The soaring labour cost in mainland and the shift to customised manufacturing have led many corporates into operational stagnancy. In order to overcome such challenges, KFM Kingdom Holdings Ltd. (KFM) has established two key reforms in manufacturing and personnel management, which have not only enhanced operational performances, but also manage to control brain drain.

Execute Safe Manufacturing by Introducing Automation

Safety supervision is not only one of the highlighted agenda by General Secretary Xi Jinping, but also a manufacturing trend among the manufacturing industry. The General Manager of KFM Alan Suen says, safe manufacturing is now on top priority when considering corporate development. “Safe manufacturing is part of our core values; even the strongest corporate cannot develop stably without safe manufacturing. We incorporate safety factors into engineering operation from the beginning. For example, in 2012, we introduced three robotic arms to be responsible for dangerous procedures instead of simply appointing frontline manufacturing staff to follow safety instructions. We hope the idea of safety-first can be infiltrated from the management to all staff, so that personnel from all positions will keep this core value in mind.”

Apart from safe manufacturing, data security is another major safety issue in the era of data technology. To drive Industry 4.0 forward, KFM is curating a big data centre to link up data collected in manufacturing procedures and build a complete Industry 4.0 ecosystem.

Personnel Management to Upgrade Corporate Operation

Alan Suen also mentions about personnel management. He says, “we have discovered that the traditional triangular organisation chart holds communication back, so we form ten action teams. Each of the team is assigned with a single goal, for example, controlling defect rate, non-ordered inventory, punctual delivery, etc. The performance of goal reaching is directly tied to the bonus calculation of all staff. The scheme has not only lubricated our operation, but also enhanced the spontaneousness of staff and reduced brain drain.” Alan Suen also mentions that a corporate can tap into an opportunity to drive further development as long as it possesses an effective personnel management system and brain drain control. “With a stable team backed by supportive policy on industrial innovation, corporates can strive to develop original brand manufacturer (OBM) and original design manufacturer (ODM) with new technology as well as breaking through the developmental bottleneck and upgrading a corporate by engaging in flexible, customised, and automated manufacturing.”