Smart factory

– Background for starting the smart factory

Not long ago, our production floor ran on experience and paper trails. When projects piled up, customers often stationed their own people at our plant just to chase down delivery updates. Internally, data was scattered across procurement, inventory, finance, and production. We knew we needed one fully integrated system to manage everything from purchasing to financial reporting.

Our goals were clear: cut inventory costs, get real-time production cost data, meet national financial compliance standards, and recognize revenue the moment goods were shipped and signed for. We also wanted to tighten contract management, improve on-time delivery, and ultimately make our customers happier.

The First Step – Going Mobile

On June 22, 2017, our IT team introduced DingTalk to bring mobile-first, smart management into daily operations. We didn’t just install an app. We issued official memos, ran company-wide training, and sent IT staff to the shop floor for hands-on coaching. That small move built the digital habits we still rely on today.

Building in Phases, Not a Big Bang

We avoided the risk of a single, giant overhaul. Instead, we built capability layer by layer.

+ March 2018ERP Phase I

+ November 2019ERP Phase II

+ January 2021MES Phase I

+ February 2023 ERP Phase III

ERP Phase I: Finance and Supply Chain

Procurement, inventory, and finance finally started talking to each other.

ERP Phase II: Production and Cost Accounting

We could now track production costs as they happened, not weeks later.

MES Phase I

This was the real turning point. The shop floor began to go digital.

ERP Phase III: Budget Management

Financial planning became more transparent and agile.

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What MES Actually Changed

With MES, mobile apps, and electronic dashboards, we moved from experience-based management to data-driven management. Now, managers see live data from every machine – production status, quality, equipment health – right on their phones.

Here’s what that means in real life. A regional sales manager visiting a customer across the country can open the app, pull up an order, and see exactly which machine is running it, how quality looks, and when it will ship.

Before this, late deliveries were common when orders stacked up. Customers had to leave people at our factory just to push for updates. Now, they check progress themselves. No one camps in our office anymore.

One of our team members put it best: “We’ve put the entire production workshop into our phone. Into our pocket.”

Results and Recognition

The numbers speak for themselves. Sales performance improved by 9%.

We also earned the Integration of Informatization and Industrialization 2A Certification – a nationally recognized standard in China for smart manufacturing capability.