(Advanced Smart Wheel Hub Bearing Unit Future Factory Establishment Team of Wanxiang Precision)

At the kickoff meeting for the establishment of the “Future Factory Promotion Center,” representatives from Wanxiang Precision proudly received the weighty “2024 Provincial-Level Future Factory” honor certificate and medal from leaders and experts of the Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology. This honor is the culmination of several years of dedicated effort. Stepping into the creation team of Wanxiang Precision’s high-end, intelligent wheel hub bearing unit future factory, we deeply felt the surging power of the digital wave in their confident smiles. By leveraging digital technologies to empower production, they’ve transformed the vision of a future factory—conceived in the cloud—into a benchmark model that has drawn widespread industry attention. As a result, they were awarded the “Innovation” honor by Wanxiang Group for 2024.

Let’s do it! Two and a half months + two hours—embrace the future!

Wanxiang Qianchao has been diligently implementing the deployment requirements of the Group’s Board of Directors and has been deeply engaged in the field of intelligent manufacturing for over a decade. With its advanced manufacturing capabilities, specialized products, and outstanding quality, the company boasts a leading market share and has established strategic partnerships with globally renowned customers. To enhance its digital and intelligent capabilities, the company initiated the application process for the “Future Factory” program in 2020 and was included on the pilot list by the end of 2023. The company is fully committed to driving the practical implementation of digital transformation. Led by the company’s General Manager, a Future Factory creation team has been formed, comprising members from the Wanxiang Qianchao Digital Intelligence Innovation Center, the Development and Investment Department, and spearheaded by a dedicated task force, with coordinated efforts across the entire company. The team entered the sprint phase in mid-October last year.

During the two-and-a-half-month period leading up to the year-end defense, the multi-person task force worked intensively in a centralized office space—both fulfilling and highly demanding. The system application required detailed completion of 140 questions, each accompanied by ample supporting documentation and distinctive highlights. After thoroughly reviewing all the entries, they still faced 24 critical “red-light” items that urgently needed to be addressed. Despite this, they insisted on checking in and checking out daily in the work group chat, reviewing their day’s tasks in the morning and summarizing their progress in the evening. Whenever they encountered particularly challenging issues, relevant team members would gather in the operations meeting room, where dedicated personnel provided detailed explanations, ensuring that the red-light items were closed within the prescribed time frame. “Many of these tough challenges were tackled by us through a combination of existing tools and digital technologies,” said one team member. “We practiced and analyzed as we went along, pinpointed the pain points, and ultimately succeeded in resolving them.” With everyone pooling their wisdom and efforts, the red-light items were systematically overcome one by one.

However, compared to the intense two-and-a-half-month preparation period, the challenge on the day of the defense was even more daunting. “It felt just like the Gaokao—the national college entrance exam.” To comprehensively showcase the company’s core strengths within a mere two hours—that was no small feat. Organizing a scoring defense session involving forty to fifty people, despite having conducted multiple mock rehearsals beforehand, posed numerous questions: How could we optimally allocate personnel and deliver efficient responses? How could we promptly adjust and coordinate in the event of unexpected situations? And if our scored items didn’t meet the expected benchmarks, how could we make timely corrections and remedies? These challenges truly tested the operational team’s adaptability and preparedness. In the end, thanks to their outstanding performance, they earned high praise from the judges.

Warm! Stand side by side and strive forward—decide the future!

It is precisely the spirit of striving that truly touches our hearts. At Wanxiang Precision, every solid footprint we leave behind bears witness to countless instances of seamless teamwork and relentless effort. The head of the Digital Operations Team in the Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering Department often works late into the night, patiently and meticulously addressing each and every question. Colleagues implementing digital solutions never let go of their computers even on their daily commutes—staying glued to their screens, tirelessly monitoring the progress of program modifications. The support from their families warms the heart of the head of the Safety and Environment Department; sometimes they get so busy that they forget to tell their loved ones not to prepare dinner. Yet, when they finally return home, there’s always a warm meal waiting for them in the pot... These ordinary moments, when combined, form a powerful force that keeps driving forward the creation of our future factory.

The seamless collaboration among colleagues is equally touching. Earlier this year, when the H1N1 flu struck, the planning and follow-up feedback in our work group never came to a halt. When one colleague was hospitalized for pneumonia, they immediately resumed remote meetings as soon as they recovered. To quickly resolve the red-flag issues, R&D staff worked late into the night in the lab, engineers meticulously monitored product production at the equipment site, and production operations personnel diligently summarized the effectiveness of digital transformation efforts... These dedicated figures are the best testament to Wanxiang Precision’s journey toward the future.

On the day of the defense, the team members arrived at the company shortly after 6 a.m., snapped a photo of the main entrance, and posted inspiring words in the work group—everyone was energized. “The moment has come to prove our strength and determination!” “There’s no problem we can’t solve!” “It’s simple: let’s go all out!” United as one, with everyone pulling together in the same direction, the power of solidarity and collaboration has made the honor of “Future Factory” shine even brighter!

Success! We’ve earned recognition—tomorrow is here.

Where exactly does the futuristic appeal of the factory of the future lie? Wanxiang Precision has been recognized as a “cluster demonstration leading enterprise” for future factories. Behind this honor lies outstanding performance across multiple dimensions, including digital design, intelligent manufacturing, high-end products, green manufacturing, lean management, and model-based development. The construction of the future factory is akin to opening a door to a new world of smart manufacturing. From the meticulous planning in the early stages, through the steady progress during the mid-phase, to the successful implementation at the end, every step embodies a steadfast commitment to high-quality development.

The company has comprehensively adopted cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, digital twins, artificial intelligence, and big data to accelerate the R&D of high-end products and overcome challenging manufacturing processes. The successful implementation of digitalization and automation use cases—including digital design, intelligent production scheduling, AI-powered automated loading and unloading via computer vision, smart logistics, and digital twins—as well as the meticulous development of exemplary application scenarios, are like interconnected branches and leaves that nourish the entire tree, enabling the company’s digital and intelligent transformation to achieve a qualitative leap.

“Honor is merely external recognition; our most fundamental driving force is to build a factory of the future and elevate our enterprise’s digital and intelligent operations to the industry’s highest standards,” said Chen Guojun, General Manager of Wanxiang Precision. The changes are unmistakable. The company’s overall appearance has been completely transformed, and its operational performance is truly remarkable: R&D cycles have been shortened by 20%, order delivery times have been reduced by 22%, per capita production efficiency has increased by 25.19%, costs per 10,000 yuan of output have fallen by 15.29%, product defect rates have dropped to 0.3%, and energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of output has declined by 18.37%. This string of figures vividly illustrates Wanxiang Precision’s successful digital and intelligent transformation.

As a demonstration enterprise recognized as a “Single-Item Champion” in the manufacturing sector, Wanxiang Precision has always been exceptionally strong. Now, with the prestigious title of “Cluster-Demonstration Leading Model” provincial-level Future Factory, it is steadily scaling new heights. The Future Factory initiative team will continue to work closely together to deepen digital and intelligent transformation, firmly anchoring itself to the strategic goal of becoming a “strategic partner of world-class automakers.” This will enable Wanxiang Precision to shine even more brilliantly on the global automotive industry stage and lead the industry toward an infinite, promising future.