Entering 2020, the benchmark learning activities of the International Association for Excellence in Operations for the new year have been launched one after another. On January 16th, the association visited the benchmark enterprise Suzhou Great Wall Development Technology Co., Ltd. for a visit. Suzhou Great Wall Development Technology Co., Ltd. is a production and manufacturing enterprise under Shenzhen Great Wall Development Technology Co., Ltd. (securities abbreviation: Great Wall Development, code: 000021, formerly referred to as "Shenzhen Technology"). Suzhou Company was established in 2005 in the west area of Suzhou Industrial Park Comprehensive Bonded Zone, covering an area of 90000 square meters, with 1500 employees. The factory has advanced and complete SMT production equipment and a 100 level purification workshop of 3300 square meters and a 10k level purification workshop of 700 square meters. It mainly engages in EMS processing business, with a wide range of business, including communication and consumer electronics, medical devices, automotive electronics, data storage, etc

Starting from 13:00 in the afternoon of the same day, a series of visitors arrived and began to sign in. However, due to the continuous rain and cold weather throughout the day, some visitors did not arrive until after 13:30. After the volunteer of the association served as the host and gave a brief introduction to the association, Mr. Shi of the company introduced the background, business scope, and current customer group of Shenzhen Technology Group to everyone. At the same time, he introduced the development and current operation of Suzhou Factory. He mentioned that the management system of Suzhou Factory includes SAP (Enterprise Resource Management System), MES (Manufacturing execution system), windchill (Product Life Cycle Management), BSC (Balanced Scorecard), Lean Six Sigma, etc. Next is the dry goods sharing of Suzhou Great Wall Development Technology's excellent operations. Manager Sun, who is responsible for the company's system and lean quality management, introduced that their company's lean promotion implementation organization is top-down. From the group to various specific BU innovation groups below, from senior leaders to each lean specialist, the development of Shenzhen Technology's lean methods has undergone a changing process. From the perspective of the group, Shenzhen Technology has provided green belt training to over 1000 employees, of which over 70% have obtained green belt certification; And completed 200 advocate training, 160 black belt training, including 80 black belt executives and 25 black belt executives. On this basis, the Suzhou factory currently has 10 black belt employees and over 130 green belt certified employees. She also emphasized the lean production maturity evaluation model they are currently using, as well as the 8 modules involved, 86 process evaluation standards, and 36 KPI operational results indicators. By benchmarking with lean evaluation grading, factories can timely and effectively obtain their operational levels, while setting higher level goals and improvement directions for the future.

Subsequently, there will be a formal workshop visit. The first thing that attracts everyone is a few LCD screens, which are the intelligent manufacturing data dashboard of the workshop, presenting a series of status and information about almost all equipment, production, and personnel in the workshop. Then everyone found that in this large SMT workshop, there were only a few staff members, because the manual operations of each production line in the workshop had basically achieved the automation of the robotic arm, so the entire production line was understaffed. Not only that, on the logistics line, more AGV cars pass by, and through ground magnetic strips, these independently developed cars basically contract the distribution of raw materials and finished products in the entire workshop, which also reduces logistics manpower. The lean person in charge of this workshop told us that each line in the Suzhou factory only requires a maximum of 4 people, and the degree of automation in the workshop is as high as 95% or even 100% automation in some parts. This is because they have been persistently trying automation since 2013.

At the end of the production line, a worker visually inspected the product and scanned it before placing it in the finished product box. The specialist told us that this is both inspection and packaging. All products are scanned with QR codes during processing at each workstation, which plays an important role in the full lifecycle traceability of the product. The lean specialist told us that the reason for the lack of automation in this process involves a balance between investment costs and the overall production line and workshop benefits, so it is still under discussion. On site in the workshop, one can also see their outstanding performance in the DSBU2 workshop as an "avenue of glory" for employees, as an honor and encouragement; 6S promotion activities, displaying pictures of measures and effectiveness in different stages; And their excellent improvement sharing results, including cost reduction through digitization, reduction of labor waste, and shortening of working hours. From all aspects, it can be seen that Suzhou Great Wall Development Company has indeed put in a lot of effort and investment in lean management, and has also achieved significant results and returns.

Wonderful visiting times always pass quickly. After the visit, everyone returns to the meeting room to continue the Q&A session. Everyone also asks questions about their own feelings and insights after the visit. Some people have raised doubts about the positioning of lean specialists, the collection of training and improvement suggestions. Several lean leaders have stated that Shenzhen Technology and the Suzhou factory have conducted a large amount of hierarchical lean training to enable employees to master various lean tools and methods. At the same time, benchmarking and reward activities will be held, allowing everyone to learn and exchange ideas after practice, grow, and also receive honors and bonuses. That is to say, improvement suggestions range from TSI for all employees to BU's OPL for lean specialists, starting from both proactive and assessment indicators. The visitors also raised questions about the assessment criteria for 6S, the scoring system, and some other questions, all of which were answered by the responsible person.

The time of the event is always limited, but the rewards can be infinite. I am very grateful for the benchmark visit opportunity and thoughtful arrangement provided by Suzhou Great Wall Development Technology Company. The International Association for Operational Excellence welcomes more people to participate in our activities. Finally, please find attached a pleasant group photo to commemorate this event. Looking forward to the next benchmark learning!