NGC: "Wind Catcher" with Zero Defects

Not far from the factory gate, there are rows of large gear components waiting to be assembled. Busy workers, running equipment, to the visitor, as in any manufacturing plant, there is not much difference. But for NGC, this factory area is not ordinary.

This is the wind power main gearbox production plant of Nanjing High Precision Transmission Equipment Manufacturing Group Co., Ltd. ("NGC" for short) located in Jiangning, Nanjing. In 2004, NGC's wind power business had just started, and the factory completed in that year became their first factory to manufacture and develop wind power main gearboxes.

"This plant has witnessed the 13-year growth of NGC's wind power business, and witnessed various tests on the road of our wind power from scratch, from weak to strong. If necessary, NGC is building a brand-new factory building and further improving the equipment and manufacturing level of the factory. At present, the CNC ratio of the new factory has exceeded 80%, and the CNC rate of key processes has reached 100%. Next, NGC will also It will usher in a new stage of development." Hu Yueming, chairman of the board of directors of China High Speed Transmission, said to "CEConline".

NGC is a large-scale enterprise group specializing in the production of high-speed and heavy-duty gears. It ranks among the top 100 core competitiveness of China's machinery industry. In 2007, it was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as "China High-speed Transmission". Nanjing machine tool repair shop in 1969.

The sales of NGC's wind power business started from less than 1 million yuan in 2004. According to its 2016 financial report, the sales of NGC's wind power business have reached 7.362 billion yuan, accounting for 7.362 billion yuan in its business. The ratio is more than 82%. According to Hu Yueming, by the end of 2016, the international market share of NGC's wind power main gearbox products exceeded 30%, and the domestic market share was as high as more than half. Therefore, it was rated as the first batch of manufacturing single champion demonstration enterprises by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The 13 years of rapid development of NGC's wind power business is also the 13 years of rapid development of China's wind power industry. Just like the growth of China's wind power, the development of NGC's wind power has not been smooth sailing.

Difficulties in the Rise

NGC's wind power business began in the period of large-scale promotion of wind power development and construction in China.

Since 2003, the state has organized the bidding for wind power concessions for five consecutive years, planned large-scale wind power bases, and introduced measures for the development and construction of large-scale wind farms. Development and construction began to enter a leapfrog development stage.

At that time, Hu Yueming saw the development potential of the wind power industry. In addition, NGC, which "made its fortune" from industrial gearboxes, had a solid technical foundation. He seized the opportunity of this era and decided to start Set foot in wind power gearbox products.

Although it only started to focus on the development of wind power business in 2004, it has cooperated with the world-renowned enterprise GE and the domestic leading Goldwind Technology since the very beginning. In 2006, it signed a wind power main gear with GE. The joint development agreement of the box, so that it can quickly integrate with the world wind power industry, and quickly establish a stable footstep in the industry. From 2004 to 2010, NGC's wind power business has grown rapidly for six consecutive years, from less than 1 million sales at the start to 5.458 billion in 2010, and the proportion of wind power business has gradually increased to 73.8%, becoming the largest Leading products and performance pillars.

In the competitive process of wind turbine gearbox manufacturers, the most advanced technology has never been the key factor of "war". After 2000, the government began to vigorously support the development of the wind power industry. At that time, neither the country nor the enterprise had strong technology. At that time, the manufacture of wind power mainframes and gearboxes was almost entirely dependent on "foreign aid", mainly from some small companies in Europe. Small enterprises buy design drawings and produce them directly, and some are research institutes that provide technology, specializing in developing design drawings and selling them to Chinese enterprises; At that time, it was also a stage of melee in the industry. There were more than 70 mainframe manufacturers, and some even said that they reached 100, which was not too eager to try. At that time, the venture capital was also crazy, as long as the company made a prototype, they would invest money.

At that time, the most advanced must not be the most popular, because everyone "learned" foreign technology, and no one dared to say that he was the most advanced; moreover, the most advanced is not necessarily the most advanced. The most stable, high maintenance cost determines that the high-reliability gearbox products that can make the fan continue to generate electricity are the most favored by enterprises. Hu Yueming told "CEConline": "Today, the primary key word for wind power gearboxes is still reliability."

From 2011 to 2013, although NGC's wind power business was still The company's performance pillar, but sales and business proportion have dropped significantly for three consecutive years, wind power sales fell from 5.458 billion in 2010 to 3.952 billion in 2012. "For such a large factory area, the annual depreciation of fixed assets and bank interest are two huge expenses. If the sales volume does not reach a certain amount, there is no profit at all." Hu Yueming said.

2013 is NGC's "Fire Fighting Year". The sluggish performance of the leading wind power business from the previous upward curve to 2011 for three consecutive years made Hu Yueming realize the seriousness of the problem. NGC internally called this year an urgent and important year. The main problems NGC faced at that time were: first, to stop the downward trend and stabilize its position; secondly, to keep the company's vitality for sustainable development in the future, and to seize future development opportunities while making steady progress.

Fortunately, there was still a lot of room for development in the wind power market at that time, and NGC's 9-year development history of wind power business has already laid a good foundation for NGC's wind power gearboxes at home and abroad. It has a place in the market, and long-term cooperation with world-class customers has also kept it in line with the world wind power industry for a long time. "NGC has managed to achieve this level in less than 10 years under the relatively unmodern corporate management system and internal system, which shows that market opportunities and corporate competitiveness have always existed. There is great room for improvement, and the next step is to further improve the competitiveness of enterprises." Hu Yueming analyzed to "CEConline".

Quality management has become a key direction for NGC to improve. Hu Yueming consciously looks at product quality and reliability from preventive management. At that time, NGC specially formulated a group strategy for 2020, many of which were not about how to attack the market, but how to make the company "fit up". NGC spends a lot of money to invest in "invisible places", that is, enterprise quality management that does not have immediate effect. Hu Yueming believes that this is also what Chinese enterprises lack the most!

The first victory

The word reliability is a keyword that appears most frequently in the interview process of "CEConline". Both Hu Yueming and Wang Zhengrong (NGC Vice President and Senior Director of Quality Department), who were interviewed together, constantly emphasized the importance of reliability to wind turbine gearboxes during the interview.

Previously, the quality department of NGC was subordinate to the production department, and the person in charge of quality was still under the leadership and management of the person in charge of the production department. Independent from the production department, the entire quality system of the enterprise is independent of the production system to emphasize the importance and independence of quality. This department reports directly to the general manager, and specially set up the post of deputy general manager of quality. He was the first deputy general manager of quality in the department.

At the beginning of 2014, NGC started a new internal improvement of quality management.

NGC mainly promotes "zero defect" management in the quality management system, implements lean production, pursues zero defect quality, and advocates preventive management. A major development strategy of the company is fully implemented throughout the company. The "zero defect" theory was put forward in the early 1960s by Philip B. Crosby, known as the "master of global quality management". The core is: "Do things right the first time." .

However, the zero-defect concept has not been widely promoted in China's manufacturing industry, and there are not many Chinese manufacturing enterprises that mainly promote the zero-defect concept. Hu Yueming emphasized that NGC adopted the zero-defect concept not because it was proposed by a recognized management master, but more from practicality in order to establish a risk management system for product quality.

Because the fan operates in the air at 60-100 meters, if there is a problem with the gearbox, it needs to be removed for maintenance. The cost of the crane is very expensive. After calculating the site fee and transportation fee, the overall cost is more expensive than that of the gearbox. Therefore, the high reliability of the gearbox is very important.

"According to the characteristics of the wind power market, the market needs high-reliability wind power gearbox products. Today's quality management concepts are too many to learn, and there may be a variety of management concepts that can meet the needs of enterprises. However, we must choose a suitable one for the enterprise, and I think the concept of zero defect is very easy to understand, and at the same time it is a management concept that looks at product quality problems from a preventive perspective, which can greatly improve product reliability. Implementing the concept of zero defects is not only in line with our time of change at that time, but also in line with our future development." Hu Yueming said.

"NGC's original concept of 'responsibility is in place, do it right the first time' coincides with zero defects, and long-term quality development has also laid the foundation for the implementation of zero defects." Wang Zhengrong explained. arrive.

More importantly, NGC hopes to use the zero-defect concept to change employees' thinking and cognition of quality management. Just do it right" philosophy, don't wait until later to correct mistakes. In Wang Zhengrong's view, ten operators have ten appearances. If the standard design is rough, the difference will be greater and the uncertainty of the product will be increased. Therefore, zero defects means standardizing the process. Everyone strictly follows the process. If you do every step right, the result will be right.

This is also an important step in NGC's zero-defect management, that is, to ensure zero-defect product quality from the implementation of zero-defect work quality. Hu Yueming also raised the quality of zero defect to the height of the company's core strategy. At the end of 2014, NGC put forward the quality strategic goal of implementing zero defects. They formulated the company's quality strategic plan for the implementation of zero defects, and set up the direction and phased goals for the implementation of zero defects.

Fully rolled out

Reducing process uncertainty, increasing product reliability, and improving service levels—this is what NGC has been doing in recent years to implement the zero-defect strategy It is also the three "magic weapons" for their products to continuously increase their market share.

The quality management structure of NGC in the past was very simple. Generally speaking, only the inspection department and the quality control department were in charge of quality. NGC, which mainly promoted zero-defect management, continued to refine and improve the company's quality. Management architecture design.

They have increased the authority of the quality department after independence, and added various types of quality functional departments, such as the quality system department responsible for the implementation and supervision of various management systems; The quality assurance department of KPI control and related quality culture promotion; NGC, which has been involved in overseas markets for a long time, is also very aware of the strict quality requirements of international customers in the process of internationalization. Hu Yueming thought of "reaching out to suppliers" Go there", established the Supplier Quality Management Department.

"Whether the wind turbine gearbox technology or the main engine technology comes from Europe, they are the most advanced. If the customers are not the most advanced, then you will never be the most advanced supplier." Hu Yueming said.

In 2015, NGC's zero-defect strategy was rolled out across the company. They have introduced various advanced management systems, such as the introduction of Germany's strict automotive quality standard VDA6.3 process audit into the wind power business field, as well as a quality level assessment system, high performance ISO19580, and a risk management system. And the introduction of the information system in the company management to reduce the human error rate. Such as SAP (enterprise management software), MDM (data management system) and FineReport (business intelligence report) and so on. At the same time, it develops advanced quality management tools, such as Six Sigma management, FMEA information system management, quality closed-loop system management, quality risk rating, quality level assessment, etc.

At the same time, Hu Yueming strengthened the management of human capital, which he called "investing in people", strengthened employee training, and transformed personnel quality awareness, quality management cognitive methods, risk awareness and customer service consciousness. The ideology of prevention is gradually gaining popularity; they have jointly developed the FMEA failure mode analysis system with well-known European universities, which analyzes potential failure modes from risk awareness, identifies and controls from design risks and process risks; implements information technology and prevention first The service model, etc., has greatly improved the work quality of employees.

After three years of internal improvement of quality management, NGC has gradually formed its own closed-loop quality management system. Through the promotion and application of a series of quality management concepts, tools and methods, it has effectively guaranteed the high quality of subsequent new products. reliability, and has been recognized by customers. In 2016, NGC was nominated for the Nanjing Mayor Quality Award (Organization). While "hard work", they are also increasing the pace of "overseas expansion". In 2016, they completed the global strategic layout of Europe, America, and Asia-Pacific, established another strategic R&D base outside Nanjing in Germany, and established in the United States. It has established a wind power gearbox repair factory, established an Asia-Pacific sales and service center in Singapore, and established an Indian sales and service company. In addition, NGC is also fully deploying the wind power aftermarket, and has established an aftermarket business development department to plan and allocate resources for the global wind power aftermarket.

In 2014, NGC's wind power business "stopped the decline and rose", achieving a growth of 40.1% that year, and the growth rate in 2015 was still as high as 34.5%. However, the proportion of foreign markets continues to rise, and the overseas market share exceeds 30%. Hu Yueming expects that this year's wind power business will continue to grow, and is expected to exceed 8 billion. "By 2020, our goal is to have a 50% foreign and domestic business."

Hu Yueming will Nangao Tooth's 2017 is called a stage of knowing everything. After nearly 4 years of development, quality management has gone through the stage of inspection and assurance. Now it has entered the stage of statistical prevention, and is gradually approaching the stage of perfection. In Hu Yueming's view, quality management has become one of the core competitiveness of an enterprise, and quality management has become a part of the company's strategy. He said that this year's focus is on preventive management, continuing to improve the technical reliability of existing products, and sublimating the concept of reliability.

"It has gradually entered the maturity and harvest period, and we will see the results soon." Hu Yueming said confidently.

Photo/ NGC