One early morning in January, Fu Yejun, the manager of Workshop No. 4 at Seiko Corporation, conducted his routine inspection of production conditions in the workshop. Unlike the traditional approach of going from station to station, asking questions verbally and checking paper forms, Fu Yejun stood beneath a display screen hung in the workshop and immediately gained a clear overview of machine operations and production status. Pointing toward the comprehensive dashboard for the wheel hub assembly line hanging above him, he explained to us: “This is one of the conveniences brought about by our equipment data collection project—everything on-site is instantly visible. We’ve been running a trial period for several months now, and it’s really proving to be very convenient.”

Since March 2021, Wanxiang Qianchao has been vigorously promoting its digital and intelligent transformation project. Guided by the "Seven Steps and Seven Definitions," the company is leveraging "one central hub, two major management platforms, four operational systems, and five QC-level benchmarks" as key drivers. Starting with the establishment and breakdown of KPI indicators, Wanxiang Qianchao continues to advance business process optimization, refine lean management foundations, and standardize data collection, all aimed at achieving set goals and enhancing performance. To accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation and strengthen the construction and application of foundational data, Wanxiang Qianchao has focused on the shop floor. It has comprehensively promoted equipment data collection across Qianchao and selected Wanxiang Jinggong as a pilot site and benchmark for implementing equipment data collection projects. Since the pilot project was launched, it has been carried out in three phased stages. To date, a total of 320 machines have been collected, and after debugging, these machines are now operating stably across various workshops. The successful implementation of the data collection project has empowered digital and intelligent management, significantly boosting operational efficiency.

Zong Zhenyu, the project leader of the pilot program at Seiko Corporation, described the past six months of data collection work as a mix of hardship and joy. They encountered numerous difficulties and challenges, but thanks to their earnest and dedicated "tenacious" spirit and concerted efforts, they finally managed to push the project forward comprehensively and ensure its effective implementation.

Not afraid of obstacles, we rise to meet challenges.
“They jokingly call Seiko the ‘All Nations Brand’—it’s a hodgepodge of all sorts of brands and manufacturers. This is the biggest headache we’ve faced in our data collection project.”

Right at the start of the pilot project, the project team ran into a major challenge. “They joked that Seiko’s equipment was like ‘a patchwork quilt’—all sorts of brands and manufacturers were represented, which turned out to be the biggest headache for our data collection project,” one team member said. In Seiko’s production workshop, there were more than a dozen different equipment brands, each with its own controllers, open protocols, manufacturing years, and product models—all lacking a unified standard. Adhering to the principle of “collecting all data available,” the data collection project found it incredibly difficult, if not downright impossible, to extract consistent data from such a diverse array of equipment.

When the project moved into Phase II, the project team discovered that more than 40 CNC machines were equipped with no network cards at all. As a result, they could only collect limited information—such as production volume and cycle time—via IO interfaces, and the accuracy of this data was far from reliable. In Phase II, a total of 226 machines were to be connected; if data from those 40-odd machines remained incomplete, it would compromise the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the entire data collection database. Recalling the difficulties at the time, Zong Zhenyu even worried briefly that the project might simply fail to move forward. “If the amount of information collected is too small, our data collection will lose its purpose altogether. But this was an unavoidable hurdle—no matter what, we had to find a way to solve this problem.”

The original equipment manufacturer proposed the first solution: inserting a CF card into the machine. However, based on past experience, such cards placed directly on the machine are easily bumped or damaged, have a relatively high failure rate, and incur excessive costs—so the project team quickly rejected this approach. The second option was to replace the motherboard. But motherboards are expensive, and once replaced, the software and controllers inside would also need to be updated and reconfigured. Moreover, many of the suppliers involved are now unreachable, making it quite difficult to implement this solution.

During that period, Zong Zhenyu was consumed by thoughts day and night. Every day, he made numerous phone calls to the data acquisition supplier, discussing potential solutions. With the assistance of the Equipment Department, they managed to find a machine that the supplier could use for debugging. They also reached out to the original equipment manufacturer for technical support. Working closely together, the three parties spent more than two months and finally came up with a solution: collecting data via the serial port. This unprecedented new approach left everyone feeling uncertain at first. But after numerous trials and test runs, the data collection process went smoothly, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Dedication and Commitment: Ensuring Production

“Old equipment is most afraid of being moved, but we can’t let fear of difficulties stop us from moving forward. No matter what, we must push the data acquisition project forward.”

The data acquisition project requires interacting with each piece of equipment, finding the right approach, and addressing issues on a case-by-case basis. In the factory, many machines have been in operation for years, and everyone knows clearly that old equipment is most sensitive to any changes. However, these pieces of equipment are crucial links in the production line—and they’re simply unavoidable for the data acquisition project. We can’t let fear of difficulties hold us back; “no matter what, we must push ahead with the data acquisition project.”

Once, the project team ran into a tricky problem. During the commissioning of data acquisition for an old piece of equipment, the machine suddenly shut down due to insufficient memory. After restarting, it kept generating error messages. At that point, it was already after working hours. To avoid disrupting production, the project team leader and the supplier spent the entire night troubleshooting—starting from upgrading the computer’s internal system all the way through various technical debugging methods, meticulously examining every possible issue. They were so busy they barely had time to catch their breath. In the end, they discovered that the root cause of the errors was nothing more than a loose motherboard—a situation that left everyone both laughing and sighing in exasperation. Once the machine was running normally again, another problem emerged: the production rhythm started to falter. Another full day of troubleshooting and endless attempts followed, until finally they pinpointed the culprit—the database log cache. After two days of nonstop overtime work, the issue was finally resolved. Only then, as they watched the machine return to production, did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“At all times, production must come first. Our job is to help optimize production—not to cause any trouble for them.” To avoid disrupting the production rhythm, the project team often schedules debugging sessions during the breaks when frontline workers are either having lunch or finishing their shifts, taking advantage of these brief pauses to get things done quickly. Whenever a mechanical malfunction occurs, no matter what time it is, everyone rushes to the site immediately, working tirelessly and wholeheartedly to resolve the issue. Upholding this spirit of dedication and commitment, the data collection project has been successfully implemented in two phases, bringing comprehensive improvements and transformations to the workshop production at Seiko Corporation.

Optimization and enhancement have yielded remarkable results.

“The data collection project helps employees respond promptly to faults, continuously optimize production, and resolve bottlenecks in processes, thereby making the production line more transparent and work smarter, and comprehensively boosting efficiency.”

Since the implementation of the data collection project, employees from different departments within the company have developed a new habit at work: regularly checking the Genyun platform. Data such as production takt time, quenching parameters, machine operating conditions, and first-pass yield rates—which previously required phone inquiries and on-site inspections to obtain—are now readily available simply by accessing the data platform, making the process convenient, quick, and crystal clear.

Before the implementation of the data acquisition project, if a machine’s rotational speed was too high, there were unnecessary waiting periods involved—from detection and feedback to resolution. Now, with real-time monitoring of equipment conditions available in the background, and after setting appropriate threshold ranges, the system immediately triggers an alert whenever these thresholds are exceeded. As a result, the equipment department can respond promptly at the first opportunity, resolving issues swiftly and smoothly, thereby avoiding delays and inefficiencies in the workflow.

Data collection makes the production line transparent: daily parameters such as start-up, shut-down, faults, and operational status are uploaded to the platform in real time. With information openly shared and accessible across departments, communication costs are reduced. Each department can leverage this data to optimize and improve its specific areas of focus. For certain bottleneck processes, it’s often difficult to pinpoint the exact root causes simply by relying on manual monitoring and recording. However, after data analysis, these “minefields” become clearly identifiable, enabling the quality department to issue timely warnings and implement preventive measures, thereby effectively addressing bottleneck issues. Moreover, by analyzing the production takt times collected through data acquisition, we can determine the optimal takt-time range, further optimizing the production rhythm and enhancing overall work efficiency.

Project leader Zong Zhenyu said, “The data collection project has made information more transparent and work smarter, effectively eliminating many risks associated with manual processes. The data reports generated after collection have laid a solid foundation for production analysis in the workshop, bringing benefits to the company’s optimization and improvement efforts. This is what gives us the greatest sense of accomplishment in our work.”

The smooth implementation of the equipment data collection pilot project at Jinggong Company has laid a solid foundation for Wanxiang Qianchao to establish a closed-loop management system supported by data and process optimization. Currently, Wanxiang Qianchao is steadily advancing its digital intelligence initiative according to plan, starting with a pilot implementation at Jinggong Company. At the same time, equipment data collection is being carried out concurrently at Qianchao Bearing and Transmission Shaft Company, further deepening data mining and analysis, closely integrating with actual on-site conditions, and providing strong support for business improvement.

Data collection and data statistics are just the starting point. Standardizing data statistics and data analysis, as well as streamlining data management processes—while easier said than done—are tasks that still lie ahead and demand persistent effort. Nevertheless, to unlock the full value of data, our company is steadily and continuously advancing digital and intelligent initiatives. In the digital era, leveraging data to make smarter and more robust business decisions has become an essential path for modern enterprises. We believe that with the joint efforts of the Wanxiang Qianchao Digital Intelligence Innovation Center, the Process and IT Management Department, and all relevant departments at the factory, the equipment data collection project will surely be successfully implemented, further strengthening and enriching Qianchao’s digital intelligence journey.