Speed Galanz

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Editor's note: This is an era when fast fish eat slow fish. In the increasingly fierce market competition, speed means market share, profit, and the influence and right to speak in the new market. IBM's "2004 Global CEO Study" shows that rapid response is considered the key to success in the new economic environment. Whoever first discovers customer needs and can provide them to customers faster than competitors has a competitive advantage.

Therefore, we see that Galanz in the manufacturing industry (this article) and Home Inns in the service industry (the next article) are both pursuing speed to win, striving for greater living space with speed, and defeating competition with speed opponent. What cannot be ignored is that speed leadership is a strategic choice under a certain market background. When an enterprise moves forward rapidly, it must also hand over the baton of speed and quality.

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It is seen as a ridge and a peak on the side. Looking at the same successful business from different angles can sometimes be surprising. For Galanz, people are familiar with its cost leadership strategy, which is considered to be the most important factor for its success. When we try to look at it from a different angle, the molecular arrangement that makes up this enterprise presents a different picture. From this, we found another key to interpret Galanz's success - speed.

In 2004, Galanz achieved sales revenue of 13 billion yuan and earned foreign exchange of 700 million US dollars, of which 13 million microwave ovens were exported, a year-on-year increase of 30%. It has maintained the number one sales in the Chinese market for 9 consecutive years, and has been ranked in the global market for 7 consecutive years. and occupy nearly half of the microwave oven market in the world. In the field of air conditioners entered in 2000, Galanz has also developed very fast. In 2004, the "Customs List" of China's air conditioner exports showed that Galanz ranked first in China's air conditioner exports.

Although both Galanz President Liang Qingde and CEO Liang Zhaoxian are emphasizing Galanz's spirit of "hard work" - Liang Qingde said, "Others struggle, we roll" (meaning harder than others), Liang Zhaoxian said, " It is better to be a Fortune 500 than to be a 500-year-old." Instead, we found that Galanz succeeded by increasing its speed.

Liang Zhaoxian has a strong interest in the topic of speed. He said: "Speed is the square of power, and speed is a substitute for resources. Only by acting fast can we seize fleeting opportunities. Speed can generate a strong impact and make competition Opponents are shocked and terrified."

Why does Galanz consider speed so important? Liang Zhaoxian believes that this is related to Galanz's own conditions and the environment in which it is located. From the very beginning of its establishment, Galanz has been in shortage of resources - there are no external resources, no social relations, and it is not a listed company, and the competition in the home appliance industry is so fierce. fierce.

When you have nothing but people, you can only use people's feelings, true feelings, and passions, and do it faster than others. Speed can be transformed into time, space, and resources.

Design a new process for rapid production

Liang Zhaoxian said: "The production site is the first face of a company", so Galanz pays attention to "training horses on the spot". Anyone who enters its production floor will be impressed by the efficient and fast operation of the workers. Liang Zhaoxian said that the annual production and sales volume of Galanz microwave ovens is 20 million units, with an average of three units per worker per day, while competitors produce one per person every three days.

Why can Galanz achieve such a production speed? The first is to be faster than your opponent. Galanz's high production efficiency per unit time mainly comes from the research on production line decomposition and factor allocation.

"For example, when you bend over to pick up parts, you don't feel tired when you bend over once, but if you bend your waist thousands of times a day, you will feel very tired. We designed the process so that employees don't have to bend over, and the production line is in line with the human body. The engineering design allows employees to take things without moving a lot of distance, even with their eyes closed, which can greatly improve production efficiency." said Zhao Weimin, assistant to the president of Galanz.

How to improve production efficiency, Galanz has put a lot of thought into this. Toyota is Galanz's most favorite company. Taiichi Ohno, the main designer of the Toyota Production System, visited the United States in 1956 and saw a supermarket that did not exist in Japan at that time. Supermarkets are simple, effective and rhythmic for consumers. The way of supply gave him a lot of inspiration. Ohno put the supermarket into the workshop, thus forming a complete "just-in-time" (just-in-time production of parts should arrive at the right place at the right time) method.

In 2002, Galanz made it clear that production should be like Toyota, and water should be wringed out of a dry towel. Liang Zhaoxian also took his executives to a large supermarket in Shunde and asked them to observe. After returning, they wrote their own summaries, then discussed them, and finally summed up by themselves.

Taiichi Ohno was inspired by the supermarket to improve Toyota's production system: each production line arranges its own different production according to the selection of the next line, changing the production from the "push" of the previous line to the "push" of the next line. Pull", which greatly improves the production efficiency and reduces the cost. Galanz recorded each production line with DV and carefully analyzed the areas that could be improved.

For example, in the production line of microwave ovens, there is a process of microwave line detection. Because this process has technical requirements, the distance that the semi-finished product needs to move per second is fixed. Therefore, the relevant personnel re-integrated the upstream processes according to the production speed requirements of this process. It turns out that people need to push the product when it is sent to the next process. After improvement, this is not necessary, saving time. The original linear assembly line has now been changed to a semi-ellipse, and the processes in it can be dismantled at any time, which increases the flexibility of production and also speeds up work efficiency.

In addition to being more efficient than competitors during normal working hours, Galanz's machines are still running when the competitors' machines are resting. Galanz's workshop is also brightly lit at night, workers work in three shifts, and the machines are non-stop 24 hours a day. Ordinary producers are afraid of overstocking and do not dare to produce at full capacity. However, Galanz adopts a strategy of promoting production through sales and stimulating sales through production. The production of more products presents a challenge to the sales department. Similarly, sales departments compete with each other - how much is sold overseas, how much is sold domestically, and sales increase, which in turn stimulates production, creating a virtuous circle.

The production efficiency has been improved, and one production line has become 6 or 7 production lines. The speed has become not only time, but also space. As the scale increases, the cost will come down. Behind Galanz's cost strategy is actually the support of speed. , because speed becomes a resource.

Flat management, quick decision-making

Former Microsoft China President Gao Qunyao said in "Experience Microsoft - I'll be honest with Microsoft": "Microsoft China has as many as seven reporting channels. How far does it take to get to the top through this channel? How long does the enthusiasm last? "When a small business becomes a big business, a large organization often slows it down. Even a good business like Microsoft is how to deal with it." Big business is also facing difficulties.

Galanz has a deep feeling for the role of speed in market competitiveness, when Galanz launched a price war with a competitor. The once-a-week large-scale promotion and extreme price strategy made competitors unable to resist - because at that time, the opponent's promotion took as long as 2 to 3 months from approval to implementation. In the end, Galanz won, and took a pivotal step on the road to the world's microwave oven king.

From a small feather factory in the beginning to the world's leading microwave oven company with 28,000 employees, Liang Qingde and Liang Zhaoxian have always been wary of the slowdown brought by the company's expansion. Galanz has a very unique approach: split breeding.

The so-called "split propagation" refers to dividing an organization into several different parts when it has not become very large, and each part can be directly connected to the upper layer, so that the "pyramid" of management cannot be form, and form a self-propagating and fission grid-like structure.

"Split reproduction" was first formed in Galanz overseas. At that time, the "three musketeers" from overseas were first made in Hong Kong and later in Europe. Galanz adopted the method of "the old lead the new, the teacher leads the apprentice, and the snowball", allowing the experienced "old business" to open up the market while developing the market. Cultivate "new business" at work. After the "newcomers" have mastered the basic customer situation and business skills, let the "newcomers" take over the mature market business, while the "old people" turn to develop new markets.

In this way, Galanz's more than 200 overseas marketing elites have sold its microwave ovens, air conditioners and small household appliances to nearly 200 countries and regions around the world. Galanz's overseas sales department has now developed into 29 microwave oven business sections, more than 20 air-conditioning business sections and more than a dozen small household appliance business sections. Basically, every two people support the work of one business section. This approach allows businesses to be large, yet still be able to maintain the flexibility and convenience of a small company.

This successful model of the overseas business department has been extended to the production and marketing centers. If the number of people in a workshop exceeds 1,000, and the monthly turnover of a marketing center exceeds 10 million, it is generally necessary to "split and breed". . For example, Shandong's business was originally managed by Jinan, but now Qingdao is separated out and directly contacted with the headquarters, no longer need to go through Jinan. In this way, the links of information circulation are greatly reduced, and the speed is naturally accelerated.

Liang Zhaoxian has always emphasized: Galanz's management is "one pole to the end", from the general manager to the department manager to the lower level, there are basically three levels, and the communication and feedback does not exceed four levels. The focus of management should be moved down as far as possible, and the management style is to combine top and bottom, and to interact with top and bottom.

Even so, in his eyes, Galanz's movements still seemed slow. In 2004, Galanz came to a comprehensive "split breeding" internally called "Elephant Transformation" - dividing the group into six major companies, four major centers and fourteen departments and departments. "One fist" becomes "multiple fists", truly turning a single "locomotive" into multiple "small aircraft carriers".

At the same time, Leung Chiu-hsien advocates a quick response, handling problems promptly and without delay. Zhao Weimin, assistant to the president, talked about what just happened: Liang Zhaoxian went to Wuhan for inspection and believed that he should cooperate with distributors to form his own sales company in Wuhan. After returning, he asked Zhao Weimin, who is also the head of the human resources department, to set up a 10-person docking team. After Zhao Weimin screened out more than 40 candidates, Liang Zhaoxian came back from out of town, just got off the plane, and immediately interviewed. After the interview, Liang Zhaoxian said half-jokingly, "I will exercise the right of the president once today." 10 candidates were appointed on the spot. Position.

Zhao Weimin said that Liang Zhaoxian himself is the best example of a quick response. And his speed was well prepared - Zhao Weimin had already passed him a piece of paper, which clearly stated the characteristics and suitable positions of each candidate. Liang Zhaoxian had already studied these materials when he was on the plane. , which roughly grasps each person's situation.

Close to the first-line market and respond quickly

In January 2005, all Galanz management received a letter from Liang Zhaoxian, "Talking about Management Methods from a Table": Liang Zhaoxian and several others The vice president went to the market to do research. In the office of a marketing center, he saw a monthly retail promotion table hanging high in a conspicuous place. The table included: tasks of the month, tasks of each shopping mall, weekly tasks, weekly task completion rate, Items such as weekly share. In terms of form, this form has been basically completed, but if you look closely, the number of "monthly task completion rate" is missing, and then observe that the task completion rate is indeed poor, and then read the marketing center's nearly three months The data is also declining.

Liang Zhaoxian said: "We decompose the tasks of each month into each shopping mall and each week. This is the first step; the second step is to fill in various data truthfully, such as weekly occupancy rate and weekly task completion. The third step is to analyze these data, which ones have been completed? Which ones have not been completed? Why can they be completed? Implement these measures; the fifth step is to test whether these measures are effective; the sixth step is to summarize at the end of the month, and summarize the monthly completion situation, the purpose is to record the lessons learned, and our tasks in the second month will be more certain. The work will have more direction. The form is not only for the company to see, its essence is one of the important management methods of our marketing center."

Keeping close to the market is an important concept of Galanz management, and practicing this concept An important way is that managers often appear on the front lines of the market. In the first half of 2002, Galanz's performance in the domestic market was stagnant and its operating conditions were not satisfactory. Beginning in mid-July, Liang Qingde personally went out to the market, 9 times before and after, which lasted 15 months, and traveled to more than 30 provinces and cities across the country, nearly 100 cities, and thousands of merchants and terminals.

Every time Liang Qingde goes to a place, the working procedure is generally as follows: 1. Go directly to the terminal, first look at the market, look at the point of sale, look at the environment of the point of sale, and look at the links and details in the point of sale; 2. Talk with the promoters, Understand the sales volume and competition level; 3. Visit merchants, understand the local market, and listen to opinions; 4. Talk to each salesperson, listen to the work report, and then hold a symposium for analysis and summary; 5. Finally, the accompanying staff will hold a meeting to exchange their views . After this "Uncle De's Long Journey", Galanz's performance has resumed an upward trend.

Not only management personnel have to go to the market, but Galanz also pulls R&D personnel out of the laboratory and allows them to go to the market. Liang Zhaoxian once took technicians to the market twice. One time in Tianjin, they bought all the microwave ovens other than Galanz on the market at that time, disassembled the samples, carefully studied the structure inside, and learned from competitors, so that they could find some to reduce costs. Methods.

Being close to the market makes Galanz highly sensitive to the market. During the SARS period, when people had a strong demand for product disinfection, Galanz only took seven days to improve its microwave oven.

Behind this is Galanz's quick grasp of market demand. As early as the beginning of 2003, when "disinfecting household appliances" first appeared in Guangdong, Galanz realized that with the improvement of epidemic prevention awareness, disinfection household appliances may have a strong demand in the microwave oven industry, and the intensity and speed of scientific research and development must be increased. The company issued a mobilization order to the research institutes in the United States and the Chinese Ministry of Technology: mobilize all forces, integrate global resources, and jointly tackle key problems with relevant scientific research institutes, and quickly introduce the latest disinfection and sterilization technology into microwave ovens. This is how the speed of 7 days finally appeared.