namely full participation, standardization, manufacturing quality, shortening manufacturing cycles, and continuous improvement. In terms of full staff participation, there are employee participation, on-site management, qualified employees, health and safety, vision and mission, open communication, team cooperation, and other contents; In terms of standardization, it includes workplace layout, standardized operations, and single work hour management; In terms of manufacturing quality, it consists of five aspects: product quality standards, manufacturing process validation, process control validation, quality feedback, and quality management system; Shortening the manufacturing cycle includes controlled external transportation, pull systems, lean packaging, simple process flow, balanced planning of fixed cycles, planned shipping/receiving, temporary material storage, and supply chain management; In terms of continuous improvement, it mainly includes problem solving, lean design, andon, full production maintenance and continuous improvement.

Fourthly, the six key lean projects consist of six parts: manufacturing cycle, floor space, automation rate, flexibility, green factory, and lean evaluation of personnel efficiency. It is precisely from these six aspects that SAIC General Motors strictly controls the promotion effect of lean, ensuring that lean has substantial output.

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