Sailing together with united hearts, we ride the wind and waves on a ten-thousand-mile journey. Recently, Alps Intelligent Manufacturing (hereinafter referred to as "Alps") officially partnered with Dalian Fangzheng Mold Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Fangzheng") to launch the Alps Jinzhi Lean Factory Cloud Platform project. This initiative aims to optimize production management models, enhance production efficiency, and maximize human resource effectiveness while pursuing high-quality product completion.

Information Technology Transformation

An Inevitable Choice for the Development of the Auto Parts Industry

Perceiving early signs of opportunity to secure an unbeatable position. In 2024, swept by the wave of digitalization, the leadership of Fangzheng Mold keenly perceived the infinite potential brought by digital transformation and sought to upgrade their management and operational systems. Furthermore, the continuous expansion of Fangzheng's business scope and the growing volume of orders created an urgent need for leadership to extricate themselves from daily tedious administrative tasks such as audits, information collection, and review analysis. This allows them to focus on macro-control of strategic deployment and deep market exploration. After multiple market researches, Alps successfully "joined hands" with Fangzheng Mold to co-build a benchmark enterprise for digital transformation.

Fangzheng Mold

Management Team

"Before choosing Alps, we communicated with other software suppliers across the country. What ultimately convinced us was Alps' localization and professionalism. Their pre-sales team proactively visited our company for on-site research, helping us accurately analyze pain points. Whether in overall planning or step-by-step implementation, they made targeted deployments. Moreover, the solution is highly practical and easy to implement, which is exactly the partner we need most at this moment."

Customized "Combo Moves"

Building an Information Management Platform for All Processes

As a seasoned auto parts enterprise, Fangzheng's production is mostly order-based, characterized by multi-variety and small-batch manufacturing. In addition to normal production, Fangzheng must also handle customer sample production requirements, changing corresponding equipment and molds according to different samples. High customization means Fangzheng's production processes differ from conventional standardized production flows and operational norms. Therefore, how to effectively manage actual production progress, quickly resolve production anomalies, ensure product quality, meet delivery schedules, and improve productivity has become an urgent challenge for Fangzheng.

Leveraging its deep accumulation in lean manufacturing and digital practice, Alps customized a "combo move" for Fangzheng using products from the Jinzhi Lean Factory Cloud Platform. Starting with covering all-process management, it achieved efficient optimization and intelligent upgrading of production processes.

01 Scan Code for Work Reporting: Real-time Control of Production Progress

"The boss is busier than the employees" was a major pain point for Fangzheng's leadership. Due to the long-term use of paper-based work reporting, there was a "disconnect" in communication of reporting information between the operational and management levels. To understand process progress, management had to personally inspect the workshop every day, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive, significantly affecting the comprehensiveness and timeliness of production planning and execution.

Now, Fangzheng has achieved instant work reporting in key process stages such as blanking, cutting, bending, stamping, and welding. After staff complete tasks, they can directly use a scanner to scan and report work. Management can monitor production progress and status information in real-time through the system in just one or two minutes, thereby accurately grasping the production situation, ensuring the smooth execution of production plans, and allowing more time and energy to be invested in market and business expansion.

02 "Combo Moves" Strike: Quality Inspection Guaranteed

In the fiercely competitive realm of the auto parts industry, quality is undoubtedly the "cornerstone" of standing firm. As a supplier in the industry that consistently pursues high-quality production, another highlight of Fangzheng's transformation is the optimization and efficiency of the quality control process. Alps combined Fangzheng's actual situation to organically integrate the Andon system with the work reporting system. After key processes are completed, workers immediately call quality control personnel for inspection. This is like installing an inspector on the production line, achieving rapid capture and proper handling of defective products.

"We had previously looked into QMS and other quality inspection software, but they were unsatisfactory in terms of cost, implementability, and adaptability to Fangzheng. The customized inspection solution provided by Alps this time perfectly solved these problems. It truly grasps events and processes in one hand, accurately locking onto abnormal links and making rapid adjustments and corrections, effectively avoiding unnecessary waste of time and materials in the later stages. Particularly worth mentioning is that the operation is very simple; both management and employees can get started quickly, greatly improving work efficiency."

- Fangzheng Mold Workshop Manager

Creating Efficiency through Lean

For auto parts manufacturers, the manufacturing link is undoubtedly the core area, and its importance goes without saying. Through this partnership, Fangzheng has achieved production progress tracking, anomaly feedback, defective product information collection, and data statistical analysis in the workshop, injecting strong momentum into its manufacturing links with a new all-process information management platform. In today's rapidly changing market environment, innovation and technology are like two inexhaustible sources of power, driving enterprises to move forward continuously. In the future, Alps will continue to assist Fangzheng in launching other applications to deeply advance digital transformation and will spare no effort to assist other partners, creating efficiency through lean practices, and contributing to the long-term, high-speed development of the industry.

About Fangzheng

Dalian Fangzheng Mold Co., Ltd. was established in 1994. The company mainly engages in auto parts manufacturing, mold development, and the development of special equipment for automotive muffler systems. It currently employs several senior engineers, technical, and quality management personnel. By 2022, the company's output value reached 80 million RMB. The factory area covers 10,000 square meters, with a building area of 2,000 square meters and 2,000 square meters under construction. Its business reaches all parts of the country, and it has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with automotive manufacturing companies such as Tenneco, Faurecia, FAW-Volkswagen, BYD, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.

About Fangzheng

Dalian Fangzheng Mold Co., Ltd. was established in 1994. The company mainly engages in auto parts manufacturing, mold development, and the development of special equipment for automotive muffler systems. It currently employs several senior engineers, technical, and quality management personnel. By 2022, the company's output value reached 80 million RMB. The factory area covers 10,000 square meters, with a building area of 2,000 square meters and 2,000 square meters under construction. Its business reaches all parts of the country, and it has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with automotive manufacturing companies such as Tenneco, Faurecia, FAW-Volkswagen, BYD, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo.

About ALSI

Alps System Integration (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "ALSI") is a wholly-owned subsidiary invested in China in 2005 by the Japanese Alps Alpine Group (founded in 1948). It is the Secretary-General unit of the Dalian Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Innovation Alliance and a "Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative" enterprise in Liaoning Province. With over 30 years of深耕 (deep cultivation) in intelligent manufacturing in industries such as auto parts, electronics and electrical appliances, and mechanical processing, ALSI leverages its Japanese group manufacturing DNA to deeply explore the "manufacturing scene." By combining IoT technology, big data, AI, and lean practices, ALSI has developed the "Huipai Supply Chain Resource Planning Platform" and the "Jinzhi Lean Factory Cloud Platform," which are small, fast, light, and accurate. ALSI is committed to helping more customers in the manufacturing industry achieve efficient workshop scene management and embark on the path of digital and intelligent development.