Have machines taken away the jobs of workers in home appliance companies?

Today's jobs may be taken away by machines tomorrow. This is not an exaggeration. At a forum held recently, Haier founder Zhang Ruimin said that Haier laid off 16,000 people last year, reducing the number of employees from 86,000 to 70,000, a reduction of 18%. This year, it is expected to cut another 10,000 people, mainly due to the middle layer and business intelligence. This statement has attracted attention from all walks of life.

Xu Feng, president of Beizhi Talent Management Consulting Co., Ltd., told Nandu reporters that the automation process in the automobile and fast-moving consumer goods industries is faster, while the manufacturing upgrade in the domestic home appliance industry is slower, but it has now reached the stage of intelligence and automation, which will inevitably lead to the replacement of humans by machines.

Lower- and middle-level positions are replaced

"Get rid of the middlemen outside and the insulation walls inside." This is Zhang Ruimin's brief summary of the organizational structure adjustment, and the insulation walls are the middle-level managers. He quoted a saying from the management guru Charles Handy, saying, "The middle layer in the enterprise is a group of roasted geese. They have no nerves and will not reflect the market situation. According to Haier's plan, Haier laid off about 26,000 people last year and this year.

For many years, home appliances have been a large-scale, labor-intensive industry. Many home appliance production still relies on manual assembly, which requires not only a large number of front-line industrial workers, but also production management personnel. According to Xu Feng, in the traditional production process, the ratio of workers to management positions is 1:10, that is, 10 workers are assigned to one management position. If the front-line team leaders are included, this ratio can reach 1:5. Previously, in industries with a relatively high degree of automation, such as automobiles and fast-moving consumer goods, one worker may manage one line, and the number of management personnel has also been greatly reduced. The ratio of management positions of 1:20 is a common level of staffing.

Today, the home appliance industry is facing the need for transformation and upgrading, not just Haier, but also Gree , Hisense and other home appliance companies have invested a lot of money in automation transformation. For enterprises, this may be the result of optimization to reduce costs and improve efficiency. But for employees, this year's rice bowl may be "optimized" tomorrow. This is not only the reality faced by front-line industrial workers, but also the management. According to Xu Feng, in the production and manufacturing process, generally speaking, the first to be squeezed out are ordinary industrial workers, followed by ordinary technical workers, senior technical workers, and technical personnel managers.

Transformation also requires the injection of "new blood"

For employees, the problem they may have to worry about is that even if some positions will not be eliminated, the personnel in those positions still need to be replaced. For example, the middle-level managers were originally extensive management, but now they have changed to lean production management. "In the past, we were task-oriented and implemented plans, but later we changed to refined management. Management positions need to better understand the needs of automated management, such as fast line switching, inventory management, employee skills training, etc." Xu Feng said that staffing needs to be coordinated with the company's core business needs, and some will be reduced and some will be increased.

Transformation is not only a challenge for enterprises, but also for employees. Wang Pu, president of Peking University Zongheng Management Consulting Company, described the two most common layoffs. He said that a porter may be laid off due to physical reasons or the emergence of stronger workers; or he may lose his job because the porter uses mechanical equipment to replace the porter. The porter should make two preparations: exercise to keep himself strong; and learn mechanical knowledge immediately. It is reported that in the process of enterprise automation transformation, the most scarce are automation talents with the ability to transform equipment or processes.

Haier Group did not respond to reporters for further information on the layoffs. According to Haier's previous statement, the layoffs were also due to the need for organizational restructuring. In fact, this also means new requirements for employee value. Hong Shibin, executive chairman of the Marketing Committee of the China Home Appliances Association, said that one of the reasons for Haier's layoffs was the change in job value caused by organizational restructuring.

Hong Shibin said that layoffs are also for the purpose of replacing blood. For a company of Haier's size, in order to transform into an interconnected company, it needs at least 5,000 software development and data application talents to support its needs. This round of layoffs is actually a process of replacing old blood with new blood. Written by: Nandu reporter Wang Haiyan

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Managers in the transition period should carefully deal with employees' negative emotions

There have been incidents of employees smashing things and withholding bonuses in home appliance companies in Guangdong, all of which have been the focus of much noise and have dominated the headlines. To a certain extent, this reflects the crisis that traditional manufacturing is facing in its transformation and upgrading. Nandu reporters also heard different voices about Haier’s layoffs.

Liu Buchen, an observer of the home appliance industry, told Nandu reporters that he had heard from other companies and Haier dealers that Haier's middle management did not fully support Zhang Ruimin's transformation. Some people did not understand Zhang Ruimin's independent business entity and micro-enterprise strategy, and finally left Haier on their own initiative. "People still don't understand Haier's strategy."

On June 17, there were reports that Sun Jingyan, vice president of Haier Home Appliances Industry Group, and Jing Changchun, who was in charge of the retail business, both resigned. Jing Changchun responded to the media that "I am very tired at the moment, and I have the idea of ​​resigning during my vacation." Haier Group did not respond directly to the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter, saying that it still needed to understand the situation.

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The challenges of a porter’s job

Wang Pu, president of Peking University Zongheng Management Consulting Company, described the two most common layoff situations as follows: a porter may be laid off due to physical reasons or the emergence of stronger workers; or he may lose his job because the porter uses mechanical equipment to replace the porter. The porter should make two preparations: exercise to keep himself strong; and learn mechanical knowledge immediately. It is reported that in the process of enterprise automation transformation, the most scarce are automation talents with the ability to transform equipment or processes.

Haier: An adventure in management?

Haier's massive layoffs caused a huge stir.

Haier is almost completely destroying the original system and reshaping the value chain. If this were an Internet company, such a transformation would be easier to implement. But for a home appliance manufacturer, Zhang Ruimin's steps are extremely big. This is not only an industrial upgrade, but also an adventure in management thinking.

There is no template to follow

According to Haier's data, the company reduced its staff by 16,000 in 2013, but its per capita profit increased by 50% year-on-year during the same period; at the end of May 2014, Haier's registered employees further decreased to 64,955. In the second half of this year, Haier will also reduce its staff by 5,000, mainly middle-level managers. Haier said that it did not take the initiative to "lay off employees", and reducing staff and increasing efficiency is the inevitable result of the company's innovative transformation.

"Remove the middle layer outside and the insulation layer inside." This is Zhang Ruimin's summary of the organizational structure adjustment. There are two "remove" characters here, which means breaking the original operation and management model and abandoning some original partners. This time, because of the sensitivity of the word "layoff", the public focused on the middle-level managers known as the insulation layer. Although Zhang Ruimin mentioned the reduction in staff due to intelligence, Haier's diversion and reduction in staff may be greater in the form of small and micro enterprise entrepreneurship.

A good business requires the simultaneous reflection of corporate value, partner value and consumer value. Haier's transformation is different from Philips and Hitachi, which transformed earlier , and also different from Panasonic and Sony, which have recently transformed. Haier's inverted triangle, people-oriented, and small and micro-enterprise model has no successful examples to follow.

Promote the two words "go"

At present, "layoffs" is just a word "removal". What Haier needs to do is to "remove the middle layer", which will directly affect Haier's operating performance. The so-called middle layer mainly refers to external suppliers, distributors, etc. Haier does not want these links to lengthen the distance between it and consumers, but hopes to become a community of interests to maximize benefits. For example, when purchasing materials, it used to be "whoever's materials are cheaper, I will use them", but now it has become "whoever can participate in the front-end design, I will use them", from a game relationship to a cooperative relationship. This change means that the original partner's product provision and service must change accordingly, and it is not fixed, and the competent ones will take the position. This is a very ideal model. If it succeeds, Haier's position as the leader of white goods will be as solid as Mount Tai. The challenge is that Haier is an elephant, and the long-term cooperative stakeholders are not ants. Haier has two listed companies. Can the internal and external environment allow it to dance flexibly as Zhang Ruimin envisioned? As far as I know, due to performance pressure, some places have been slow to promote transformation and even repeated. If Haier wants to promote the two "removal" words without changing the foundation of survival, it is really "under great pressure".

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.