Jimu news reporter Zeng Lingke
Affected by the epidemic, the supply chain of the domestic automotive industry is under constant pressure. Previously, He Xiaopeng, the founder of Xiaopeng Motors, issued a warning that if the supply chain enterprises in Shanghai and the surrounding areas could not find a way to dynamically resume work and production, all Chinese automakers would have to stop work and production in May. In response, Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business and CEO of smart car solution BU, echoed that "this is indeed the case" and that "not only the automotive industry, but all the technology and industrial industries involved in the Shanghai supply chain."
Yu Chengdong, CEO of Huawei's consumer business, posted a document
On April 16, a number of car company leaders and industry professionals told Jimu News that auto companies have been using the production mode of national procurement of parts and reassembly, relying heavily on the stable production and transportation of enterprises in the supply chain. Shanghai is the important town of China's automobile industry, factory production, logistics and transportation are blocked, and the impact will naturally spread to the whole country over time. New car manufacturers such as Tesla, Weilai, etc., whose production methods that minimize warehousing costs make them more vulnerable to emergencies.
Under the pressure of the epidemic, how to open up logistics channels and maintain the production and operation of all links in the whole supply chain has become a top priority. On the afternoon of April 15, the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that a special meeting had been held to study measures, and the Shanghai Forward Working Group would also go deep into leading industrial enterprises to coordinate and solve key problems.
Many car companies across the country announced the suspension of production
As early as before He Xiaopeng and Yu Chengdong spoke out, there were already car companies announcing the suspension of production.
The founder of Xiaopeng Automobile issued a warning on social issues on the evening of April 14
The Jimu News reporter learned that since mid-March, Tesla's Shanghai factory has been in a state of intermittent production. On March 16, the Shanghai plant shut down for two days. On March 28, Reuters reported that Tesla's Shanghai factory was about to stop production for 4 days due to epidemic prevention and control. On March 28, since the closure of Pudong, Tesla's factory in Lingang, Pudong, has been shut down due to the failure to achieve closed-loop management. At present, there is still no accurate information on when Tesla will be able to resume production.
Tesla's suspension of production since March (compiled by auto analyst Zhang Xiang)
Similar to Tesla's situation is Weilai Automobile. As early as April 9, NIO has revealed that since March, its supply chain partners in Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have stopped production. Affected by this, the production of Weilai Automobile has been suspended.
A Tesla consumer in Zhengzhou told Jimu News that he ordered a ModelY car in July and November last year, and the order in July had already been picked up. However, the Order in November, because the payment method was changed in February this year, needed to be re-matched, and the customer service has not yet told him the exact pick-up time, "only that it did not match".
On April 10, SAIC Volkswagen had relevant personnel revealed that its Shanghai Anting plant was basically in a state of shutdown, and there were hundreds of employees on duty at the factory, and other employees were in a home state. In addition, according to media reports, a memorandum from SAIC Motor Group on April 16 showed that the company had issued a return-to-work pass permit to employees and would coordinate with suppliers to start stress tests to resume work and production as early as next Monday. However, SAIC group personnel only responded to this: "Regarding the time, there are internal goals, but it will be adjusted in a timely manner according to the control of the epidemic situation and its own preparedness." ”
The production logistics of parts and components enterprises are blocked
In addition to car companies, many auto parts manufacturers across the country are concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta region, and the epidemic has also affected the production and transportation of these supply chain enterprises.
Auto analyst Zhang Xiang introduced to the Jimu News reporter that Shanghai has always been an important town for China's automobile production, and the first successful model of China's hyundai automobile industry, Santana, was born in Shanghai, and Santana's successful mass production helped China establish a supply system for hyundai auto parts. Therefore, vehicle assembly and parts manufacturers were initially distributed in and around Shanghai in the form of clusters, and then transferred outward due to high production costs. According to the data, the total annual automobile production of Shanghai in 2021 was 2.833 million units, still accounting for 10.7% of the country's total output, second only to Guangdong Province. The total output value of the automobile industry accounts for 17.5% of Shanghai's GDP.
Zhang Xiang pointed out that the current impact of the epidemic on the automobile industry is mainly in two aspects, on the one hand, Shanghai car companies organize workers to produce themselves, on the other hand, the national car companies are in various places to purchase parts and components and then assemble, once Shanghai and its surrounding parts enterprises production, logistics is blocked, its impact on the production of national vehicle factories, will be like dominoes. In Shanghai-based Bosch (BOSH) and Aptiv, for example, Aptiv produces wiring harnesses (the main body of automotive circuits) that account for 80% of the country's supply, and Bosch (BOSH) produces body electronic stability systems (ESP) with a market share of up to 70% in China.
On April 16, a staff member of Bosch's Suzhou plant refused to be interviewed in a text message to a Reporter from Jimu News, but at the same time said that "it is quite difficult at present."
Earlier, the staff of the Automobile Logistics Branch of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing had told the media that the production of some core components produced by Aptiv and Bosch in Shanghai had been reduced, and the difficulty of external transportation had led to the reduction of production of many depots. Due to poor land transportation, the difficulty of picking up imported goods in Shanghai Port, the congestion in the yard, and bosch's import of ESP chips from overseas were also affected.
Closed-loop production is also limited
On the morning of April 16, Wang Duan (pseudonym), the head of a shanghai car company, told Jimu News that he and some employees had lived in the factory for nearly a month.
"The outbreak in Shanghai worsened in late March. In order to ensure production, we moved into the company with the company's core employees in mid-March. Wang Duan said that even so, there is still no way to organize production and research and development normally. For example, he said that at present, there are a considerable number of parts and components enterprises in Jiading District of Shanghai and Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, which cannot produce normally. Even if it is produced, it cannot be transported to the depot," and car production, not to mention large parts, can not be shipped out of the factory without a screw. ”
Wang Duan also pointed out that when developing new models, parts manufacturers should also frequently travel to and from car manufacturers and research and development institutions to test and test newly produced parts. The continuation of the current situation will drag down the launch of new models in the next three to five years.
Wu Lin (pseudonym), a senior executive of a car company located in Suzhou, told Jimu News that at present, in addition to the internal regional logistics of the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai as an international port, some parts and components import difficulties also affect the production of parts manufacturers, "There are some parts manufacturers themselves are multinational enterprises, the key core components of these enterprises are produced abroad, and then shipped to the domestic assembly." Now this link has also encountered obstacles. ”
Some industry views point out that car companies can organize closed-loop production to solve the problem of employee arrival. In addition, the inventory of parts can also be consumed for a period of time, in addition, auto companies can also find alternative manufacturers of parts.
But Wang Duan said that the car company itself is the place to organize automobile production, its ability to guarantee the food and accommodation of employees is limited, and the closed-loop production method is not universal, "Now hundreds of people live in the factory, where the toilet paper comes from may become a problem."
For the mention of consuming inventory parts, Wang Duan pointed out that the automobile is a strong competitive industry, and the control of costs by various enterprises is extremely strict, and only industrial aggregation can control logistics costs. This means that most emerging car companies have extremely limited warehouse inventory. Wu Lin pointed out that finding alternative manufacturers to produce parts is not an easy task, and its cycle can be as long as one to two years.
Orderly promote the resumption of production and work
After the voice of a number of car companies has aroused concern, some insiders believe that the production mode of car companies cluster may move towards a highly discrete and distributed form in the future. For supply chain companies such as parts manufacturers, OEMs should also consider the problem of finding alternative companies in the event of unexpected situations.
But Zhang Xiang and Wu Lin believe that no matter how the industry is scattered, Shanghai's status as an important city in the domestic automobile industry is difficult to change in the short term. Even if automakers build factories in many places, parts companies may not have this strength. Regarding the docking of a number of parts and components companies, in case of unforeseen needs, Zhang Xiang proposed that this also involves the problem of consumer recognition, such as consumers may identify with a certain brand, and are willing to pay the corresponding price, if the vehicle factory replaces the parts manufacturer, consumers may not buy it.
Wang Duan bluntly denounced this formulation as "talking on paper." "For example, different suppliers of braking systems, such as Bosch and Continental, from the mechanical system to the control system are different, how to match two sets on one car? Such parts abound in cars. Wang Duan said.
According to the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on April 15, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a special meeting to convey the spirit of the special conference on ensuring the smooth flow of goods and the stability of the industrial chain supply chain, and to study and implement work measures. The meeting stressed that it is necessary to go all out to accurately prevent and control the epidemic, ensure the smooth flow of goods and stabilize the work of the industrial chain supply chain; take multiple measures to ensure the stable production of key enterprises and the smooth operation of key industrial chains; mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties to work together to ensure the implementation of the policy of ensuring the smooth flow of freight logistics.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also said that it will work with relevant departments and localities to adhere to the "one enterprise and one case" in accordance with the requirements of epidemic prevention and control and the needs of the national key industrial chain, guide key enterprises to formulate plans for resuming work and production and epidemic prevention and control, and promote the resumption of work and production in an orderly manner. The Shanghai Forward Working Group dispatched by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will go deep into the leading enterprises in the industrial chain and coordinate and solve urgent problems affecting stable production in a timely manner through point-to-point, one-to-one, short and fast methods.