[MIKE Case] SAIC Passenger Cars: 3 Key Knowledge Management Strategies for More Efficient Business and Job Empowerment

SAIC Passenger Vehicle Company is a Fortune Global 500 enterprise— the only entity under SAIC Group responsible for the research and development, production, manufacturing, sales, and related services of its own brand passenger vehicle products, owning two major brands: "Roewe" and "MG". In 2018, the production and sales scale reached 700,000 units.

SAIC Passenger Vehicle, with its knowledge management system focused on business and outstanding operational practices, has won the "2021 China MIKE Award" and the "2021 China MIKE Best Knowledge Operation Award". We are honored to invite Yang Li, the Knowledge Management Manager of the Manufacturing Engineering Department of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Company, to share the innovative achievements and successful experiences of SAIC Passenger Vehicle in the field of knowledge management.

A decade of innovation, building a business-based knowledge management model.

 

SAIC Group firmly grasps the major direction of technological progress, the overall pattern of market evolution, and the major trends of industry transformation, continuing to deeply promote the "new four modernizations" strategy of "electrification, intelligent networking, sharing, and internationalization", and deeply deploy the construction of the innovation chain. In the process of reconstructing the global automotive industry value chain, it accelerates the promotion of business transformation and upgrading, making great strides towards the goal of becoming a world-class automotive enterprise with global competitiveness and influence.

 

Based on the "new four modernizations" strategy, SAIC Group has very clear requirements for knowledge management work, aiming to enhance employee capabilities and increase efficiency through innovation. Taking the Manufacturing Engineering Department (ME) of SAIC Passenger Vehicle as an example, through the learning path project, the mapping of employee job profiles (knowledge and skills system) and daily task mapping (business flow) has been sorted out and integrated into daily routine work, along with the development and launch of new system platform tools, laying a solid foundation for innovation.

 

① Knowledge management positioning, focusing on "people, projects, and expertise".

 

To better achieve the sedimentation, reuse, enhancement, and innovation of knowledge, the Manufacturing Engineering Department of SAIC Passenger Vehicle focuses on "1W3H", which means what kind of knowledge ME really needs, how to acquire knowledge, how to use and evaluate it, and how the final value is reflected.

 

The knowledge management solution based on business empowerment and professional position empowerment has an overall knowledge management framework that is a full lifecycle management based on knowledge scenario applications, synchronously building system platforms and daily operational management.

 

② A decade of knowledge management journey, moving towards deep application of knowledge.

 

Since 2012, ME has experienced a "three-level jump" from the initial establishment of knowledge content layer to the establishment and improvement of knowledge operation mechanism, the initial launch of knowledge management tools, and then to the deep integration of knowledge with project scenarios, optimizing the knowledge content layer, operation layer, and tools.

 

 

Based on knowledge management maturity analysis, ME is currently in the stage of deep application of knowledge, focusing on whether knowledge can be effectively applied in actual work and whether it enhances business capabilities.

 

③ Knowledge management practical model: "Three levers, two focuses".

 

SAIC Passenger Vehicle Company has built a practical model for knowledge management, assisting ME's daily business (projects) and system work to be carried out in an orderly, efficient, and high-quality manner, focusing on knowledge scenario applications, with "business flow, training, and Lessons Learned" as the levers, continuously improving the effectiveness of knowledge and the capabilities of personnel.

 

 

Focusing on two aspects: empowerment + efficiency—first is content and method level: empowerment (business empowerment + position empowerment); second is tool level—efficiency (launch of ME E-Advice smart work platform).

Linking business, strengthening foundation, promoting learning, knowledge empowerment is more efficient.

 

Through business flow sorting, employee usage evaluation, and expert knowledge audits, focusing on "P&M employee growth and development, LL driving knowledge updates and continuous improvement", SAIC Passenger Vehicle Company further enhances the empowering value of knowledge.

 

① Business empowerment: using 5 types of knowledge chain business, strengthening foundation.

 

Over two years, the company has sorted out the task and knowledge coverage of each valve point in product projects. As of now, for the 10 valve points of product projects, there are 1,240 tasks, with 3,200 pieces of knowledge available for support, "which means that for each task, there are more than 2 pieces of knowledge provided for reference in our department."

 

 

After subdividing knowledge types, the average matching degree of the 5 types of knowledge directly related to the project is 52%. For example, 91% of tasks are equipped with templates, and the matching degree of KNOWHOW knowledge is slightly higher than that of KNOWWHY, with the support of work guidance, templates, and checklists being slightly higher.

 

 

Linking business, strengthening foundation, after clarifying the overall coverage of knowledge, the quality requirements for individual knowledge have also relatively increased. "In 2020, we mainly audited three types of knowledge: specifications, work guidance, and databases, focusing on content completeness, ease of operation, and scientific organization, and we are modifying the knowledge that needs to be changed according to the plan."

 

② Position empowerment: creating a new path for P&M learning and growth.

 

SAIC insists that "talent is the first resource for scientific development", focusing on cultivating and creating a talent team with optimized structure, reasonable layout, strong innovation ability, and wide-ranging fields, playing a leading role in building SAIC into a world-renowned automotive company with innovative spirit.

 

Taking the Manufacturing Engineering Department of SAIC Passenger Vehicle as an example, among 489 employees, there are 83 with master's degrees or above and 386 with bachelor's degrees, meaning that the proportion of knowledge-based employees reaches 96%. These employees themselves are vibrant individuals who accumulate knowledge, experience, wisdom, and technology. How to sediment the collective wisdom knowledge system and enable organizational members to grow quickly and solve business problems rapidly poses very high requirements for knowledge managers.

 

Based on the Wisdom Mountain model and the 6 levels of employee capability growth, the company has spent 15 years since 2006 continuously sedimenting, extracting, and iterating professional knowledge and experience, and the ME P&M learning path has taken shape, integrating professional technology and management.

 

As of April 2021, a total of 283 professional courses covering 11 specialties such as stamping, body, painting, assembly, and prototypes have been established horizontally, and 16 management courses have been established vertically across 3 gradients, becoming an important part of SAIC's talent development advantage.

 

The professional courses of ME are based on the TOP model, with employee job responsibilities and required professional knowledge and skills, inviting experienced experts for knowledge extraction, and customizing a tiered course based on employees' professional levels. Management courses have also been subdivided based on the capabilities required for leaders and key employees.

Professional knowledge is taught by internal and external professional trainers, while experts from peers and new car-making forces are invited to share. Management knowledge is mainly provided through inviting senior external training consultants and lecturers for training discussions and exchanges. In addition, regular participation in industry trend development exchanges is conducted to acquire the latest industry knowledge.

 

 

Since 2016, through 9 sessions of three-day and two-night internal trainer training camps, with professional guidance from experienced course development coaches, a total of 402 professional technical courses and 108 online micro-courses have been developed, providing a wealth of experience knowledge and skills for new and key employees.

 

Based on learning before doing (training), learning during doing (learning in projects, business flow), and learning after doing (summarizing experiences and lessons), promoting project and position empowerment; while LL (lessons learned) further drives knowledge updates and continuous improvement.

 

Improvements in quality, cost, and efficiency triggered by project issues and system improvements are normalized work, which further helps knowledge serve the business led by the enterprise.

Building a smart work platform, digital innovation increases efficiency for enterprises.

 

The company has been committed to deeply integrating knowledge management with business through digital means, promoting the digital transformation of knowledge management in processes, systems, methods, and tools, to support the company in becoming a world-class automotive enterprise with global competitiveness and influence!

 

① Build a smart platform based on the effectiveness framework of knowledge management.

 

The company's knowledge management effectiveness framework progresses through three levels: "useful", "easy to use", and "interesting", respectively addressing the content layer, content layer + tool layer, and content layer + tool layer + operation layer.

 

The company's E-Advice work platform is an engineer work platform designed for project knowledge scenarios based on the deep integration of business and knowledge. The core scenario is to build project progress, deliverables, and knowledge references through business flow, and push to designated roles at specified nodes; after the responsible person submits the deliverables, they conduct knowledge evaluation and continuously optimize business flow tasks and knowledge based on the evaluation.

 

② Three major values of the new E-Advice smart work platform.

 

The E-Advice smart work platform involves five modules: projects, training, knowledge, LL, and interaction, with 163 functional points.

 

The innovation of this system lies in the application of business flow (tasks + knowledge) in projects, triggering the proposal of LL and updating knowledge evaluations, which are then embedded into training materials, effectively enabling professional and management training for engineers before accepting tasks, knowledge empowerment in business flow during projects, and closing the loop of knowledge evaluation updates after tasks, achieving the goal of becoming an essential tool for engineers to efficiently carry out business, systems, and knowledge management work.

 

▍Project empowerment: Promoting collaboration efficiency.

Full-cycle online approval for product projects: plan changes, schedule changes, PCN changes, MIR management, deliverable approval.

 

▍Personnel empowerment: training, LL & topics.

Utilize learning development paths and records—capability assessment, full process of topics online; digital attempts: employee profiles, knowledge index, etc., community interaction: circles, activity areas, survey questionnaires.

 

▍Using knowledge: Knowledge scenarioization.

Generate (update): business flow (project progress - deliverables - knowledge); share and interact: knowledge map (album), push, recommend, search; application: project application + evaluation.

With the continuous deepening of knowledge management and smart platforms, it will promote the digital transformation of knowledge management in processes, systems, methods, and tools, providing support for the company to become a world-class automotive enterprise with global competitiveness and influence!