Zhihang Electronics: Innovation cannot be achieved overnight

In recent years, China's auto audio and video navigation industry has moved from rapid growth to gradual maturity. High competition and low profits have made the entire industry walk on thin ice, and many companies have been eliminated.

Fu Xianping, deputy general manager of Guangzhou Zhihang Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., which has risen against the market, told "CEConline", "Two years ago, we had predicted the situation of the domestic market today, and deployed relevant Strategy, build a systematic innovation mechanism through organizational reform, and give full play to the enthusiasm of employees for innovation. This year, our sales in overseas markets are expected to increase by 20% compared with last year.” There is no pessimism or helplessness in his words, and he is full of confidence in the future of the company.

Independent accounting stimulates vitality

With the rapid development of Internet technology, information transmission is accelerated, business models are constantly innovated, and enterprise management has become more and more flexible and changeable. Organizational behaviors can no longer meet the changing market environment. Enterprises must adjust their posture while running. More and more enterprises begin to seek flexible and efficient organizational behaviors to adapt to the new market environment.

Founded in 2006, Guangzhou Zhihang Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhihang Electronics) is an automotive electronics company specializing in the research, development, production and sales of car DVD audio and video navigation and car GPS navigators. As a high-tech enterprise, it has won many honors such as the industry annual brand award. As one of the important integrated manufacturers in the domestic automotive audio and video industry, Zhihang Electronics has been in the overseas Middle East market for many years due to its strong innovation ability and good service awareness. Thriving, the domestic market share and sales are also among the best.

In 2014, the senior management of Zhihang Electronics had already seen the changes in the market. At that time, in addition to the head office, there were 5 manufacturing plants including wire factory, mold factory, SMT factory, hardware factory, and packaging material factory. , with more than 1,000 employees, the business is not full during the off-season, and the operating pressure is increasing. When other peer companies responded to operational difficulties by laying off staff and closing factories, Zhihang Electronics, after careful research, believed that the company has been focusing on R&D investment for many years, and the innovation foundation is relatively good. In terms of talent allocation, it has unique competitiveness in the industry. As long as they are mobilized through a reasonable mechanism, they can have the independent viability of fighting the business sea.

With this confidence, Zhihang Electronics divided the entire enterprise into 4 branches such as Lehang and Dazhou and conducted independent accounting, allowing all employees to participate in the operation of the enterprise and give full play to each employee's ability. Enthusiasm and creativity, to realize that the scale of the enterprise is getting bigger and bigger, the business carrier is getting smaller and smaller, and the business efficiency of the enterprise is continuously improving. This approach is similar to Kazuo Inamori's "Amoeba business model."

In Fu Xianping's view, facing challenges, every enterprise is more or less innovating, but to truly realize systematic innovation, it is necessary to improve the process, organization, system and culture. Build effective systems and allow innovation to happen continuously.

Through this organizational model reform and the implementation of the equity incentive mechanism, each branch is contracted by a number of strong management backbones, and the contractor owns the company's shares and options, and promises to realize it within a certain period of time. profit goal. In order to support the branch to expand external business as soon as possible and realize self-hematopoietic function, the head office also promises that when internal and external orders conflict, they have the right to accept external orders first, and then process internal orders. In this way, in the off-season, the branch mainly depends on the head office's orders to survive; in the peak season, even if the head office spends a higher price to outsource the order, it must ensure that the branch can successfully complete the external order.

Under the new organizational model, Zhihang Electronics has re-formulated the corresponding salary system and incentive mechanism, and improved the assessment system to improve the enthusiasm of the team. By flattening the organization, de-middle-leveling, reducing internal friction, and enhancing the overall vitality of the enterprise. The contract system has enhanced the operational vitality and market adaptability of various manufacturing departments. They have tried every means to improve production efficiency, reduce costs and improve efficiency. With the gradual standardization and institutionalization of various basic work, the atmosphere of innovation throughout the company has been continuously strengthened, and the economic benefits have also been significantly improved.

"We didn't lay off a single employee, as long as we gave them a chance, each of them is very good!" Looking back on the company's bucking the trend in the past two years amid fierce competition in the industry, Fu Xianping said happily , "Last year, the branches achieved the first-stage target of 70% of internal orders and 30% of external orders; looking at the current operating data, it is expected that the second-stage target of 50% of external orders should be successfully achieved by the end of this year."

Customization under the Internet of Vehicles

In 2015, China's automobile production and sales exceeded 24.5 million units, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years. The prosperity of the automobile market has driven the development of the car audio and video navigation industry. However, in recent years, OEMs have begun to configure navigation in the original factory, and the use of free navigation on smartphones has increased. Internet giants such as Baidu, LeTV, and Tencent have set foot in the Internet of Vehicles. Audio and video navigation companies have brought a greater impact.

Talking about the impact of the Internet of Vehicles on the domestic and overseas car audio and video markets, Fu Xianping pointed out, "China's Internet of Vehicles is more focused on information and entertainment services based on cellular There is a big difference between real-time car networking to solve safety and reduce congestion. Foreign car networking technology is not only an in-vehicle Internet system, it uses the Internet to organically combine security technology and vehicle control technology to develop a brand new technology field ".

With the realization of the Internet of Vehicles, car audio and video products become more and more intelligent, Zhihang Electronics also launched Android large-screen products, constantly updated and upgraded its intelligent operating system and various fashionable applications, with for a more comfortable user experience. In order to avoid the head-on conflict between domestic Internet giants, Zhihang Electronics focuses its innovation on the vast overseas market.

The needs of different regions in the global car audio and video market are very different. Large buyers such as car manufacturers and distributors have higher requirements for R&D, intellectual property protection and service capabilities. With a systematic innovation mechanism and advantages in software and structure, Zhihang Electronics has gradually formed the ability to provide customers with customized services, and the orders received are hard bones that others are difficult to complete. After years of hard work, Zhihang Electronics has raised the competition threshold with high-end customized products and services.

Pan Xiujun, head of the foreign trade business of Zhihang Electronics, told reporters, "In order to deeply study the usage habits and special needs of target customers, the company is very willing to invest, and sends R&D and service teams to overseas research at least three times a year. In addition, we occasionally go abroad to examine new target market needs.”

The research team is usually composed of software engineers, structural engineers, salesmen, and after-sales service personnel. They go deep into Turkey, Dubai, Russia and other places, and spend dozens of days conducting research on local consumers. During this period, we not only need to understand the local car culture, meet with customers to discuss the special needs of product design, but also go deep into the car sales place to conduct vehicle testing. The structural engineer is responsible for collecting various dimensional data and line directions of the new car, and the software engineer is responsible for understanding the software protocol. Master the input and output bus (CANBus), and discover the functional requirements that new products need to replace the original car DVD. Such in-depth and meticulous research enables Zhihang Electronics' products to be realized through modular combination according to the needs of local car owners. According to the daily habits of Islamic people, they designed an audio-visual product that can play Koran music and scriptures regularly, which is well received in the Middle East market, and the sales volume has increased greatly.

The thoughtful and meticulous after-sales service is also an important part of the innovation system of Zhihang Electronics. In July this year, during the coup crisis in Turkey, the customer service staff of Zhihang Electronics also took a lot of risks to provide door-to-door service, which moved customers very much.

Management and culture support innovation

The operation of an enterprise is a systematic project, and a single innovation is like the update of a certain part of a machine, although it can be maintained for a period of time The operation of the whole machine can not bring the efficiency beyond the original design to the machine. Only by systematically innovating the whole machine can a machine with a new meaning be created.

The shareholders of Zhihang Electronics are well aware that the role of leadership is decisive in the creation of an innovative culture. No matter how perfect the system is, if there is no good leadership, the implementation effect will be greatly reduced. Fu Xianping said: "Our four shareholders are very united. From the mutual recognition of each other in 1999 to the joint venture in 2006, until today. When we are together, we always discuss innovation and encourage employees to bring up more innovative ideas. The top and bottom are full of innovative spirit, making innovation the soul of corporate culture.”

In order to improve department coordination and supply chain management capabilities and support the entire innovation system, Zhihang Electronics spent 5 million yuan in 2012 to introduce ERP management The system organically combines the basic resources, R&D system, demand chain, and supply chain of the enterprise to build an innovation-driven strategic decision-making application model to realize the enterprise's procurement, inventory, sales business management and comprehensive accounting and financial management. Integration provides means of pre-planning, in-process control, and post-event analysis to control operational risks and improve the level of enterprise management.

Innovation requires an effective incentive mechanism. Fu Xianping said that in order to encourage employees to innovate, the company invests about 300,000 to 400,000 yuan in innovation incentives every year, not only for new product development. The amount of bonuses ranges from 1,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan, and there are also corresponding reward funds for invention patents and new utility patents. If the rationalization suggestions put forward by employees bring benefits to the enterprise, corresponding bonuses are also issued to show encouragement.

In order to reduce innovation risks, Zhihang Electronics has set up a method of segmented investment and segmented evaluation for innovation projects. If the new project has achieved the expected results in the operation stage, it will continue to invest financial support; if its investment exceeds the warning line but fails to meet the standard, a general meeting of shareholders will be held to discuss the progress of the new project, revise the project direction or judge whether to terminate the project. . If an innovation project fails, the responsibility rests with the shareholders, not the individual innovators.

At the end of 2014, during an employee badminton competition held by the company, an employee suggested that the company develop an electric tailgate project. Funds for technical research and development, after that some technical barriers are difficult to break, this project is temporarily put on hold. A year later, the key technology of the electric tailgate has broken through, and the overall cost has also dropped. The company immediately increased its investment and established an independent legal entity for this purpose. After independent research and development, the new dual-pole electric tailgate product pioneered by Zhihang Electronics was quickly recognized by the market. This year's sales accounted for 30%-40% of the domestic market, and the profit contribution rate was considerable.

The car audio and video navigation industry has gone through the stages of product competition, technology competition and price competition, and now it has entered the era of brand competition. Zhihang Electronics effectively cuts domestic and foreign markets with its three brands: WINCA Zhicheng, Lehang RoadNav and STQ market. Systematic innovation is indispensable. "Enterprise innovation cannot be achieved overnight. Systematic innovation should be people-oriented and gather the strengths of everyone in order to continuously improve core competitiveness and win more development space." Fu Xianping said.