【March 22, BEIJING】 At 19:00 on March 21 in Germany, the award ceremony of the “Factory of the Year 2016” was held in Munich. Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd. (BBAC) received an award in the “excellent large series assembly” category, becoming the only car manufacturer in China to win such a high level prize globally. Mr. Chen Wei, Party Secretary, Senior Executive Vice President of BBAC, together with the delegates from the management team and employees representatives, represented BBAC at the event. To receive such a prize means BBAC has reached the world’s highest level in its manufacturing and operation capabilities. While setting the benchmark for this industry, it has also opened a glorious door for Chinese manufacturing to go to global.

【Mr. Chen Wei, Party Secretary and Senior Executive Vice President of BBAC, together with the delegates from management team received the “Factory of the Year 2016” award】

Established in 1992 by the world-renowned industry journal “Produktion” and business-consulting firm A.T. Kearney, the “Factory of the Year” award aims to select benchmark-setting enterprises each year with rigorous test standards in the manufacturing industry all around the world. In 2016, BBAC gained an upper hand over rivals from 13 countries and received the honor. The organizers praised BBAC, saying “advanced logistics concept, rapid standard introduction and reliable quality inspection, the execution of digital methods and the ability to upgrade production capability under unfavorable circumstances became BBAC’s prominent advantages and powerful strengths to win this award.” This is what BBAC has achieved through rapid improvement and lean development on the basis of the concept of “German quality, made in China”.

【BBAC won the “ Factory of the Year 2016” award】

【Trophy and certificate of the “Factory of the Year 2016” award】

In recent years, BBAC has successfully established Daimler’s biggest and only Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicle production base that manufactures front-wheel drive architecture, rear-wheel drive architecture, and powertrain architecture all under one roof. The production and sales of BBAC has achieved more than 20 percent growth year-on-year for many years and ranked second among domestic premium car joint ventures in 2016. Meanwhile, all the models produced by BBAC have ranked highly in Daimler’s global quality test and won high praise from Daimler’s evaluation experts and recognition from the market and consumers. All these have fully demonstrated the high evaluation the organizers extended to BBAC. However, what the judges really marveled at was not this excellent list of achievements BBAC has built, but its internal driving force to continuously improve, namely its unique management and operational concept of “One Quality, One Standard, One Team”.

One Quality · The Best or Nothing

With dedication to upholding Mercedes-Benz’s brand concept of “The best or nothing”, BBAC has always been committed to creating the “best products in clients’ recognition” and has formulated six quality principles that are customers satisfaction-oriented. It has also practiced the four measures of “benchmarking Daimler’s factory, establishing Daimler’s global standards, adopting world-class manufacturing processes and introducing Daimler’s expert technologies and experience” to fully fulfil the promise of “One Brand, One Quality”. Starting from this point, BBAC continues to introduce world-class analytical technologies and measures to establish a globally standardized quality management system in three core production areas including complete vehicle, accessories & components, and engine. It also implements strict control over the safety environment, workmanship and product quality and rigorously follows the “Three No” principle - “no acceptance, no production, no transmission” of defects to ensure that all deliverables in each and every production link completely comply with the quality requirements.

【The company applies Daimler’s globally strict quality control system】

What’s more important is that at BBAC, quality has been given a more profound explanation-quality is created through every link in the production process, not examined. Therefore, BBAC is able to raise the quality awareness among all the employees, taking Daimler’s global quality feedback loop as a guarantee to carry the quality control into every aspect of the quality management of suppliers, quality control of the complete vehicle and caring about consumers’ feedback. Meanwhile, BBAC has achieved comprehensive digital monitoring and tracking in the production process through a series of world-class intelligent examination and surveillance systems. Based on these, all of the core data are synchronized and shared in real time with Daimler to realize traceable product quality and globally standardized quality, which can fundamentally ensure every new vehicle produced by BBAC fully conforms to Mercedes-Benz’s unified global standards.

One Standard · Lean and Efficient

Only with the guarantee of “One Standard”, can “One Quality” no longer remain an empty slogan. Relying on Mercedes-Benz’s global production network, BBAC has quickly introduced Mercedes-Benz’s lean production and management system to establish an operation and management model with unique characteristics and efficiency with such methods as regeneration of process, improvement of management and lean production. Responding rapidly to market demands with the best quality and the highest efficiency, BBAC has gradually integrated “lean” into every link of its production and management. Taking line-side intelligent logistics distribution vehicles as an example, these “intelligent housekeepers” of employees can sort out adaptation kits in light of clients’ demand and send it to the specified station in time, so that operating personnel can finish accurate assembly without the need to walk around. This has effectively reduced labor intensity, and at the same time increased production efficiency.

【Highly efficient Mercedes-Benz’s lean production and management system】

Apart from that, during the total improvement activity in 2016, all employees made efforts to provide “zero-defect” products and contributed more than 9,000 effective improvement methods to optimize production and management processes and upgrade the operational efficiency of the enterprise. It can be said that adopting only correct and unified methods in every link to realize a standardized production process and then obtain the unified standard of “safe, effective and reliable” has constituted an indispensible part of BBAC’s DNA. This has also promoted innovation in each department of the company to ensure highly effective operation of production systems and inject new driving force to the enterprise’s accelerated development.

One Team · Grow Up Together

Every phase in BBAC’s production must meet Mercedes-Benz’s unified global production standards. Any requirement that applies to the whole value chain is determined, to a great extent, by the skill level of its employees. Thus, BBAC has created an international high-tech team who possesses both moral integrity and professional competence led by culture, based on the double platforms of software and hardware, and kept a firm focus on training various talents. The mutual support in work and mutual assistance in life have enabled domestic and foreign employees to forge an intimate relationship of equality, mutual respect and coordination. Such an atmosphere has to some extent eradicated the boundary of language and then inspired the whole team with the same motivation, passion, pursuit and values.

【One Team, One Pursuit】

Of course, the continuous upgrading of the skill level of the team constitutes another indispensible factor of the rapid growth of BBAC. In order to establish a team with its comprehensive abilities fully complying with Daimler’s high standards and meeting the higher requirements imposed by the adoption of new technology on manufacturing skills, since 2008, BBAC has sent more than 1,200 employees to Sindelfingen, Bremen and other Daimler factories to participate in trial assembly and process formulation of new products, which generates a seamless synergy with Daimler’s global talent system. More importantly, in 2014 and 2016 BBAC dispatched its elite team to Daimler’s East London factory in South Africa and Sao Paulo factory in Brazil respectively to provide technological support for new vehicle models and new projects, thus taking the first significant step towards exporting talents to Daimler’s global system and demonstrating the deep commitment to the “One Team” concept.

【Overseas Training—One Team, Sincere Cooperation】

Doubtlessly, BBAC who has already climbed onto the international hall of honor not only sets the benchmark for China’s automobile manufacturing industry, but also provides new thoughts and beneficial experience for China’s manufacturing industry to become bigger and stronger with its unique operation and management concept of “One Quality, One Standard, One Team”. We truly believe that the “Factory of the Year” award will encourage BBAC to lead China’s automobile industry with a maximum speed to transform from “manufacturing” to “creation”, and it will also inspire more and more enterprises to work together with BBAC to continuously seek innovation, realize self-transcendence and further contribute to the earlier accomplishment of the splendid strategy of “Made in China 2025”.