Introduction: On April 8, Wuhan lifted the control measures for the passage from Han to Hubei. After 76 days of "war and epidemic", Wuhan was fully restarted to welcome the spring of April. On the same day, the Communist Party of China held a meeting in Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee to release the important signal of "comprehensively promoting the resumption of work and production under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control".
The "unblocking" of Wuhan has activated the nationwide comprehensive resumption of work and production. As of April 4, the operating rate of industrial enterprises in Wuhan was 97.2%, and the rate of employees arriving at their posts was 60.5%. The electricity consumption of industrial enterprises in Wuhan has recovered to more than 80% in the same period last year. Technology companies and automobile companies take the lead in pressing the "fast forward button" to catch up and get back the lost time. At the same time, enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions are also racing against time to reproduce the economic vitality of the past. However, the spread of overseas epidemic also made foreign trade enterprises and multinational enterprises in these two regions have to face the "war epidemic" in the second half.
Laiyuan 21st century business herald (ID: jjbd21)
Recorded by Chen Hongxia, Yao Yulan, Wu Yang, Yang Qingqing and Li Zhen.
Compilation of Bao Fangming, Zhang Xing and Cao Enhui
After a 76-day pause,
Wuhan enterprises recover lost time in this way.
From 0: 00 on April 8, Wuhan lifted the control measures for the passage from Han to Hubei and resumed external traffic in an orderly manner. This means that after pressing the pause button for 76 days, Wuhan has been fully restarted, welcoming the spring in April, and has entered a new stage of paying equal attention to preventing the rebound of the epidemic and returning to work.
This sudden epidemic has disrupted the economic rhythm of cities across the country. From the central government to the local government, various financial and fiscal policies have been introduced one after another to help enterprises develop. Wuhan enterprises are also "looking for opportunities in danger" in the process of fighting the epidemic.
On April 8th, Chen Jihong, the chairman of Huazhong CNC (300161, Guba), told 21st century business herald that this year, the demand for epidemic prevention products such as infrared thermometers was in short supply, and the company opened up the production business of mask machines, which gave rise to new opportunities.
Ma Xinqiang, chairman of Huazhong Science and Technology, also said that the company has accelerated the landing of intelligent manufacturing business, taking the bridge and construction machinery industry as the breakthrough point, deploying the core resources of its subsidiaries, namely, Huagong Laser and Huagong Saibai, and leading the strategic cooperation and key project implementation of major customers in industries such as Wuchuan, Baoqiao, Sany and Borui. This year, the company will also promote intelligent manufacturing solutions in more industries.
Resume work in stages and batches
After the epidemic, the major enterprises in Wuhan resumed their work and production in stages and batches.
On February 7th, in order to ensure the quality and safety of front-line medical materials, Huagong Image, the core subsidiary of Huagong Technology (000988, Guba), was approved by Hubei Provincial Epidemic Prevention Headquarters to undertake the design and production of anti-counterfeiting marks for protective clothing, and the first batch of 20 employees participated in the protection of epidemic prevention materials.
On February 20, the subsidiary Huagong Zhengyuan, as the first batch of epidemic communication guarantee enterprises, resumed work and production of about 100 people, and now it has exceeded 1,000 people. On the same day, Huagong Gaoli, a subsidiary in Xiaogan, started to resume work after obtaining the approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. At the end of February, South China University of Technology Laser, located in Optics Valley Future City, began to resume work after being approved. "Although compared with other subsidiaries, it was a little late to resume work and production, during the epidemic, South China University of Technology fully mobilized secondary subsidiaries outside the province in Shenzhen and Jiangsu to realize capacity transfer, which greatly alleviated the pressure of insufficient production capacity and difficulties in material input and product output, and stabilized customer confidence to some extent." Ma Xinqiang introduced.
On March 21st, the prevention and control headquarters of Donghu Development Zone approved the resumption of work of South China University of Technology Headquarters. Up to now, there are more than 8,000 employees (including labor dispatch) in South China University of Technology, and the overall return to work rate is over 90%, and the production capacity has been restored. Its subsidiary, South China University of Technology Zhengyuan, seized the opportunity of building 5G and data centers to speed up the production process of optical communication modules, with a daily production capacity of over 70,000, exceeding the highest level last year.
According to the data released by Wuhan Economic and Information Committee, as of April 4th, there were 2,853 industrial enterprises in Wuhan, with an operating rate of 97.2% and 429,000 employees on duty, with an on-duty rate of 60.5%. The electricity consumption of industrial enterprises in Wuhan has recovered to more than 80% in the same period last year. From the perspective of leading enterprises, all 25 industrial enterprises with more than 5 billion yuan in Wuhan started construction. The capacity utilization rate of key enterprises such as Dongfeng Honda, Wuhan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. and Hubei Zhongyan reached or exceeded 100%. The two leading industries, automobile and parts, optoelectronics and information, all started construction.
Full recovery "there is still a way"
In the face of the "secondary disaster" of regional epidemic, Hubei enterprises, including Wuhan, have a long way to go to fully resume operation.
Since the beginning of April, 21st century business herald has selected a small sample of more than ten enterprises in Wuhan. The investigation shows that in the process of Wuhan enterprises’ resumption of work and production, there are difficulties in returning employees, shortage of personnel, uncoordinated pace of resumption of production of supporting enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and even the supply chain stalls caused by the global epidemic in the international market have brought production pressure to enterprises. In the early days of Wuhan, it was difficult for production employees to return to their posts, and the shortage of employment became a problem. The person in charge of an enterprise in Donghu High-tech Zone (600133, Guba) said that many employees live in counties, townships and villages in neighboring cities such as Huanggang and Xiaogan, and the company’s human resources department should communicate with relevant streets, communities and village committees to implement the release. Later, the company could only let Huanggang and Xiaogan subsidiaries take charge of taking employees to the Wuhan border, and the employees dragged their luggage through the bayonet and then took them back to the company dormitory by car. Sometimes the car can only pick up ten people when it runs twice a day. However, with the full restart of Wuhan, the problem of employees returning to work will no longer bother enterprises.
However, the sales problems after the resumption of production began to appear. A manufacturing company in caidian district revealed that "after the resumption of work, the company’s sales staff will have to go through complicated isolation, testing and other measures, and the orders will be affected more or less."
The person in charge of a pharmaceutical enterprise in Dongxihu District also said that the production of the company’s products needs the upstream Indian or other domestic enterprises to supply raw materials. However, due to the global COVID-19 epidemic, the import of raw materials is blocked, and the production capacity of domestic cooperative manufacturers can’t keep up, and the upstream and downstream enterprises have resumed production in a broken way. In fact, the company’s production capacity is still unable to meet.
The person in charge of an enterprise located in Wuhan Development Zone (Hannan) revealed that the company’s backlog of orders years ago caused the required production capacity to be 2-3 times of the normal production capacity, and it was impossible to deliver the products within the date stipulated in the contract in a short time. In addition, the resumption time of the education industry, which accounts for about 25% of the company’s income, is undecided, and the market orders are divided by other peers.
In view of these situations, the above-mentioned person in charge suggested that the government should continue to increase financial rescue and blood transfusion, and cooperate with fiscal and taxation policies, such as reducing business tax and personal income tax to a certain extent. In addition to financial institutions, financial bail-outs will be provided through market means, while competitive high-quality enterprises in Hubei Province will be given a certain market tilt in related fields such as infrastructure vigorously developed by the state.
Looking for opportunities in crisis for enterprises
Many enterprises are actively solving the problems caused by the epidemic and looking for new market opportunities in the crisis. Ma Xinqiang introduced that for the core components of the company’s products, on the one hand, the company realizes the design and production of some core components through self-research, on the other hand, it is also developing and cultivating domestic suppliers for localization substitution.
Enterprises are still looking for new market breakthroughs. At the critical moment of the epidemic, Huazhong CNC cut into the new field of mask machine production to support hospital medical materials and equipment. "Since March, the mask machine produced by the company has been applied in domestic and overseas markets, especially through online marketing, further opening up the international market and meeting the global demand for epidemic prevention materials." Chen Jihong said that the sales of epidemic prevention products such as infrared thermometers have increased significantly, which can appropriately feed back other businesses affected by the epidemic.
Through this epidemic, the process of automation and intelligence of manufacturing enterprises in China will be greatly accelerated. Ma Xinqiang pointed out, "To this end, South China University of Technology has accelerated the application of intelligent manufacturing services such as’ laser+intelligent production line’ and’ laser+intelligent factory’. In view of the superior product optical module field, the company also continued to increase R&D investment and lay out a new generation of smart products in advance in combination with the demand for new infrastructure construction that is not too affected by the epidemic. "The company is already considering further introducing high-quality talents and releasing the talent bonus to meet the requirements of these new plans."
Wuhan science and technology enterprises start the "preemptive run" mode.
On April 8, after 76 days of "war epidemic", Wuhan ended the control of the passage from Han.
On the same day, Baidu released a search big data report showing that life in Wuhan is returning. For example, the search for "weather" related content in Wuhan increased by 23% month-on-month, exceeding the content related to "epidemic situation". The search popularity of "wearing makeup" related content also increased by 60%, and the search popularity of "certificate of returning to work" increased by 320% month-on-month.
As an important manufacturing town of science and technology, Wuhan’s recovery process is indispensable to the "preemptive run" of science and technology enterprises. As early as March 26th, the Wuhan headquarters of Changjiang Storage was fully resumed, and the Xiaomi headquarters was officially resumed on March 30th. On March 31st, Lenovo Wuhan Base, which accommodated 10,000 employees at the peak period, has achieved 10,000 people on duty, fully resumed work, and its production capacity has recovered to about 60%.
In addition, many Internet and e-commerce companies have also begun to "help Hubei" to help people in Hubei and Wuhan return to normal life as soon as possible.
Turn on "spell progress" mode
The local technology enterprises in Wuhan have already started to get busy.
The reporter from 21st century business herald learned that on March 26th, the Wuhan Headquarters of Changjiang Storage realized all the work resumption through the combination of employees’ arrival and telecommuting, and the capacity utilization rate reached 73%. "At present, Changjiang Storage has achieved full resumption of work, and all progress is catching up. In the medium and long term, this epidemic will not affect the overall progress. " Simon Yang, CEO of Changjiang Storage, said.
Xiaomi Wuhan Headquarters officially resumed work on March 30, and employees can enter the office building after health code coding, infrared temperature measurement and disinfection.
Wuhan is one of Lenovo’s manufacturing bases, and the Wuhan industrial base in East Lake High-tech Zone is Lenovo’s largest and most advanced self-owned factory in the world. On March 31st, Lenovo Wuhan Base, which accommodated 10,000 employees at the peak period, has achieved 10,000 people on duty, fully resumed work, and its production capacity has recovered to about 60%. On April 8th, Lenovo confirmed to 21st century business herald that the factory is now operating at full capacity.
This means that the recovery pace of Lenovo factory is far faster than expected. Earlier, 21st century business herald learned from Lenovo that the personnel and production capacity of Lenovo (Wuhan) industrial base will be restored to about 60% by the end of March, and it is planned to fully resume production in mid-April.
"Because the upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain have coordinated development and resumed at the same frequency in Wuhan, the epidemic situation has not had a significant impact on the production uniformity of Wuhan industrial base." Lenovo Group said that its upstream "chip" and "display" suppliers, such as Tianma, Huaxing Optoelectronics, Changjiang Storage, etc., have also invested in setting up or expanding factories in Wuhan. With the safe and orderly resumption of production in Lenovo Wuhan industrial base, Lenovo Group will adhere to the global data integration, and strengthen the intelligent planning and scheduling in the factory and the network synergy between the upstream and downstream of the supply chain.
On the one hand, when the science and technology industry chain resumed work, on the other hand, the forced home work under the COVID-19 epidemic also indirectly stimulated some markets. NPD, a market research company, previously reported that the sales of computer monitors doubled in the first two weeks of March this year, reaching 80,000 units; At the same time, sales of notebooks, mice and keyboards also increased by 10%. In addition, the sales volume of B2B has also increased. The sales volume of notebooks for enterprises increased by 30% in the last week of February and 50% in the first two weeks of March.
Regarding the related business situation, Qi Yue, senior manufacturing director of MBG in China, Lenovo Group, revealed that the orders of Lenovo Wuhan base have been scheduled for May. Due to the epidemic, the demand for products such as notebooks and tablets is bullish, and it is expected that the whole second quarter will remain busy.
After joining the Wuhan factory, Lenovo’s production capacity has been fully expanded. It is understood that Lenovo has 33 manufacturing bases in the world and 5 factories in China, which are located in Hefei, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Huiyang. Previously, Lenovo’s factories in Hefei, Shenzhen, Huiyang and Chengdu have all resumed production, of which the Shenzhen factory has recovered 100% and the Hefei factory has recovered well. Shenzhen and Hefei factories are the main producers of Lenovo PC, server and data center products.
Science and technology enterprises help Hubei
At the same time that Wuhan enterprises began to recover, a large number of science and technology companies also extended a helping hand to Hubei and Wuhan, which have been tested by the epidemic.
As early as April 1st, JD.COM announced that it would add 100 million yuan worth of resources to its "Spring Rain Action" to open a "Buy All Hubei Goods" venue for Hubei brand businesses to help them recover quickly. On April 2nd, JD.COM further announced that it planned to underwrite 100,000 tons of crayfish with a value of about 6 billion yuan, so as to help the slow-moving crayfish in Hubei open their markets. On April 8th, JD.COM announced three major Hubei support plans again, and will invest over 6 billion yuan in Hubei in the next three years.
Tencent announced on April 7 that it will continue to increase its investment in Hubei Province and announce a package of investment plans, and will cooperate with Wuhan in digital government, smart education, smart travel, artificial intelligence and security. At the same time, in the next five years, the staff size of Tencent in Hubei will reach four times that of now.
On April 8, Xiaomi Group’s e-commerce "Xiaomi Youpin" launched a crowdfunding campaign for Qianjiang lobster, and the crowdfunding cycle will last for 14 days. At the same time, Xiaomi Youpin will launch support policies for enterprises in Hubei, and cooperative enterprises and intentional cooperative enterprises in Hubei will enjoy a 50% discount on commission within six months. On April 8th, Tik Tok launched the aid recovery plan for Hubei Province, invested 10 billion yuan, and launched hundreds of live broadcasts such as "The Mayor Show You Hubei" to support Hubei’s efficient resumption of work and production.
According to the data provided by BOE to 21st century business herald reporters, from April 1 to 7, the online turnover of Hubei goods increased by 106% compared with the same period in 2019, and by 81% compared with the same period in March. Among them, local consumption in Hubei increased by 139%, turnover in Guangdong increased by 132%, and turnover in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangxi and Sichuan all increased by more than 50%.
"The unsealing is still obvious for the fresh food industry." Tang Yishen, head of fresh food business in JD.COM, told 21st century business herald that firstly, the increased mobility of employment will improve the sorting ability of fresh food, thus boosting the supply capacity in the periodic time period. Secondly, for the upstream and downstream of fresh food, unsealing also means that the liquidity of the chain will go to a higher level.
In terms of logistics, Tang Yishen said that after the unblocking, Hubei’s external logistics capacity will recover faster, which will be more helpful to the fresh-keeping industry with shelf life and fresh-keeping period.
Deyan Aquatic Food Co., Ltd. takes crayfish as its main commodity, and Lu Yue, the general manager of the company, expects positive feedback from the market. "From the market point of view, there may be a short-term outbreak of consumer demand after the unsealing, and I believe everything will develop in a good direction."
Zhong Yi, general manager of Xiansheng Navel Orange Professional Cooperative and Hengsheng Fruit Processing Factory in Guojiaba Town, Zigui County, believes that after the unsealing, the sales of the whole agricultural product (000061, shares it) will be truly smooth. "We have the most complete varieties of navel oranges in Zigui, and we hope to cooperate with JD.COM in the future to ensure the sales of products all year round."
More than 10 million migrant workers returned to Guangdong for the "new infrastructure" of energy storage in the Pearl River Delta
Thousands of miles away in Guangzhou Development Zone, employees returning from Hubei have been put into the production line of Jingxin Communication Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jingxin Communication"), working overtime to make a batch of orders.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, many enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have been deeply linked with Wuhan and even Hubei. As the first batch of priority enterprises in Guangdong, Jingxin Communication resumed work urgently on February 10 to provide communication equipment for the anti-epidemic front line.
"In the first week of resumption of work, the resumption rate was 70%, but due to many factors, the supplier’s resumption rate was only 40%." Li Longfei, deputy director of the President’s Office of Jingxin Communication, recalled to 21st century business herald that on February 26th, the return-to-work rate of R&D and functional employees of the company had reached 95%, the return-to-work rate of suppliers was close to 100%, and the production capacity was close to saturation.
Jingxin Communication’s seven-week comprehensive resumption of work and production is only a microcosm of the effectiveness of national epidemic prevention and control. With the unblocking of Wuhan, the traffic artery is unblocked, and the industrial chain obstruction of various industries is eliminated, and the resumption of work and production in the whole country is accelerated. The Pearl River Delta also sends a signal that it is pressing the "fast forward button" to resume work and production.
As of April 1st, Guangdong’s 53,450 industrial enterprises above designated size have resumed work at a rate of 99.1%, and the electricity consumption of industrial enterprises reached 95.2% of that of the same period of last year. About 10.01 million migrant workers from other provinces returned to Guangdong, accounting for 96.3% of those who returned home before the holiday. Emerging industries are accelerating energy storage "new infrastructure", and foreign trade enterprises are breaking the pattern of "emphasizing foreign trade and neglecting domestic trade" that has lasted for many years …
"New Infrastructure" for Capital Increase, Production Expansion and Energy Storage
On the morning of March 29th, Jingxin Communication’s new smart factory in Guangzhou Development Zone was officially put into operation, and 120 workers were working overtime to make orders for new 5G products.
"The newly put into operation smart factory has invested over 500 million yuan, mainly producing key RF components of communication network construction systems such as 5G dielectric filters and 5G antennas." Li Longfei bluntly said that the expansion of production line benefited from the new infrastructure policy of the country, and the demand for orders for 5G communication hardware surged.
As he said, Jingxin Communication recently won the exclusive bid for China Mobile’s 5G small base station project. In the eyes of the industry, the indoor mobile network coverage represented by the small base station project was once known as the "last mile" of 5G landing. Previous statistics showed that more than 70% of the services in the current 4G mobile network occurred in indoor scenes.
"The company’s newly put into production smart factory is precisely the advance layout for storing new infrastructure in advance to meet the upcoming surge in 5G orders." Li Longfei told the 21st century business herald reporter.
Li Longfei also said that most of the current orders come from the international market, and the delivery of international orders is urgent, so the company arranged "two shifts" to make every effort to make it.
Under the epidemic situation, Guangdong Galanz Group (hereinafter referred to as "Galanz") urgently needs to make orders. On the afternoon of March 28th, in its Foshan factory, 71 new employees from Yichang, Hubei joined the microwave oven manufacturing workshop.
In June this year, Galanz will launch its Industry 4.0 project in Xiqiao, Shunde District, and this project with a total investment of 2.975 billion yuan will be built into an Industry 4.0 smart home appliance manufacturing demonstration base.
Galanz’s confidence in increasing investment and production comes from the market. According to Liang Zhaoxian, chairman and president of Galanz, Galanz’s overseas orders have risen against the trend under the global epidemic. Especially in the first two months of this year, the export volume of Galanz’s own brand of all kinds of household appliances in the North American market increased to 102%, and even many overseas customers added new orders one after another, which made Galanz’s foreign trade orders reach the end of June this year.
For this reason, Galanz tried every means to take back workers from all over the country, and made every effort to ensure the factory to resume work and production, in exchange for the full horsepower to ensure the delivery of orders. Galanz expects that the export target will be adjusted to increase by 15% in the first quarter of this year, and foreign trade growth will become a major engine for its development.
Foreign trade "export to domestic sales"
During the interview and investigation, 21st century business herald reporter found that the epidemic had brought great impact to Guangdong foreign trade enterprises. Wu Kehan, director of Dongguan maisto Industrial Co., Ltd. told 21st century business herald that the company’s foreign trade business accounts for 90%, and the main orders come from European and American countries. Due to the global epidemic, the company’s orders in the second quarter are expected to be delayed.
"Since the end of February, overseas customers have been asking for delayed delivery, especially in the first two weeks of March." Wu Kehan is worried at this time. There are already more than a dozen containers that need to be delayed in delivery. "If the capital chain breaks, there will be big problems in the company’s operation."
This is only a microcosm of Guangdong’s foreign trade industry during the epidemic. According to the data provided by Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of Customs, in January and February, Guangdong’s foreign trade import and export decreased by 15.2% compared with the same period last year (the same below). Among them, exports fell by 17.5%.
As a major foreign trade province, Guangdong not only plays a huge role in stabilizing the basic foreign trade market, but also concerns the stability of the global supply chain. During the epidemic, many Guangdong foreign trade enterprises changed their thinking and took the initiative to attack, and they all changed from relying solely on foreign trade to domestic foreign trade.
Guangdong Jin Hui Knife & Shears Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jin Hui Knife & Shears"), as a typical foreign trade enterprise, is the only "export inspection-free enterprise" in China’s hardware industry. In the past, 80% of it relied on OEM for European and American enterprises.
Zhong Jialiang, deputy general manager of Jin Hui Knife and Scissors, told 21st century business herald that in fact, enterprises have been affected by Sino-US trade since last year, especially in March, due to the spread of overseas epidemic, 60% of orders in the production line were suspended, and workers were also facing another holiday.
"This epidemic has strengthened our determination to transform." Zhong Jialiang said that Jin Hui Knife & Scissors has transformed from three aspects: first, it has settled in the 1688 factory of Alibaba, second, it has invested in the existing brand of Xiaomi Youpin, and third, it has completely built its own new brand.
He took 1688 Factory Goods Connect as an example. After the company turned to the e-commerce channel, a marketing in-house purchase meeting came down, and the sales of the six sets of core cutting tools exceeded 200,000 yuan. This has strengthened the company’s confidence in "exporting to domestic sales". "Jin Hui Knife and Scissors is forming a brand marketing team, and then it will focus on its own brand."
Bank, government and enterprise jointly explore new markets
During the epidemic, the cumulative supply of ventilators in Mindray Medical (300760, stock bar) in Guangdong accounted for 60% of the country; Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory successfully developed COVID-19 AI-aided diagnosis system with an overall accuracy rate of 95%. The mask machine independently developed by Guangzhou Xingshi Machinery has created a design speed of producing 1,000 flat masks per minute, and the daily production capacity is expected to be more than 1.2 million (24-hour operation) … All this is due to the joint efforts of Guangdong Bank, government and enterprises.
Guangdong joined forces with financial institutions to help enterprises solve financial problems during the epidemic. Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology issued "Several Measures of Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology on Strengthening Science and Technology Research and Implementing Science and Technology Benefits to Enterprises to Support Epidemic Prevention and Control", and jointly launched a "science and technology loan" with a maximum of 5 million yuan to meet the needs of enterprises for production, construction and scientific research funds. For example, Guangzhou technology and finance Center has issued loan confirmation letters to 180 anti-epidemic enterprises, and the credit amount has exceeded 1.2 billion yuan as of April 1.
During the epidemic period, Guangzhou Haijieer Medical Equipment Co., Ltd., located in Guangzhou Development Zone, needed to urgently produce "medical purification negative pressure isolation ward" and "medical air conditioner purifier" for the first line of anti-epidemic, but due to the shortage of raw materials in stock, liquidity was scarce.
Knowing the "urgent need" of Haijieer Medical, Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau urgently examined and approved the application, and instructed Guangzhou technology and finance Center to coordinate Industrial Bank (601166, Share Bar) to complete the loan within two days, and simultaneously increased the amount for the enterprise to 5 million yuan to provide support for subsequent production.
Through the tripartite cooperation between banks, government and enterprises, Guangdong enterprises have not only fully resumed their work and production, but also opened up a broad new market. Guangzhou Xingshi Machinery was originally the largest manufacturer of diapers and sanitary napkins production line equipment in South China. Wu Wanning, its deputy general manager, told 21st century business herald that during the COVID-19 epidemic, Guangzhou mask machine equipment was in short supply, and Guangzhou Bureau of Industry and Information Technology quickly found out that the company had the conditions to switch to mask machines.
"After receiving the mask machine production task, the company quickly canceled the original order, increased personnel and capital investment, and carried out technical transformation on the original equipment." Wu Wanning bluntly said that thanks to the joint efforts of government and enterprises, the company quickly completed the mass production of mask machines and children’s mask equipment.
The Yangtze River Economic Belt once again activates enterprises to fight the epidemic in the second half.
With the order of "lifting the city’s blockade", Wuhan’s foreign railway traffic has resumed, and groups of migrant workers have set foot on trains bound for the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.
The "unblocking" of this key node in Wuhan has activated the puzzle of the comprehensive resumption of work and production in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. While waiting for Wuhan people to return to their jobs, the Yangtze River Delta region is also racing against time to regain its former economic vitality. According to the latest data released by "three provinces and one city" in the Yangtze River Delta, the rate of industrial enterprises above designated size in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui all exceeded 99%.
Behind the comprehensive resumption of work, the Yangtze River Delta region has given full play to the advantages of regional integration, and government-enterprise linkage has helped enterprises to speed up their resumption of work and production. However, as the Yangtze River Delta with globalization and international development as its strategic orientation, when the domestic epidemic prevention and control has achieved results and enterprises have successfully resumed work and production, the outbreak of overseas epidemic has caused some enterprises with relatively high foreign trade and multinational foreign enterprises in the region to usher in the "war epidemic" in the second half.
Take many measures to promote 100% return to work
Gong Zonge, 47, did not return to his hometown in Jiangxi during the Spring Festival this year. She has been working in Xiangshan County, Ningbo City for nearly ten years and is currently a waitress in a local restaurant. After the hotel closed during the Spring Festival, the reopening time was repeatedly postponed due to the development of the COVID-19 epidemic.
"There is no source of income and you have to pay rent." Gong Zonge, who was originally considering saving tolls, unexpectedly faced greater expenses. Anxious, she saw the recruitment information of Ningbo Jinlang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.
"After the domestic epidemic, the company has abundant orders and urgently needs to start work, but due to traffic control and other reasons, foreign employees cannot return to their posts in time and there is a shortage of labor." Wang Yiming, the chairman and general manager of Jinlang Technology (300763, Stock Bar), told 21st century business herald that in order to solve the problem of shortage of workers in the factory at the beginning of the resumption of work, the company considered whether it could mobilize local labor to make temporary filling.
After on-the-job training, Gong Zonge started her new job in the transitional period on February 10th. On the same day, there were about 60 "shared employees" who joined the company. They were all responsible for the work with relatively low thresholds on the production line.
This recruitment mode of Jinlang Technology is a popular "shared employee" mode in China during the epidemic. Under this mode, some small and medium-sized enterprises that are temporarily difficult to return to work will use the sharing mode to export their employees for a short period of time in order to realize the redistribution of human resources.
Jinlang Technology became one of the earliest enterprises in China to adopt this employment model, which effectively solved the problem of labor shortage in the early stage of the epidemic. In late February, this domestic leading photovoltaic inverter enterprise has realized full capacity operation and started a new round of personnel recruitment. According to Wang Yiming, the company plans to expand its staff by 50% this year to cope with the saturated orders.
In Jinqiao, Shanghai, more than 200 kilometers away, the Jinqiao factory of Volvo Construction Equipment, a multinational company, is also operating at full capacity.
Zhan Xu, executive director of Volvo Construction Equipment (China) Co., Ltd. told 21st century business herald that since the official resumption of work on February 10th, the company’s production capacity, supply chain and sales business have all been 100% resumed.
Recalling the intense process of returning to work and production in the past two months, Zhan Xu bluntly said that "this is a test."
21st century business herald reporter learned that during this epidemic, Volvo Construction Equipment set up emergency teams in various departments and levels for systematic operation at the first time, so as to realize both epidemic prevention and control and resumption of work.
Zhan Xu introduced that thanks to the emergency team set up on the eve of the Spring Festival, Volvo Construction Equipment has carried out the reserve of medical materials, emergency materials and production materials early. Since the end of January, the company has required employees to report information such as employee information and health status online, and arranged for foreign employees to return to their posts and be isolated in batches in January to ensure the official resumption of work.
As a foreign company in Shanghai, Volvo construction equipment still needs to face the test of how to ensure the smooth return of foreign employees. Volvo Construction Equipment has about 20 foreign executives and employees in Shanghai. "Different from domestic employees’ understanding of the epidemic, some foreigners do not understand the requirements of home or centralized isolation after returning to Shanghai due to cultural and information differences." Zhan Xu told the 21st century business herald reporter that the company set up a special team for foreigners to return to work, and immediately issued guidance to foreigners and their families, shared information on China epidemic prevention and control, and worked out a route to return to Shanghai.
With various measures in parallel, foreign executives and employees of Volvo Construction Equipment basically returned to their posts smoothly.
The second half of the "war epidemic"
The increasingly serious overseas epidemic has made Yu Shuai, general manager of Hong Kong Guiwei Trading Co., Ltd. start to worry about the order execution in the second half of the year.
"Recently, some overseas customers have suspended order delivery, delayed order delivery or even cancelled orders." Yu Shuai told 21st century business herald that although the overseas epidemic has not had a great impact on the orders in the first half of the year, it has brought uncertainty to the order execution after August.
Guiwei Trading Co., Ltd. is a well-known domestic pet toy design, production and manufacturing enterprise, which occupies a huge share in the offline pet toy market and exports it abroad. In 2019, the company’s domestic and foreign trade achieved sales of more than 60 million yuan, of which overseas business accounted for more than 70%.
Guiwei Trading’s domestic business headquarters is set up in Nanjing, Jiangsu, and there are 6 production bases in Jiangsu, Anhui and other places, with a total staff of more than 1,800 people. Up to now, the company has fully realized the resumption of work.
"Before the Spring Festival this year, we will reserve the main raw materials of the products in advance according to the workload of orders in April and May to ensure the production of subsequent products." Yu Shuai said that thanks to the advance storage of production materials and the nearby recruitment in the production base, the company’s production line will run quickly after returning to work. However, due to the epidemic situation, the logistics was blocked, the product shipment encountered difficulties, and its offline sales performance declined.
Yu Shuai told 21st century business herald that after the domestic epidemic was controlled, the company’s production quickly returned to normal, but the uncertainty of overseas epidemic development made the company still encounter some customers canceling orders. Fortunately, because pet products are classified as necessities in foreign countries at present, the export can be carried out normally. In this regard, the company actively maintains communication with key overseas customers and adjusts the delivery plan and schedule to cope with the second half test brought by overseas epidemics.
In fact, the "war epidemic" in the second half caused by the overseas epidemic made it impossible for companies with foreign backgrounds or high export business, including Volvo Construction Equipment and Jinlang Technology, to be immune to it.
"We now propose a concept of’ first half’ and’ second half’." Zhan Xu told 21st century business herald that in the "first half", Volvo’s construction equipment was mainly worried that the epidemic would affect its domestic business. At present, domestic production capacity and supply chain have fully recovered, and its sales performance has improved rapidly. In the "second half", the development of epidemic outside China will inevitably affect the company’s product sales in overseas markets, including suppliers in overseas areas, so ensuring the security of supply chain becomes an important link.
Jinlang Technology, which is running at full capacity, chooses to reduce the impact of overseas epidemics by adjusting its product structure.
In 2019, Jinlang Technology’s overseas business accounted for more than 60%. "We originally estimated that it would improve in April and May, but now it is expected that the overseas epidemic will be more serious throughout the second quarter." In an interview with 21st century business herald, Wang Yiming emphasized that Jinlang Technology is trying to balance the proportion of domestic and foreign orders as much as possible. For domestic business, the company has made rich customer resources and sales channel reserves.
"Fortunately, the domestic PV policy was basically clear in March, and orders in the domestic market began to flourish." Wang Yiming said.
Fan Jiaxing, editor of this issue
This article first appeared on WeChat WeChat official account: 21st century business herald. The content of the article belongs to the author’s personal opinion and does not represent Hexun.com’s position. Investors should operate accordingly, at their own risk.
(Editor: Wang Zhiqiang HF013)
