The author | Zhu Shiyun
Editor| Qiu Kaijun
Source| Electric Vehicle Observer (evobserver)
"Since March 16th, we have been in the factory closed-loop management, and all the nucleic acids have been healthy so far." Chen Peifeng, director of SAIC Lingang Passenger Car Factory, told Electric Vehicle Observer.
At this time, 36 days have passed since the closure of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Lingang Plant, and more than 4,000 people in the four major processes and engine plants work and live together 24 hours a day.
If in a disaster movie, this is bound to be the "red dot" area that promotes disaster escalation. But in reality, the Lingang factory, which has been closed for more than a month, is not only orderly, but also has done several major things.
First, SAIC Lingang Plant seized limited production capacity in a closed loop and promoted the production of Zhiji Automobile's first product, L7. Zhiji is an important transformation strategy brand of SAIC.
Second, during the closure period, SAIC's Lingang plant has completed the capacity, inventory and raw material mapping of nearly 400 suppliers. Most of these are also key component suppliers of many car companies in China.
On the basis of this information, SAIC Motor group docked with relevant government departments and put into operation the first batch of 6 (4 have been built) yangtze river delta important material emergency supply transfer stations (Zhejiang-Shanghai) on the 18th, realizing cross-regional interconnection of materials in the industrial chain supply chain.
The outbreak has highlighted Shanghai's central position in China's auto manufacturing industry, and stress tests for resuming production and work have begun. We try to provide a reference for the industry to understand the current situation and prospects of Shanghai's resumption of production and work through a series of previous and current epidemic response actions of SAIC Motor, which is located in the core of Shanghai's manufacturing industry.
01 Close the decision-making logic half a month in advance
SAIC's Lingang plant officially made a decision on closed production on March 11 and entered closed production on March 16.
Why so early?
The first is the consideration of the main engine factory for active and passive choices.
Chen Peifeng told electric vehicle observers that in early March, the Shanghai municipal government required that if there were suspected positive cases, the entire factory would stop production and close. "The headquarters (SAIC) believes that instead of cases being controlled, it is better for us to practice our internal skills and carry out closed management, so that the people inside us are always healthy and safe."
On the other hand, SAIC Motor has made the best possible preparations for this closed-loop production in advance. "On March 11, we found that the epidemic in Shanghai began to spread somewhat, and the headquarters immediately began to prepare the materials needed for the closure for us."
Looking back at the development of the epidemic in Shanghai, it can be found that since March 7, the number of new confirmed cases and asymptomatic cases has doubled compared with before, and although there have been repeated periods, the growth trend has not changed.
On the 13th, the day of the soaring data, Tesla's Shanghai Lingang factory notified the recruiters to suspend their entry;
On the 16th, Tesla's Shanghai Lingang plant stopped production for two days, and SAIC Lingang plant entered closed production.
Moreover, before the closure, SAIC Lingang coordinated SAIC Anji Logistics earlier, and at the moment when the transportation resources were already relatively tight, it tried its best to transport some of the exhibition vehicles and test cars of the Zhiji L7 national key stores out of Shanghai.
SAIC's Lingang plant is closed for production
Judging from the results, the early closure not only ensures the most important production rhythm of the main engine factory, but also lays the foundation for the resumption of work after that.
In the "Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of the Epidemic in Shanghai Industrial Enterprises Resuming Work and Production (First Edition)", in order to ensure that the risk of the epidemic is controllable, the main responsibilities of enterprises are put forward, and the management requirements for venues, personnel, logistics and emergency responses are put forward.
SAIC Lingang has been practicing for more than a month.
"The most worrying thing is the first week." Chen Peifeng said that waiting for seven consecutive days of nucleic acid negative waiting for all employees at the beginning of the closure is the most difficult time, during which external prevention input is formed, and internal prevention and proliferation are in the epidemic prevention mode: grid management is carried out, grid areas can be moved by various departments, and the flow of personnel between departments is minimized.
"We have also organized eight teams, including safety emergency, logistics, sanitize, and supervision, to ensure the implementation of all epidemic prevention measures."
According to an internal meeting record obtained by The Electric Vehicle Observer, "production on the premise of no infection" is the "red line" for enterprises to resume production and work in Shanghai.
Although guidelines for resuming production and work were issued on April 19, many companies are still slowly advancing the preparation phase of nucleic acid inspection, site preparation, material sanitize, and experiencing the "first week of fear." ”
SAIC Lingang plant closed production dining area disinfection
Chen Peifeng said that according to the normal rhythm of the factory, it generally takes one to two weeks to resume to the previous production beat after the shutdown. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty about the recovery of the supply chain, so how long it will take for the main engine factory to restore its previous capacity is still unknown.
02 Conditions for closed production
Why did SAIC Lingang enter closed production, while Tesla's Lingang plant was shut down on March 28 until April 19?
In addition to the corporate decision-making style, the readiness of components is probably another important influencing factor.
A long-term Tesla investor told Electric Vehicle Watcher that Tesla's Lingang factory has no warehouse for raw materials and semi-finished products in Shanghai. "Pursue absolute JIT (just-in-time production, inventory-free production). The factory has hundreds of container loading and unloading ports, located next to the production workshop, and the supplier's containers become mobile warehouses. ”
SAIC's Lingang plant is closed for production
In contrast, SAIC Lingang has relatively large reserves.
Jin Weifeng, director of the quality delivery department of Zhiji Automobile, which is also closed in SAIC Lingang, told electric vehicle observers that SAIC Lingang added a 40,000-square-meter external factory warehouse as early as February. "At that time, it was mainly considering geopolitics and the impact of the epidemic in recent years, and some advance amounts were prepared." "Because we have relatively more preparations for these short-term parts, we can continue to produce them after they are closed."
"Electric Vehicle Observer" found in the interview that although the epidemic has lasted for more than two years, in addition to the long-term parts such as chips in the China main engine factory, the remaining short-term parts have not increased inventory, and even if there is an increase, it is also built by parts manufacturers.
Changan Automobile said at a previous supply chain conference that it required chips to establish a three-month inventory. In addition, if the parts supplier is sluggish due to the construction of inventory according to Changan's requirements, Changan will be responsible.
03 Solve the logistics dilemma around Shanghai
The establishment of inventory by upstream component suppliers has led to a high dependence on logistics for the production beats of OEMs.
The above-mentioned internal meeting shorthand shows that the market share of ESP systems produced by Bosch in the Suzhou Industrial Park is as high as 80%, and the productivity that occupies an important market position similarly has been arranged in Suzhou, Kunshan, Jiaxing, Ningbo and other places.
"When risk control measures appear in these areas, they will interfere with the entire production of parts. This is what He Xiaopeng (founder of Xiaopeng Automobile) said, if the production continues, all OEMs will face the status quo of suspension in May. ”
In order to solve the current logistics dilemma, on April 18, the Yangtze River Delta Important Material Emergency Supply Transfer Station (Zhejiang-Shanghai), which was built and operated by SAIC Anji Logistics, was put into operation.
Zhejiang Hangzhou and Ningbo "Yangtze River Delta Important Materials Emergency Supply Transfer Station"
The first batch of 6 transit stations, including 2 in Shanghai, respectively in Jiading District and Minhang District, 2 in Zhejiang, located in Hangzhou City and Ningbo City, and 2 in Jiangsu Are under construction.
The average area of the transfer station is about 5,000 square meters, and the management personnel and on-site operators are about 30 people, all of whom are Anji's own personnel, which can ensure the transit needs of 30 vehicles of more than 20 tons per day.
According to the conventional logistics method, after the driver collects the goods in the circulation in the area, the trunk line is sent directly to a different place. In this way, there will be many vehicles departing from Shanghai to different destinations, or entering Shanghai from different places.
During the epidemic, there have been many new links in this logistics rhythm.
Shanghai Jiading and Minhang "Yangtze River Delta Important Materials Emergency Supply Transfer Station" was officially put into operation on April 18
For the trunk line transportation from Shanghai to a different place, the vehicle needs to apply for an important material pass; the whole process of each crossing needs to check the 48-hour nucleic acid report or require on-site nucleic acid testing; after registering relevant information at the off-site highway exit, the car door is sealed, unloading the goods at the destination and returning to the same way; when departing from Shanghai to some areas in different places, it also encounters different degrees of difficulties.
Zhejiang Hangzhou and Ningbo "Yangtze River Delta Important Material Emergency Supply Transfer Station" was officially put into operation on April 18
After the establishment of the transfer station, the short shuttle vehicles complete the collection in Shanghai, and after unloading sanitize at the transfer station, the goods are reloaded to the trunk vehicles going to a different place.
After the trunk line vehicles go directly to the off-site transfer station and sanitize again, they are diverted through the off-site short shuttle vehicles. Off-site and vice versa.
At the same time, through advance declaration, the two places recognize each other's driver health codes, itinerary codes and nucleic acid results for point-to-point entry into the transit station, and can realize the elimination of the itinerary code in the epidemic area.
This can significantly reduce the number of vehicles going directly to various places in the epidemic area, and instead divert or collect goods through local low-risk regional transit stations, and also reduce the uncertainties faced by truck drivers.
Zhejiang Hangzhou and Ningbo "Yangtze River Delta Important Material Emergency Supply Transfer Station" was officially put into operation on April 18
Since the establishment of the 18th, the daily transport vehicles at each transfer station have ranged from 5-10 cars, each car is about 100 cubic meters. The goods transported mainly include parts and workstations that are urgently needed by vehicle manufacturing enterprises.
04 Terminals that rely on inventory
When there is uncertainty about the recovery of production capacity, the opening of traditional peak sales seasons such as "Red May" depends on the inventory of each family.
The agency estimates that as of the end of March, the overall inventory of new passenger cars in mainland China was about 3.07 million units. This compares to 3.4 million units in inventory at the end of April last year. Overall, the current year-on-year decline in inventories is not very serious, and the overall recovery is in a stable state.
However, when it comes to the status of each brand, it varies greatly.
From the perspective of industry laws, the new car inventory depth of Chinese brands, joint venture brands and luxury cars is 48 days, 50 days and 45 days respectively. However, the use of direct sales order system, to sell the new car manufacturing model may face greater pressure. The agency calculated that Tesla's inventory is only 2 days. In an interview with The Electric Vehicle Observer, the Xiaopeng P7 beijing has only a small amount of stock, and the delivery time of the P5 is after June.
This means that if the production is discontinued for more than a month, some terminal brands may be in a state of no car to sell.
05 Production end without suspension of production
Compared with the back-end counting inventory and other construction, the production side began to build an advance volume for the future.
In early April, the production line at SAIC's Lingang plant pressed the pause button as parts inventory ran out.
But discontinuation does not mean downtime. Chen Peifeng introduced to the "Electric Vehicle Observer" that during the production suspension stage, SAIC Lingang carried out equipment maintenance, staff training, quality improvement, and new project transformation work to deal with subsequent models. "We are not in a state of pause inside, but our own cultivation mode."
This kind of cultivation has produced some achievements.
"In a closed environment, there are more efficient working modes and many ways to upgrade products." For example, Jin Weifeng said that Zhiji Automobile has a concept of "data cooker", which means that the factory test link must not only measure the mechanical properties of the vehicle, but also test its software system with data under real road conditions. There are multiple iterations of software fixes and improvements in the process.
Previously, such an iteration took a month. However, during the closure period, due to the reduction of on-site communication and the use of more network real-time communication mode, the software iteration efficiency of Zhiji Automobile was doubled, and the time was shortened to two weekly updates.
06 How more than 4,000 people live together
But for labor-intensive manufacturing, closed production is not an easy task.
SAIC Lingang plant closed living area
On March 11, the decision to close began, and SAIC Motor and SAIC Lingang began emergency procurement and deployment of materials to meet the living needs of more than 4,000 people.
In terms of daily necessities, we have prepared ten sets of daily necessities for employees, including bedding, mattresses, tents, toiletries, and clothing. "We trucked it from our headquarters in Anting, more than 100 kilometers away, overnight."
In terms of accommodation, SAIC Lingang chartered two hotels near the factory, solved the accommodation problem of more than a thousand people in a room of three or four people, and was picked up and commuted by bus point-to-point. The remaining more than 3,000 people live "on the spot", in the office, next to the production line, using the "ten-piece set" to arrange their lives.
It is worth mentioning that the accommodation is based on the principle of proximity, and there is no distinction between ranks. "The treatment of all employees is the same, I am in the office during this time to build a floor, closed production subsidies are also the same for all employees, there is no distinction between ranks." Chen Peifeng told The Electric Vehicle Observer.
Meals are served through SAIC Lingang's own canteen. The logistics support department of SAIC Lingang ensures the supply of ingredients needed by all employees through group procurement and government coordination. During the closure period, although all the staff ate box lunches, there was no shortage of vegetables and protein, and from time to time there would be "luxury goods" such as fruits and even cola.
The main twists and turns are the emotional aspect of the personnel, and some employees did not understand at the beginning of the closure.
In this regard, Chen Peifeng said that on the one hand, Shanghai Lingang adopts the method of full closure, the factory leadership, the party committee all come to the post, playing a demonstration role; on the other hand, through the various forces of the saic group headquarters trade union, to solve the worries of employees in Shanghai home to buy vegetables and medicines; in addition, to give closed employees other than wages, "(during the closure period) the overall income is still considerable." ”
While eliminating concerns and improving treatment, the life under the closure of the factory area also has a sharp contrast with the life in Shanghai after the closure. Although it is a box lunch, there is no need to worry about three meals a day; and employees can move a much larger range in the green grassy factory area.
"The orderly and orderly factory area and all aspects of safety and epidemic prevention guarantees, and later everyone also calmed down and put into production." Chen Peifeng said.