Company News

Perhaps no one expected 2020 to begin this way: a pandemic forced 1.4 billion people to stay indoors. Yet, a group of Gcione teammates moved against the tide, silently defending the 'rear' safety with their mice and code.

They demonstrated excellent R&D capabilities, outstanding diligence, and a strong sense of responsibility, making the Gcione culture—'Simplicity, Customer First, Daring to Imagine, Strive, and Take Responsibility'—vivid and alive. 

We launched a mobile APP in 4 days and fought a 'tough battle'.

Gao Dachuan from the Software Architecture Department recalled the development process of the epidemic prevention APP with one word: 'Amazing.' Work that usually takes over 20 days was completed in just 4 days, making it an unforgettable development experience.

After the outbreak, from employee health to campus and factory monitoring, and canteen and dormitory safeguards, dozens of defense and control links suddenly emerged. Each link required manual registration of large amounts of data and manual data integration. At that time, TCL CSOT's Environmental Safety Department was overloaded to near its limit, and everyone hoped for the early launch of the mobile epidemic prevention APP. Gao Dachuan and his team entered a 'day and night' mode, discussing processes and requirements with business departments during the day and writing code late into the night.

"The Industrial Internet Division and OT Department joined the development efforts, ultimately enabling the APP to go live in just four days. Without a默契 collaboration mechanism and excellent emergency development capabilities, this would have been difficult to achieve," recalled Gao Dachuan. Now, TCL CSOT fully uses the epidemic prevention APP for personnel health reporting, greatly reducing the manpower of environmental safety inspectors.

The public cloud version of the epidemic prevention APP was also selected for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 'Industrial APPs Assisting Enterprise Resumption,' included in the 'Epidemic Prevention Product Catalogs' of Tianjin, Guangdong, Hubei Wuhan, and other local industry and information departments, and joined the Tencent Anti-Epidemic Alliance... Unlike other epidemic control APPs, the East Wisdom Epidemic Prevention APP incorporated many suggestions from frontline environmental safety departments during development: it can track employee whereabouts, automatically align with epidemic prevention policies, implement tiered management for high, medium, and low-risk employees, and features information push and alert functions to help business departments manage precisely and efficiently. As of February 20, over 300 companies were using the public cloud version of the APP.

"We 'grabbed' the infrared thermal imaging thermometers," said Hu Liwei from the CSOT OT Section. Post-holiday resumption created high demand, making infrared thermal imagers scarce, with delivery times extending from the original 7 days. To meet CSOT's urgent temperature measurement needs, Hu Liwei and his teammates stationed themselves at the supplier's door to secure the shipment.

Currently, infrared thermal imagers are installed at TCL CSOT's t2/t6 factories and the Huizhou CSOT factory, replacing the previous method of manual close-range temperature checks with infrared guns. Since the thermal imagers can measure multiple people simultaneously with high accuracy, the long queues (up to 40 meters at peak times) during shift changes have disappeared, improving both epidemic prevention efficiency and reducing the risk of contact-based cluster infections. 

Responsibility and unity are our sources of strength.

Wang Li from the Smart Manufacturing System Integration Department experienced the most 'lonely' Spring Festival duty: from January 23 to now, he has been manually compiling statistics. In a factory with tens of thousands of employees, epidemic prevention personnel were extremely short-staffed. Wang Li went to the factory to take on the task of manually collecting personnel information. This work required contact with many people, so starting January 31, Wang Li moved into the factory dormitory to keep his wife and daughter away from any potential risks.

"Saying I wasn’t nervous would be a lie," Wang Li said. He didn’t expect General He Jun, the head of Gcione, to appear before the team on Chinese New Year’s Day, handing out red envelopes and boosting morale. In that moment, Wang Li’s tension eased. "I felt much more at ease, truly feeling that there is a united team behind me, and no difficulty is insurmountable."

"The sense of responsibility among colleagues is touching," said Zhou Xihe. Zhou Xihe’s team is responsible for the development and maintenance of the BI system for production data at the serviced factories. Factory managers use this system to analyze performance and adjust production plans in case of abnormalities. System failures would significantly impact production scheduling.

Under normal circumstances, 80-90% of colleagues would return after the holiday. But this year, returning was exceptionally difficult. Xue Xiafei, a young woman from Hunan, bought tickets four times (each canceled), changed tickets four times, and finally, her father drove her to a nearby city where she caught a train back to Shenzhen. Xue Xiafei said, "I knew the company was short-handed, so I just wanted to return as soon as possible to help them."

Often, individual strength is small, but the power unleashed through unity is unbreakable.

SmartWork, the future will be better 

"Our department has had over a dozen colleagues on duty from the New Year until now, about two-thirds of the usual number. We are severely short-staffed," said Chen Jincai.

Previously, each person handled 30-40 equipment maintenance requests per day. With insufficient staff, they used the remote video conference system, Octopus Cloud, to resolve most issues, with good results. From this experience, Chen Jincai foresees that new technologies and products may see explosive growth after the pandemic. This crisis has made manufacturers realize how new technologies can assist them.

Within just a few days, Gcione received numerous inquiries about remote equipment management. Most high-end equipment in China’s manufacturing industry is imported from Korea, Japan, and Europe. Experts who previously came to China for regular maintenance are now hesitant to travel, forcing companies to shift equipment maintenance online. Integrating AR glasses, video conferencing systems, IoT, and TPM systems, experts can use this setup to remotely guide frontline workers in performing professional-level equipment maintenance. Gcione is about to officially launch a remote equipment operation and maintenance solution to meet customer needs.

Gcione and factories are like a blade and its sheath—warriors and their battlefield, innovators and their soil.

I am the autumn cloud, empty of rain, but in the harvested rice fields, I see my fullness.

—Tagore, Stray Birds

Manufacturing is the nation’s pillar and the people’s future. This pandemic tested manufacturing enterprises, tech companies, and R&D personnel. All Gcione members deeply felt that through data middle platforms, internet mobile tools, and industrial software, traditional management can transform into digital, mobile, and intelligent methods. IT and OT integration technologies will help businesses actively respond to challenges and opportunities.

Chinese manufacturing is striving for high-quality development through innovation and efficiency improvements. In a way, this pandemic will act as a 'catalyst,' prompting companies to deeply adopt digital and intelligent solutions. Industrial internet companies are born at the right time and have great potential.

Keep it up, Gcioneers.