Haier

On April 2^nd, CNLIC (China National Light Industry Council) presented awards to enterprises outstanding in technological and management innovation in 2014. With “The Intelligent Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Mode of Household Appliance Enterprises Led by User Demand in the Internet Age”, Haier won the first award of management innovation as the only prize-winner in intelligent manufacturing field.

The purpose of this award ceremony is to echo the “made in China 2025”national strategy, encourage enterprises to introduce reform and innovation into each stage of light industry development and promote management innovation and management science. It fully reflected the innovation achievements of enterprise management and reform of light industry enterprises against the new trend of the Internet age. “China Light Industry Enterprise Management Modernization Innovation Achievement Award” is the highest-leveled management innovation award of light industry enterprises by CNLIC, which represents the top level of management innovation of light industry.

In the Internet age, Haier’s transformation and upgrading from mass manufacturing to mass customization, persistence in technological and mode innovation and connected factory-an intelligent manufacturing system that enables seamless joint with user demand and end-to-end real-time connection have disrupted the traditional manufacturing mode and led the whole industry.

In order to follow the trend of the global new industrial revolution and the age of Internet, Haier has transformed the traditional manufacturing mode with its connected factory, combined research and development and users, and gathered the global top resources to meet the customization experience of users. On the other hand, the connected factory makes the end-to-end real-time connection with users possible. The research and development, manufacturing and delivery of products are available to users on a real-time basis. All links including order, production and logistics are visible to users and traceable at any time.

Let’s have a look at Haier’s innovation exploration achievements of intelligent manufacturing mode. Since 2012 when Haier started planning to build the digital connected factory, it has built industry 4.0 demonstration factories such as Shenyang Refrigerator Factory, Zhengzhou Air Conditioner Factory and Washing Machine and Water Heater Connected Factory. In the near future, Haier will be pushed into the global supply chain through these this demonstration factories, which means that users’ personalized demands will be met through Haier connected factories any time and any anywhere.

Now our manufacturing is faced up with major opportunities and challenges of transformation and upgrading, which raises higher requirements to its management mode. Besides the shortcomings in core technology and human quality, poor management is another unneglectable cause for the fact that China is a large manufacturing country instead of a manufacturing power. Having realized this first and taken the Internet as the engine for driving productivity, Haier breaks the boundaries of organizations, bring its users to management network, and is now changing the mode, the process and even the whole structure of manufacturing profoundly. This innovation achievement of great competitiveness in the future will promote the transformation and upgrading of the whole manufacturing.