Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Liao Wei
In 2021, the new energy automobile industry ushered in a big outbreak, in order to meet the needs of downstream car companies, power battery manufacturers led by the Ningde era will maximize the utilization rate of existing capacity, and continue to expand production and expansion projects.
Behind the rapid growth of the industry, the practitioners in the industrial chain have also entered a busy state: the workers who started 996 on the battery production line, the new energy headhunters who work overtime day and night, the small business owners who have grayed their hair and consider expanding the company's scale several times in this cycle... Individuals running in different positions have become the most vivid portrayal of the explosion of the new energy automobile industry.
896, shift but the battery factory workers think that than in the electronics factory happiness
The joys and sorrows of human beings are not the same, but the hardships and hardships of manufacturing are obvious to all.
Zhang Ming (pseudonym), a 27-year-old regular worker on the production line of a medium-sized power battery factory, has worked a lot, assembling mobile phones in electronics factories, working as jeans in garment factories, and moving bricks on construction sites.
"I was very tired, I worked for two or three years, and everything came out." As a strong man who has been fighting in the front line of manufacturing for a long time, he complained about his experience over the years, "Overall, it is more comfortable in the battery factory."
The battery factory, electronics factory and garment factory where Zhang Ming worked are all located in the urban industrial park, and employees basically eat, drink and live in the unit. Due to the remote location and rarely going to the city center, there are not many places where you need to spend your own money, which also means that the wages earned can basically be saved.
Source |pexels.com
"My basic salary is more than two thousand, plus piece-rate wages and overtime pay, and I can have more than six thousand a month." In Zhang Ming's view, this salary is already very good, although it is not as good as the construction site, but it is better than the electronics factory and the garment factory, and the "work intensity is not so great."
Zhang Ming's previous electronics factory, as long as there is work, can hardly idle during working hours. The battery factory is basically a mechanized operation, the work is basically program control, there are also manual operation parts, mainly is to pull, feeding and the like. At work, Zhang Ming's hand does not need to move all the time, almost tens of seconds to move for a while, relatively relaxed.
Due to the difference in the temperament of the scene, it is difficult for the electronics factory and garment factory where Zhang Ming has stayed to ensure that there is work every day, and the fiery new energy wave has made the capacity utilization rate of the battery factory to the maximum, and only worry that too much work cannot be done. "The length of working hours and the amount of work we live are basically linked to our wages, which are all money." The former workers of the electronics factory are now worried about 'eating the last meal and not eating the next meal', but I don't have to worry about this now, just work well."
"If you want to say something bad, you may need to work shifts, but in electronics factories and garment factories, you also have to work shifts." Zhang Ming's battery factory implements a two-shift system (8 p.m., 8 p.m. 9 a.m.), while the electronics factory and garment factory where he once worked are three-shift, "In fact, it is still quite hard, especially the shift, it is difficult to stick to it when you are old, and the turnover rate of our production line is 20%."
According to industry insiders, because of the shift, some battery factories have age requirements for the recruitment of production line workers, generally requiring under 35 years old. According to previous media reports, the workers recruited by Sichuan Times cannot be more than 40 years old, while Foxconn's recruitment conditions are not more than 45 years old.
"I didn't think about it, take it one step at a time." For the future, Zhang Ming has no clear plan, "may be at that age has long been back to his hometown."
Headhunter: My colleague is too rolled up to embarrass me
"There's a lot of pressure, and the company's internal rolls are also very serious." Because the performance is not good, Zhao Na, a headhunting consultant of a headhunting company, has recently been very anxious and stressed. "Everyone is very hard, some colleagues work overtime until about ten o'clock every night, 100 calls a day."
As an ordinary headhunter, Zhao Na's daily job is to constantly call candidates, determine intentions, write recommendation reports, and then give them to the demand company, and if it is appropriate, interview and go through the process.
Zhao Na's performance is not good because she does not work hard enough, according to her current work rhythm, she has to make an average of 50 phone calls a day, which is far beyond the industry average. If the customer needs it, maybe they are still communicating at 10 o'clock in the evening. "The reason why the performance is not good is because it is almost the New Year, and there are fewer people at this node who consider changing jobs."
Source | pexels.com
In addition, the current shortage of talents in the lithium battery industry has also brought certain troubles to Zhao Na's work. According to Zhao Na, taking the Ningde era as an example, the annual salary of the production supervisor position is generally between 150,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, and the annual salary of the process and equipment post is between 150,000 and 300,000 yuan, generally about 250,000 yuan, but the working time is roughly 896, and it is also necessary to accept shifts, two months of day shifts, two months of late shifts, and 6 days of work a week.
"It's very hard, so many people don't think about the time and intensity of the work." In fact, the above work intensity is a common phenomenon in the current lithium battery industry, some manufacturers may be better, but also too good, which also leads to a high turnover rate in the industry, "We expect the entire industry turnover rate to be about 30%. Although the Ningde era has high academic requirements, the treatment is relatively generous, while the treatment of battery factories such as Guoxuan Hi-Tech and AVIC Lithium Battery is relatively general but the academic requirements are general, which also makes it relatively easy for these large factories to recruit people."
As the lithium battery industry is expanding, the demand for talents in the entire industry has increased sharply, and the headhunting companies that serve the big factories are not only Zhao Na's company, "There are more than 100 headhunting companies in the country that do related services to the Ningde era alone."
According to the data of Tianyancha, the number of registered human resources service companies was 85,000 and 165,000 in 2019 and 2020, respectively, with a year-on-year growth rate of 46% and 61%, respectively.
Previously, the head of a headhunting company focusing on the new energy industry told Times Finance that in recent years, with the heat of the new energy industry, the need for talents has risen sharply, and corresponding headhunting companies and human resources service companies have also sprung up. "Although our main competitors are still medium and large companies, a single small company is not a big threat, but it is more and more, so in this situation, our pressure is also increasing."
Difficulty in recruiting people when entering the industry The boss's dream of listing or becoming empty?
"I was also just engaged in the lithium battery industry, but I didn't expect that people were too difficult to recruit." Wang Jun (pseudonym), the head of a small and medium-sized lithium e-commerce factory in Shanghai, is worried about recruiting people, "Now the shortage of people in the industry is very serious, everyone is grabbing, including those head factories, we have no advantage in salary and other aspects of competition."
At present, Wang Jun's company was established in 2014, and previously mainly engaged in industrial product agency and sales. With the outbreak of the new energy industry, Wang Jun, who has a keen sense of smell, also officially entered the lithium battery industry in 2019, and achieved several times the expansion of the company's scale in this wave of markets, which was relatively moist.
"I plan to go public in the next few years." Wang Jun, who has tasted the sweetness, wants to continue to expand investment and help the company to a higher level, but the first thing in front of him is the shortage of personnel. "Talent in technology research and development is particularly scarce. Now people are too impetuous, know some fur is called lithium battery talent, in fact, are not professional, really understand lithium battery professional talent is very scarce."
Wang Jun is currently recruiting for positions mainly in electronic glue sales. Judging from his recruitment information, the recruitment requirements are not high, only require a bachelor's degree, have relevant industry experience (no specific years), can independently complete sales tasks, have strong ability to resist pressure, and give an annual salary of 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan.
However, under this condition, Wang Jun never found a satisfactory candidate, which also gave him a lot of headaches. In fact, from the perspective of the entire industry, the conditions given by Wang Jun can only be regarded as decent, and it is not surprising that there are few responders now.
"There are relatively few people like this who can help the company open up the situation and open up the market, and everyone is rushing to get it." Previously, some people in their own lithium battery industry told Times Finance. According to a headhunter, the energy storage product manager who is being recruited by Sunwoda headquarters is in urgent demand, and the conditions given include an annual salary of less than 700,000 yuan, and if the IPO of the energy storage sector is successful in the later stage, there will be original stock distribution.
The wave of expansion behind the shortage of talents
The shortage of personnel reflected by Zhao Na and Wang Jun is mainly caused by the hot new energy industry and the collective expansion of industrial chain enterprises.
According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, in the first 11 months of 2021, new energy vehicles sold 2.99 million units, an increase of 1.7 times year-on-year, accounting for 12.7% of total vehicle sales. The rapid development of new energy vehicles has also led to the popularity of the upstream power battery industry. According to the data of China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, from January to November 2021, the cumulative installed volume of power batteries in China was 128.3GWh, an increase of 153.1% year-on-year.
In this context, even if the power battery factory is full of firepower, it is still unable to meet the needs of downstream car companies, so the tide of expansion of the entire industry came into being. According to public information, under the expansion plan, battery companies such as CATL, BYD, AVIC Lithium Battery, and Guoxuan Hi-Tech have a planned production capacity of about 670GWh, 600GWh, 500GWh and 300GWh respectively in 2025. According to the data of China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, in the first 11 months of 2021, the cumulative installed capacity of power batteries in China was 128.3GWh. According to the incomplete statistics of Gaz Automobile, by 2025, the planned production capacity of China's local lithium battery companies has exceeded 3TWh.
Ganfeng Lithium Jiangxi Xinyu Factory | The source of the picture is the official website of the enterprise
The landing of large-scale expansion projects will inevitably lead to a sharp rise in the demand for talents in this industry, the dynamic balance of the supply and demand market for lithium battery talents has been broken, and the salaries of many post personnel have skyrocketed under the market. According to times finance, some manufacturers even give 100% salary increase conditions when digging people. But even so, staff tension is still difficult to improve, whether it is R&D, technology or production.
Some power battery plant insiders also told Times Finance that this problem is quite tricky. Recently, an insider of Jiangsu Tafir New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. told Times Finance that "although many people recruited by the school will jump ship or start their own business after two or three years of precipitation in the company, they are considered to have contributed to the development of the industry."
"At present, the annual growth rate of the industry is about twice, but the professional talents cultivated by colleges and universities are only 20% or even lower per year, which is far from meeting the needs of the development of the industry." An insider of a head power battery manufacturer told Times Finance that "at least in the next few years, the lack of people in the industry will not improve significantly."