Shanghai, August 3, 2022 – Comau joined forces with NIO to ensure that the automobile manufacturer’s latest EDS G3.X, would roll off the production line on schedule. Thanks to the efforts of all parties involved, on the premise of legal compliance and maximum protection of employees’ health and safety, after several communications, 24 Comau Shanghai employees arrived at the NIO Hefei plant to help the automation project catch up with its scheduled.
Comau has responded positively and in accordance with the requirements of the ever-changing pandemic prevention and control policy. It also adjusted to the actual situation to achieve production targets, ensure delivery tasks and mitigate the impact caused by the pandemic. In addition to proactively communicating with the government, formulating and implementing a thorough closed-loop management and production plan for the Sijing plant in Songjiang, Comau prepared enough materials to meet its manufacturing needs, took care of its employees and their daily necessities, and committed to centralized accommodations to ensure that employees strictly cooperated with health and pandemic prevention tests. All members of the Comau team contributed and worked hard to guarantee production.
Overcoming difficulties to ensure that goods continue to arrive across provincial borders. Comau has long prioritized the needs of its customers and adheres to the value of “customer-centric”. Indeed, from late March to late May 2022, Comau overcame multiple obstacles, including logistics partitions and on-site personnel shortages during the various pandemic prevention and control periods.
At the onset of the pandemic, the project team quickly responded and assessed the risks posed by pandemic prevention and response. At the same time, to manage pandemic-related staff shortages, the project team quickly rallied resources within the factory and worked together to secure materials for the NIO EDS G3.X model. During this period, logistics between Shanghai and Hefei did not always run smoothly, as the different requirements by various regions, such as province-wide permits and pandemic prevention for drivers, significantly hindered the delivery of the production lines. Yet in the end, Comau was able to ensure that supplies were not interrupted thanks to the mediation of many parties. More than 20 logistical shipments were provided, which ensured the on-site installation of the EDS G3.X production line while strictly adhering to the pandemic prevention guidelines of Hefei and Shanghai. Comau also implemented the disinfection strategy of Hefei local Economic Development Zone, effectively preventing the risk of pandemic spread.
Working together, the project team went to the customer site. When the equipment was shipped to the customer’s plant, key Comau technical personnel were urgently needed to debug the lines on site. Yet because it was a critical point of pandemic prevention and control in Shanghai, the team’s travel across the province was a significant challenge due to traffic controls and health prevention requirements that impeded travel from Shanghai to various locations.
“The interests of the customer are also our interests, so everything we did was aimed at ensuring their production,” said Meng Yuan, Comau China Project Manager. “Now that we see the line running at the customer’s plant, we know that our efforts have not been in vain and are happy they have paid off.”
Under the premise of confirming pandemic prevention conditions at the Hefei site and the health and safety of on-site personnel, Comau communicated closely with the governments of the two locations through coordinated efforts with NIO. Together, the companies successfully transported 24 key project members to Hefei, helping ensure that they arrived in time to complete the installation and deployment of the production line. To this end, Comau’s teamwork and responsiveness were recognized and appreciated by the customer.
NIO Project Manager Wang Xinxing mentioned: “Thanks to the efforts of Comau team members in ensuring that equipment and personnel could successfully arrive at the Hefei factory during pandemic prevention and control, we hope that Comau, as one of the important partners of NIO, can continue to work hard to ensure that the production line can reach mass production in time and provide a satisfactory response to the cooperation between the two sides.”