Lenovo Factory Resumption Acceleration: Mysterious B Program And Intelligent Manufacturing "Iron Triangle"

The manufacturing industry is the first to return to work and to resume production. Under the condition that the average operating rate of the top 500 enterprises is 75.24%, the Lenovo Shenzhen plant will restore 100% production capacity in the second week of March. "We are also very confident that by the end of 3 or the end of the month, all of our factories will be able to resume production and even reach one hundred percent capacity." Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said. Thanks to the layout of the global industrial chain and the practice of intelligent "internal strength", Lenovo has fully demonstrated the "speed of China's resumption of work" in this epidemic. Behind the resumption of speed and safety in production, it reflects the power and direction of the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry in the future.

In the production line of Lenovo's Shenzhen factory, workers wearing gray work clothes, wearing masks and caps are doing their work in an orderly manner.

The factory has been in operation for nearly a month since its resumption in February 5th.

"We started the trial in February 5th, and by February 10th, the number of employees has reached 1000." Liu Chuchun, head of Lenovo Shenzhen plant, said that by the end of February, the size of the factory staff had reached 3000. As one of the first enterprises to take the lead in starting up, Lenovo Shenzhen factory has interpreted the "speed of China's resumption of work" with action.

"Except for factories in Wuhan and Chengdu, other factories in Lenovo have already started work." In February 19th, in an interview with media reports including the twenty-first Century economic report, Lenovo Group Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said, "although we are not yet full of production, we are still optimistic."

Lenovo's resumption rate continues to rise. On the day of the visit, Yang Yuanqing revealed that the rate of factory workers returning from other factories was around 50%. By February 28th, according to the head of the legend factory in Shenzhen, the number of workers in their factories has reached more than 3000, approaching 4000 people in normal times. At present, the plant's capacity has been restored to 70%, and it is expected to recover 100% production capacity in second weeks in March.

In addition to the Shenzhen factory, it is worth mentioning that Lenovo Hefei associates factory. As Lenovo's largest personal computer research and manufacturing base in the world, the plant resumed 70% of its capacity by the end of February.

"Two factories in Shenzhen and Hefei are the main producers of our notebook computers and PC, servers and data centers. Their recovery is very important and can reduce the impact on Lenovo business." Yang Yuanqing said, "we are confident that by the end of 3 or 3 months, all of our factories will be able to resume production and even reach one hundred percent capacity. "

B scheme

However, not all factories can achieve Lenovo level. According to the recent survey conducted by the China Federation of enterprises, the average turnover rate of employees in the top 500 manufacturing enterprises in China is 66.17%, the average operating rate of the member enterprises is 75.24%, and the utilization rate of the capacity is 58.98%. Specifically, factors affecting factory reemployment include not only the number of employees coming to work, but also the degree of technology and intelligence of the factory itself.

Since the outbreak of the outbreak, Lenovo has launched an emergency response immediately. The first time is to set up an epidemic prevention and control group and adopt a comprehensive and effective preventive and control measures. Yang Yuanqing explained that during the epidemic period, Lenovo's top priority is to do three things: protect the health and safety of all associative staff, provide assistance to the forefront of the epidemic as far as possible, and ensure that the production of Lenovo in China's manufacturing bases is continuous and stable. "Because of the safety assurance and fast action, most of our parks and production bases in China are already in the industry. First, resume production and resume production, and gradually increase production capacity.

"On the whole, the impact of the epidemic on production and supply is mainly reflected in three aspects," Yang Yuanqing told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter. "First, the factory's resumption of production is reopened, and the two is that there are enough workers to come back to work. Even if the first two conditions are available, if there is not enough supply of spare parts, it will not be able to saturate production. "

For Lenovo, the experience lies in eight words: "early planning, ready preparation". "We saw the related problems from the beginning of the epidemic, that is, before the Spring Festival, so we have been actively preparing for the resumption of production." Yang Yuanqing said.

For example, in the supply of spare parts, Lenovo realized that the epidemic might have an impact on the supply before the festival, so as soon as possible, various parts and components were put into storage as soon as possible, and even the product packaging was no exception. Although the association did not start during the Spring Festival, it was prepared to deal with supply demand for several weeks, so tight supply had relatively little impact on it.

At the same time, Lenovo also has a unique advantage, that is, a broad global supply chain layout.

Lenovo has one of the largest private factories in the world in Wuhan, mainly producing smart phone products. Because Hubei province requires the enterprises to resume their work in the province not earlier than 24 hours in March 10th, the factory is temporarily unable to start.

But Lenovo also has a B plan. "We also have smart phone production plants in Brazil and India, and they are working overtime recently so that our supply can meet the needs of the two major smart phone markets in Latin America and North America," explains Yang Yuanqing. "In addition, in PC, data center and service business, we are also making full use of Lenovo in Mexico, the United States, India and Japan. Factories to help meet the needs of the current Chinese market. "

From the global market, Lenovo's more balanced business layout also reduced the impact of the epidemic on itself. Yang Yuanqing pointed out that about 1/4 of Lenovo's business is in China and the rest is distributed abroad. Although the Chinese market will be affected by the epidemic in the short term, the demand for overseas businesses, whether PC, computers, smart phones or data centers, is still strong.

"On the one hand, we can take advantage of the overseas and domestic bases that have already resumed production capacity to meet overseas demand. Besides, the exuberant demand from abroad can also help Lenovo's Chinese factories restore production capacity quickly." Yang Yuanqing analysis, "because of the strong demand for overseas, once the factory workers and raw materials are all in place, Lenovo production capacity will be able to climb all the way."

Talent sharing in manufacturing industry

"Small companies may be more difficult to get back to work than we are," said Yang Yuanqing. "We also have many small parts, boxes and so on from small factories, so we hope that they can resume production as soon as possible, and they are also actively helping them," he said. "In the long run, our supply and demand can also be alleviated."

At the same time, considering that there are still some workers who are unable to return on schedule, and at the same time, there are difficulties for SMEs. In February 8th, Lenovo announced that it would provide short-term job opportunities to help SMEs carry through difficult times. During the epidemic period, Lenovo will recruit temporary workers for factories in five places in Wuhan, Hefei, Shenzhen, Huiyang and Chengdu, providing temporary jobs such as computers, servers, cell phone assembly and packaging.

Before that, there was a "talent sharing" behavior in catering, consumption, logistics and other industries. But for the manufacturing industry, Lenovo is a pioneer.

This practice is actually not difficult. "In theory, one month becomes a skilled worker and a month's work. If the epidemic goes down, the workers will leave in a month," said one Lenovo. "This recruitment is really for the small and medium enterprises, and also solves the problem of Lenovo's employment."

While promoting the sharing of talents, Lenovo emphasized that adequate protective equipment and cleaning and disinfecting supplies will be provided to ensure the health of employees. In fact, it is also important to restore workers' health and safety at the end of the epidemic.

"At the beginning of the reemployment, we will provide masks, measure body temperature and implement grid management for every employee." Lenovo Group introduced to the twenty-first Century economic report reporter, Lenovo Group's vertical grid management of Beijing headquarters, the park is divided into six grids, and then make the prevention and control measures to each region, departments and employees, to prevent cross and spread. Lenovo is located in Hefei, Lenovo, Lenovo is also implementing the "company development, four management and four strengthening" prevention and control.

It is understood that all the workers returning to the factory must fill in the relevant registration form before they can be recruited. During the period of the plant, the company was staffed by ten members in a group of companies, which was the basic unit of grid management.

Intelligent manufacturing transformation

In the short term, there is a surge in resumption of production and recovery. In the long run, it is also like a prism, reflecting the power and direction of the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry in the long run.

One problem is worth pondering: in Lenovo's manufacturing "iron triangle", which is made up of factories in Shenzhen, Wuhan and Hefei, Shenzhen is the first to return to work and take the lead in restoring all its capacity.

"In the epidemic situation, due to the shortage of labor force, intelligent manufacturing is more important." Yang Yuanqing pointed out.

The intelligent manufacturing capability of Shenzhen itself leads the whole country. In January 17, 2020, twenty-first Century, the Industrial Research Institute released 2019 China intelligent manufacturing index (CIMI, China Intelligent Manufacturing 'Index China intelligent manufacturing index) report. The results of the report show that Shenzhen is the first to surpass Shanghai and Beijing.

As a representative factory in Shenzhen, Lenovo Shenzhen also has a high level of intelligent manufacturing capability. Data show that Lenovo Shenzhen factory is a highly flexible and personalized factory. It receives tens of thousands of orders from more than 170 countries all over the world 24 hours a day, of which 60% orders are less than 50 units, 95% orders need to be customized, nearly 40 operating system languages, and custom software exceeds 15000 There are more than 700 different types of labels, and more than 20000 direct delivery areas.

It is not difficult to understand that from 2005 to now, in the Shenzhen area, the manpower cost has increased by 10 times. The manufacturing cost of the single plant of Lenovo Shenzhen factory has dropped by 50% compared with that in 2005. The realization of low-cost manufacturing in high cost areas has benefited from the continuous intelligent improvement and innovation of the factory for many years.

Of course, not only Lenovo Shenzhen factory, Lenovo Wuhan, Hefei factory is also continuing to practice intelligent "internal strength". As early as 2013, Lenovo Group started the intelligent transformation with data intelligence as the core, forming an intelligent technology and management system covering the whole value chain of "research and production, supply and marketing service", and fully applied in the "iron triangle" of three intelligent manufacturing in Hefei, Wuhan and Shenzhen.

Therefore, under the "big exam", Hefei factory resumption is also relatively optimistic. After the Hubei resumption policy is liberalized, the Wuhan factory is sure to catch up. (Editor: Lin Hong)

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