"Without adding any equipment or personnel, sales volume and output increased by 25.49% and 111.3% respectively, and the product qualification rate rose from 65.2% to over 99%..." Recently, Feng Jie, General Manager of Zhejiang Shuangcai New Materials Co., Ltd., told reporters that thanks to the lean operation management project, the company had achieved cost reduction and efficiency improvement in all links.
"Our enterprise grew from a family-style workshop. As the scale expanded, problems such as non-standard production control, inadequate staff management and an imperfect corporate management assessment mechanism became increasingly prominent," Feng Jie introduced. Zhejiang Shuangcai New Materials Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise dedicated to the R&D, production and sales of powder coating additives. In the past, the product failure rate was high, quality was unsatisfactory, and sales declined accordingly. "The enterprise fell into a vicious cycle of development, forcing us to reform from within and seek efficiency through management."
This coincided with the value-added reform of enterprise-related services implemented in Suichang. In May 2023, the three-year action for the demonstration and creation of high-quality manufacturing pairing for common prosperity between Nanhu and Suichang was launched. Focusing on the needs of manufacturing enterprises such as lean management and digital transformation, Suichang deepened the industrial pairing with Nanhu District in both depth and breadth, carried out value-added reform of enterprise-related services, and explored cost reduction and efficiency improvement in all aspects of enterprises through lean management.
"Nanhu District has arranged special funds to entrust Zhejiang Lean Enterprise Management Group to conduct lean management diagnosis for enterprises in Suichang and provide demonstration guidance and improvement for lean operation management," introduced Mao Qiaoming, Chief Engineer of Suichang County Bureau of Economy and Information Technology. On the one hand, Suichang organized entrepreneurs to conduct research in developed regions, communicate face-to-face with outstanding entrepreneurs and learn advanced management experience; on the other hand, experts from the Lean Management Group were arranged to diagnose all links of enterprise operations, put forward improvement plans, raise entrepreneurs' awareness and management capabilities, standardize enterprise operations, and achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement in all enterprise links.
Zhejiang Shuangcai New Materials Co., Ltd. became the first enterprise to sign up for demonstration guidance and improvement since Suichang launched the lean enterprise operation and management capacity improvement project. "We started lean management in October 2023, and achieved a substantial increase in enterprise benefits in just three months," Feng Jie said. While the quality and efficiency improved steadily, managers also improved their management experience and capabilities through relevant learning, realizing a "double harvest".
Located in Zhejiang Suichang Economic Development Zone, Suichang Liqingyuan Titanium-Nickel Materials Co., Ltd. is a small and medium-sized technology enterprise with more than 20 years of history. It transformed from stainless steel smelting to precision casting and resin sand mold casting production in 2018.
"We have more products, but we still rely on manual records to manage orders, which often leads to errors in production and sales and increases enterprise costs," said Chen Dihua, General Manager of the company. Earlier this year, Suichang invited experts in lean enterprise management to carry out "comprehensive diagnosis + personalized guidance" for the enterprise and developed a customized digital management software. "After the software was launched, the number of our managers was reduced from three to one, with fewer errors."
Huang Wenpin, a statistician, has the most intuitive experience. "In the past, manual bookkeeping required several rounds of verification, but now I only need to input relevant data into the software, and a clear report will be generated immediately. The software even has a reminder function. As long as relevant information is set when creating an order, the reminder function can be activated, and information such as delivery date, product and quantity is clear at a glance."
Data shows that up to now, Suichang has conducted lean management diagnosis for 40 enterprises and launched pilot transformation for 10 of them. Mao Qiaoming said: "We plan to complete the diagnosis of all enterprises above designated size within three years, significantly improve the management level of Suichang enterprises, consolidate the foundation of the ecological industry, and explore a high-quality development path for industries to promote common prosperity."
