Under the pressure of soaring labour cost in China and fierce competition of globalisation, many mid-/low-end industries have shifted their manufacturing development to the Southeast Asia, urging Hong Kong and Chinese enterprises to accelerate the development of industrial automation in order to enhance productivity and output quality. However, transforming from traditional production model to automated, or even intelligent production model brings about tremendous changes; enterprises must progressively uplift manufacturing procedures and human resources management alongside other software and hardware to achieve the ideal results. For that, enterprises can borrow an example from TK Mold Ltd. (TK Mold). The enterprise has been dedicated to developing and manufacturing precision molds and standard molds. In 2006, it even invested in the TK Technology Park in Shenzhen to promote automated manufacturing.

Make Use of Transition to Straight Out Operation

Despite full-on hardware, the enterprise still encounters various challenges as it carries out automation. The Assistant General Manager of TK Mold Godsend Lu says, “when we practiced automation at the beginning, the management put much effort into preliminary and promotional work for craft standardisation in order for our staff to adapt the transformation of production model in a reasonable transition period. We also focused on integrating automation-related system to solve problems on application and efficacy. At the same time, we engaged in personnel training and promotion mechanism to build an experienced and knowledgeable automation team.” The enterprise has seen an improvement in productivity, product quality, and man-machine ratio after its investment in automated manufacturing. “In 2015, we have successfully reduced 60% of on-site manufacturing staff and improved 15% of quality stability, which greatly shortens molding cycle and improves customer satisfaction with immense benefits in total annual production value.”

Increase Investment in Automation to Highlight Advantages of Hong Kong

As for Hong Kong’s development on industrial automation, Godsend Lu says, “Hong Kong enterprises should make use of the policy of re-industrialisation, learn from the advanced idea and innovation from ‘Industry 4.0’, and blend in the advantages of geolocation, enterprise management, sophisticated knowledge of software and hardware system to increase investment in automating new material application, biotechnology, or other high-end industries. ”