The Science and Technology Association of ASIMCO Camshaft (Yizheng) Co., Ltd. Was Established

In June, the gentle breeze of Yangcheng carries the warmth and excitement of the season. Despite the lingering, mellow weather, ASIMCO Camshaft’s spirit of innovation and progress has remained undiminished and unfaltering. On June 24, 2013, the Science and Technology Association of ASIMCO Camshaft (Yizheng) Co., Ltd. was established. This is a major initiative for our company to further deepen and advance our scientific and technological work, and it has also created an important platform for our extensive team of science and technology professionals to conduct academic discussions and technical exchanges, serving as a true home for camshaft technology experts. The association will act as a vital link and bridge between the Yizheng City Association for Science and Technology and our enterprise and its science and technology personnel, enabling us to promptly convey important policies on economic and social development from higher authorities while also promptly reflecting the suggestions, opinions, and demands of each science and technology professional. Technological innovation has become the primary driving force behind economic development and a key factor in enhancing a company’s overall competitiveness. Our vast community of science and technology professionals are not only the promoters of technological progress and the mainstay of independent innovation, but also the pioneers of advanced productive forces. By doing a good job with our company’s Science and Technology Association, we will undoubtedly foster the growth and improvement of our talent pool, promote technological advancement within the company, and thereby drive the company’s overall development.

ASIMCO Camshaft Successfully Completes First-Half Technical Renovation Investment

Seizing opportunities and leveraging momentum—ASIMCO’s Camshaft division has consistently struck a harmonious duet of building momentum and pursuing self-development. Thanks to the concerted efforts of all, the company successfully completed its technological upgrade investment for the first half of the year. The company’s annual plan allocates RMB 13.1 million for technological upgrades, with RMB 7.15 million already committed in the first half of the year. However, only RMB 4.26 million was actually contracted, resulting in a shortfall of RMB 2.89 million for these projects alone. As General Manager Chen Aiguo often says, “Anyone can spend money on wine; the real skill lies in being able to buy wine even when you have no money.” The VIKING production line requires an ADCOLE Camshaft Comprehensive Tester for online inspection, which costs about RMB 5 million (excluding tax). The company currently owns an ADCOLE 1310 dedicated tester originally used for the General LE5 project. If this equipment is to be repurposed for the VIKING line, it will need a comprehensive overhaul and upgrade, with ADCOLE quoting RMB 1.5 million—and there’s no guarantee the upgrade will succeed. After careful evaluation, the team decided against simply handing over such a large sum of money to others and opted instead to undertake the renovation themselves. After nearly six months of relentless effort and countless trials, the equipment was finally upgraded at the end of May and now fully meets the inspection requirements for VIKING products, at a total cost of just over RMB 20,000. There are many similar cases: for example, in the past two years the company has independently designed and built multiple specialized production machines, including cutting machines, punching machines, cleaning machines, and oiling machines, saving millions in costs. In the second half of the year and beyond, the company plans to shift its investment in camshaft grinding machines toward acquiring used German and Japanese equipment that has been phased out by domestic firms, leveraging the company’s strong capabilities to refurbish and upgrade these machines and thereby enhance return on investment. Recently, the company spent RMB 1.2 million to acquire a used camshaft grinder that would otherwise cost around RMB 7 million.

FAW Xichai Leaders Visit ASIMCO Camshaft

On May 31, 2013, a delegation of five from FAW Xichai, including Deputy Plant Manager Xu Haigen and Head of the Procurement Department Xu Baiping, paid a visit to ASIMCO Camshaft. Wu Yingxue, Chairman of the Chinese side, and General Manager Chen Aiguo of ASIMCO Camshaft (Yizheng) Co., Ltd. hosted the delegation. General Manager Chen Aiguo first extended a warm welcome to the guests from FAW Xichai and briefed them on the company’s development history and future plans. Subsequently, accompanied by General Manager Chen, the guests toured the casting and machining production sites of the Camshaft Company. During their visit to the 6DL Camshaft dedicated production line, the FAW Xichai leaders expressed full appreciation for the company’s achievements. They also commended ASIMCO Camshaft for having high-quality global customers such as Cummins and Fiat, as well as for producing high-end products, and stated their willingness to strengthen cooperation with ASIMCO Camshaft. This visit by FAW Xichai’s senior management will help ASIMCO Camshaft maintain a good cooperative relationship with FAW Xichai on existing projects, while also facilitating the expansion of cooperation into higher-level areas for both parties.

The gradually warming early summer, bustling production, and enthusiastic employees — A Documentary on ASIMCO Camshaft Production

Since April, order demand from global customers such as CUMMINS and IVECO has increased substantially, placing the company’s production under considerable pressure. Coupled with multiple new-product development projects, this has made on-time delivery more challenging. In response to this “happy problem,” the company’s production and support departments have risen to the occasion and embraced the challenge. The production department has optimized production layout, adjusted shift schedules, implemented meticulous allocation of personnel and resources, and boosted production efficiency to ensure timely deliveries. Workshop employees have not only extended their daily working hours by two hours but have also given up their Saturday and Sunday rest days, fully committing themselves to the current intensive production drive. As soon as we entered the workshop, we were deeply inspired by the bustling production scene. To guarantee on-time delivery, all employees have prioritized the overall goal, overcome personal difficulties, completed production tasks according to schedule, and finished each day’s work on time, thereby meeting customer needs. Master Chen Daoxiang has been a long-standing, high-performing employee in the metalworking workshop, consistently delivering high-quality output. The C9 line where he works is the most physically demanding and longest-working production line in the workshop, with shifts lasting up to 10 hours per day. Recently, with home renovations at his residence, Master Chen has sometimes felt both physically and mentally exhausted. Even under such circumstances, he has never missed a single shift, nor has he ever shied away from taking on urgent overtime when needed. Similar dedicated employees can be found in the casting and metalworking workshops, as well as in second-line service departments such as engineering, quality control, equipment maintenance, and procurement. They overcome challenges like caring for sick family members, having no one to look after their children, or even dealing with their own health issues, all while putting the bigger picture first—thinking about production, thinking about the company, and above all, thinking about the customers. They work diligently and quietly, often unnoticed. Although these are ordinary positions and involve seemingly small tasks, this spirit of dedication—putting the greater good before personal interests—truly moves everyone around them. It is precisely because of such an outstanding workforce that all aspects of the company’s operations can proceed smoothly and in an orderly manner. On the company’s continued journey ahead, there may be greater challenges and more obstacles, but as long as all managers and employees stand united, we will surely overcome any difficulties and contribute to the continued success of Camshaft Company!

Labor is glorious; workers are great—Congratulations on the company’s April milestone of exceeding RMB 8 million in output value!

Cummins Procurement Director Visits ASIMCO Camshaft

On March 25, 2013, Mr. Xiang Yongdong, Purchasing Director of Cummins (China), Mr. Wei Houqing, Purchasing Director of Dongfeng Cummins, and Mr. Wang Biao, Purchasing Engineer of Dongfeng Cummins, paid a visit to our company as a delegation of three. Mr. Chen Aiguo, General Manager of ASIMCO Camshaft, extended a warm welcome to the guests. Director Dai Hongxing provided a detailed overview of the company’s overall operations, with particular emphasis on the outstanding quality performance of the company’s products within Cummins’ entire system, the progress of ongoing collaborative projects, and the future plans for Cummins’ global camshaft product line. Subsequently, the Cummins delegation toured the casting and machining production sites as well as the inspection facilities. On Cummins’ dedicated production line, the guests meticulously reviewed on-site equipment inspections, quality records (X-bar-R charts), tool management, and process control plans in collaboration with technical personnel. The precise inspection results earned high praise from the client, who also offered valuable suggestions for further enhancing process control quality. This visit by Cummins’ senior management will help ASIMCO Camshaft maintain effective communication with Cummins on existing projects and facilitate deeper cooperation between the two parties in more areas.

Stay laser-focused on our goals, unite as one, and go all out to win the tough battle in sales and production.

In the face of turbulent times, true heroism shines through. The 2013 sales and production campaign has already begun—a decisive battle that presents both opportunities and challenges, and a tough fight that calls for wisdom and courage! We hope that everyone in the company will take today’s mobilization as a starting point, embrace the spirit of “time waits for no one and every moment counts,” seize opportunities, unite as one, work diligently and pragmatically, dare to take the lead, and make a full-scale sprint to reach the current production peak! Since January of this year, market demand has been steadily increasing. By March, demand had reached the highest level since our company was founded. Orders for IVECO’s C9 series and 6DL engines have doubled, and Russia’s Cummins ZCK engines will switch over at the end of this month, with us officially commencing mass deliveries. In addition, new projects such as Shangchai, Hualing, and BC369 have also entered small-scale production. Faced with such robust market demand, our sole task is to deliver high-quality, qualified products to our customers within their required timeframes. These past few days, the weather has been gradually warming up, and we can feel a touch of warmth ourselves. Seeing everyone’s beaming smiles, their hard work, and the abundant results of their labor, we can truly say that our team is one that strives for progress. No matter how many difficulties we encounter, we always manage to overcome them; no challenge has ever daunted our diligent employees. For this reason, we feel immensely proud and honored—every single employee in our company is our most precious asset! As the saying goes, “The whole year’s plan starts in spring.” March, April, and May are the golden months for sales, so we must succeed in this crucial start to the year. Today, we issue a call to all employees: let us join forces, unite across all departments, pull together as one, surmount every obstacle, and fully achieve all the economic targets set by the company—first and foremost, our sales goals! Achieving the company’s sales targets is an important mission for every employee. With the exception of production staff, all other departments will, as needed, unconditionally deploy their personnel to the front lines—wherever there is a need, we will be there! Dear colleagues, new hopes are beckoning us, new goals are calling out to us. Let us seize these new opportunities and dreams, step onto a brand-new stage, forge new successes, realize the beautiful vision of our Camshaft Company, and create a new era of glory for our Camshaft Company!

The Camshaft in March is a bit “hot”

At the very beginning of the 2013 Spring Festival, just as March rolled in, the temperature quickly soared above 20°C, making the heat rather hard to adjust to. Meanwhile, both domestic and international markets for complete vehicles and engines gradually rebounded and picked up steam, leaving our Camshaft employees somewhat caught off guard. In mid-February, we first received the good news that FIAT Shanghai FPT had placed an increased order for C9-series camshafts for export, which delighted us; subsequently, ZCK of Russian Cummins, after being recommended by Cummins Shanghai IPO and impressed by the outstanding performance of our camshaft products on Cummins’ global procurement platform, visited our company in early March for an on-site inspection. They promptly decided to officially switch to our 6B-RGT camshaft products at the end of March and commence bulk deliveries. This belated yet welcome news came as a pleasant surprise. In early March, the Procurement Department of FAW Wuxi Diesel Engine Plant informed us that the demand for our 6DL camshafts would be increased from the original approximately 3,500 units per month to 8,600 units per month. Initially skeptical, we soon saw the notice turn into a formal order. As a result, production on the dedicated 6DL line immediately ramped up, operating at full capacity. Later, the procurement department of Shanghai Fiat-Hongqi notified us that, with the rising sales of complete vehicles under the Shanghai-Yichang brand, demand for C9E domestically produced engine camshafts was surging. They urged us to do our utmost to meet this demand and deliver on time. This prompted the sales and production departments to spring into action, swiftly formulating production and sales plans, optimizing capacity allocation and shipment schedules. Since the combined demand for both exported and domestically produced C9 camshafts had already exceeded the theoretical capacity of the dedicated C9 production line, it was decided to run all equipment on that line at full throttle, even on weekends, to operate beyond normal capacity and satisfy customer needs. In recent years, our company has developed six new camshaft models for clients such as Shanghai Fiat-Hongqi, Hualing, and Shanghai Diesel Engine. In 2013, small-batch ramp-up production of these new products also commenced, leaving the newly built steel shaft production line from last year barely able to catch its breath. The production department has had to frequently coordinate operations to barely keep up with the assembly demands for these new products, which are poised to become new growth drivers for our company going forward. With such a sudden surge in orders, the workshops were unable to hire additional staff in time. The casting workshop and the machining workshop quickly entered a state of intense activity, with auxiliary workers stepping in to fill vacancies and everyone working flat-out to boost output while maintaining quality. Daily production figures kept hitting new highs, placing severe strain on the original cleaning, packaging, and support service personnel, who repeatedly reached breaking point. Consequently, the production department coordinated to assign second-line staff from various departments to provide one day of on-site support each week. Meanwhile, project managers, process engineers, and inspectors from the technical department promptly joined the production front lines to ensure consistent product quality. The sales department promptly formulated relevant measures, requiring all sales representatives to maintain close contact and communication with their respective customers, gather information on production and quality, and provide comprehensive pre-sales, in-sales, and after-sales services. They were tasked with promptly relaying customer needs and expectations to the relevant departments within the company and making the most of limited production capacity to meet as many customer requirements as possible. The company office also promptly launched publicity campaigns via blackboard notices, display windows, and emails to rally employees, boost morale, and uphold the spirit of “not losing a single shaft,” thereby ensuring full commitment to timely delivery.