Chapter 12 Chapter 11 Why Chinese Enterprises Can't Survive: The Foxconn Tragedy
"13 consecutive jumps", who put Foxconn in trouble?
Apple is the real black hand that caused young people born in the 1980s and 1990s to commit suicide, and Foxconn is just its tool.
The "Foxconn tragedy" highlights the fate of Chinese OEMs.
Do you know why Foxconn works 12 hours a day instead of 8 hours?
The new mode of production calls for the return of humanity.
Canon Group's factory in Dalian, China has increased labor productivity by 370% within a year because of the adoption of cellular production methods.
The recent Foxconn incident has filled the media. First of all, we express our deep regret to the 13 employees who committed suicide.But I don't want to talk about Foxconn here, do you know why?Because all the discussions in China are wrong.Let me say one more thing, all the things you see in the media about blaming Foxconn are all superficial phenomena.Do you know what's wrong with us Chinese?I also said in previous chapters that some of our officials always like to make decisions based on superficial phenomena, and our media, our experts and scholars always draw conclusions based on superficial phenomena.In fact, this is not a simple Foxconn crisis at all. We need to catch the black hand behind it, because it is the root of all this, and it has escaped justice and has not been crusaded by public opinion.I want to catch it today, do you know who it is?Mac!Excuse me, why did 13 people commit suicide?
2010 is the birthday of Terry Gou, Taiwan's richest man and chairman of Hon Hai Group.However, since entering 2010, the negative news of Foxconn, its subsidiary company, has been constantly.In less than half a year, 13 consecutive suicides occurred in this so-called "world's largest OEM factory", which shocked the world.Some analysts pointed out that all kinds of pressure from work, family, society, health, and emotion are the reasons why Foxconn employees are on their way to a dead end.But at the same time, more criticisms point to Foxconn's business model, including the term "sweatshop", which has triggered extensive social discussions.So, what is the reason for the 13 consecutive suicides?What is the relationship between Apple and the Foxconn incident?
We have made a simple summary of all the analysis of the media, militarized management is the root of all mistakes.Is that right?So should there be more suicides in the army?But I still remember that many of our entrepreneurs also came out of the army, including Liu Chuanzhi, Zhang Ruimin, Wang Shi, Ning Gaoning, Ren Zhengfei, and Guo Taiming himself served as a soldier in Taiwan.Foxconn employees born in the 1980s and 1990s talk about the hardships they have suffered at Foxconn. In my opinion, what kind of suffering is it?You go and try to be a soldier, it is really hard to be a soldier.Take me personally as an example. When I was a soldier, I went to bed at 11 o'clock every night, and got up at 5:30 the next morning. I started to drill after getting up. I practiced for a day, and beatings and scolding often happened. What's the big deal?And at that time, I was also suffering from skin diseases, because the underwear and underwear of all our officers and soldiers were washed together, so as long as one person had an infectious disease, we would all be infected. This skin disease was so prevalent.I remember that when I was in the army, I suffered from various skin diseases, such as acne, scabies, eczema, boils, etc., itching to death every day, and scratching the itching every day while having sex, the pain was unbearable.However, readers, please don't look at me with strange eyes, I am cured now.In addition, when I was in the army, I had to go out to exercise and run every day, and we were still fighting on the front line, and our lives were in danger.Two years in the army have passed, and I never resented that time, but it is a good memory for me. We are not saying that these employees born in the 1980s and 1990s are wrong to complain about Foxconn, but that this complaint itself has symbolized that the first generation of hardworking migrant workers who dedicated themselves to China's reform and opening up has become a thing of the past.I suggest you take a look at the construction site, you will find that there are almost no people born in the 80s and 90s, usually people my age, probably born in the 50s to 70s, why?Because the children of the first generation of migrant workers - the second generation of farmers, no longer go to work in construction sites, because the working environment is too bad.The second generation of farmers is different from their parents.Why did their fathers and fathers endure so much pain for 1,000 yuan a month, and endure the hardships of sweatshops that are much worse than Foxconn?Because they have faith, and this faith is not faith in God, but faith in family.They work so that their wives and children in their hometown will not go hungry, and so that their children born in the 80s and 90s can study and grow up smoothly.The agricultural generation is the group of people I admire the most. They work hard and work day and night. They are happy if you ask them to work overtime, but they are unhappy if you ask them to work 8 hours a day. They think it is best to work 12 hours a day. ,why?Because in this way, they can earn 4 more hours of money to support their families and their children born in the 80s and 90s.The peasant generation has become the most important driving force behind China's economic development in the past 30 years. But the second generation of farmers is different. The same working environment that gave birth to the first generation of farmers, the second generation of farmers responds with suicide.Although I am saddened by the suicide itself, I want to know more, when the second generation of farmers committed suicide, did they think about how the poor old mother of the first generation of farmers would live?At the beginning, your old father suffered so many years in order to train you the second generation of farmers. After raising you, you jumped off the building if something went wrong. Do you know how much impact this will have on your parents?Where is the minimum filial piety of the second generation of farmers?Moreover, the second generation of peasants is not like a soldier, and a soldier cannot be discharged until the time is up.You are at Foxconn. If you don’t want to do it, you can quit and go home.I don't understand, why do you leave the suffering to the poor peasant generation?When I saw these 13 second-generation peasants who committed suicide, I did feel sad, but not for them, but for their parents.The first generation of farmers wasted their whole life in order to raise the second generation of farmers. As a result, the second generation of farmers rewarded their parents with severe blows and ruthless destruction. Since the post-80s and post-90s cannot accept Foxconn's semi-military management model, let's talk about whether this management system is reasonable or not? I will first read a few comments to the reader. One is the "Minbao" report that Foxconn's internal management is militarized, and thousands of people are silent when eating in the canteen, which clearly shows the strict management of the company. The second is that on May 25, 2010, a commentator of Phoenix Satellite TV said in the mainland news: Foxconn implements militarized management, and employees are under great pressure. The third is the 21st Century Business Herald, which once interviewed Professor Luo Jiade from the Department of Sociology of Tsinghua University. Professor Luo believes that the most fundamental reason for these suicides is that Foxconn's management model is too old, which is no longer suitable for the post-80s and post-90s.There is some truth to this statement, because this set of militarized management is indeed only applicable to the peasant generation who have faith, and our post-80s and post-90s cannot bear it. Fourth, a major newspaper reported that Foxconn's semi-militarized management mechanism, barrier-based management, and the rigid means of treating people as machines have caused heavy psychological pressure and even harm to employees, and objectively led employees to commit suicide due to personal problems. a major incentive.From these media reports, readers can find that the semi-military management system that gave birth to the peasant generation in the past seems to have entered a new bottleneck through the suicide of 13 Foxconn employees.This kind of semi-militarized management has bred the achievements of 30 years of reform and opening up. Does it need to make a fundamental change to cater to the mentality of the new generation born in the 1980s and 1990s? As the world's largest OEM company, Foxconn has developed rapidly since its establishment in Shenzhen in 1988. In 2008, its total export volume reached 55.6 billion US dollars, accounting for 3.9% of the total export volume of mainland China, and it has ranked first in the top 200 mainland exporters for seven consecutive years. .Semi-militarized management is considered to be the source of Foxconn's competitiveness. Some people even said that "in Guo Taiming's blood, there are genes of military management."So, are the institutional problems at Foxconn really caused by militarized management?What kind of driving factors are buried behind the militarized management?
Before talking about how to change, I want to find out its essence through this phenomenon and see who is responsible for this semi-militarized management?Is it Foxconn, or the black hand behind it?Readers are asked to first think about why Foxconn conducts militarized management?It's because the black hand behind it asked for it, and this black hand is Apple.Let me talk about Apple. Apple advertises itself as a socially responsible company at all times, and Apple also stipulates in the system that Foxconn must pay attention to the personal rights of employees to ensure that they can have a good enough working environment and receive reasonable compensation. remuneration.What is reality?According to our analysis, Apple is doing everything possible to squeeze Foxconn's profits.In order to reduce costs and earn more profits, Foxconn can only rely on increasing the labor intensity of employees to improve work efficiency. Therefore, semi-military management must be carried out to meet Apple's requirements. Therefore, Apple is the embodiment of American hypocrisy. It is the real black hand behind the suicides of young people born in the 80s and 90s, and Foxconn is just its tool.Of course, I am not saying that Foxconn has no responsibility, but for Foxconn, if it does not follow the customer's requirements, it will not get the order, it's as simple as that! Then let's talk further, to what extent is Foxconn's responsibility and to what extent is Apple's responsibility?Let's take the iPod as an example. The sales volume of iPod in the first half of 2006 was 8.5 million units, a year-on-year increase of 61%, and the revenue exceeded 10 billion US dollars.Apple makes so much money, how much can Foxconn make?Let me tell you, $4 means that Foxconn can only get $4 for each iPod, accounting for less than 1% of the profit, because the production costs such as electricity, equipment, and materials have not been excluded, and the other 99 % of the money is earned by Apple.Let's talk about the labor cost, which is also stipulated by Apple. Foxconn has no right to decide. How does Apple stipulate the labor cost?They are calculated by multiplying the minimum wage in a factory location, such as Shenzhen, by the maximum hours worked per product.There is also the cost of spare parts. Apple places orders directly with various spare parts suppliers other than Foxconn, and the purchased spare parts will be sent to Foxconn for assembly on time according to Apple's regulations, so the cost of spare parts for Foxconn It is also undecidable. According to Guo Taiming, Hon Hai Group currently has 900,000 employees worldwide, and Foxconn in mainland China has about 820,000 employees, of which 450,000 are in Shenzhen.Terry Gou's companies include almost all high-tech products, such as Apple's iPod, iPhone, SONY's PS3, and Intel's chips.However, according to the analysis of relevant industry insiders, since 2000, Foxconn, which has risen with the advantage of "low prices", has lowered the profit margin of the entire industry from 20% to the current 5%-6% through competition.What challenges does Foxconn's profit model face today?
Post-80s and post-90s often complain that working at Foxconn has no dignity. They are right to complain, but I would like to ask who deprived them of their dignity?Is it Foxconn, or the black hands behind it?Let me give you an example, let the reader judge.In order to ensure that the prototypes are not stolen, Foxconn employees are not allowed to carry any iron-containing items on them. The mobile phones found are confiscated. The iron buttons of jeans must be cut off, and all underwear including bras with iron buttons must be cut off. Why?Because they are afraid that employees will steal the prototype.But readers, please think about it, is this Foxconn's regulation or Apple's regulation?On the surface, it seems that there is nothing wrong with Foxconn's regulations, but why is it so stipulated?This is because Apple, the black hand behind it, stipulates that if the prototype is lost, Foxconn will be severely punished, which forces Foxconn to make such a rule.In the end, it was like a spy novel, employees had to be body-searched every day, leaving those of us born in the 80s and 90s without even the most basic dignity.Not only that, Foxconn can also investigate any employee suspected of leaking secrets. The reason behind this is because Apple will investigate leaks and will punish Foxconn once it is discovered, so Foxconn is forced to investigate.Therefore, Foxconn clearly pointed out that if a leak occurs, it will not hesitate to sue the relevant persons. Why?Because it's Apple's decision. Foxconn, which is facing the test of the crisis, raised the basic monthly salary of general workers in the Shenzhen factory from 900 yuan to 1,200 yuan on June 1, 2010. The monthly minimum salary of employees who are assessed monthly is raised to 2,000 yuan.Then, how are Foxconn workers' wages and working conditions determined?
Also, in August 2009, Jiang Haoliang, one of Guo Taiming's hand-picked successors, suddenly left the first-line core business of his company Hon Hai (called Foxconn in the mainland) in Taiwan and became a special assistant to the president.Jiang Haoliang worked at Apple for 16 years before joining Hon Hai.After being dug into Hon Hai by Guo Taiming, he borrowed his old relationship with Apple and became the person in charge of Apple's orders.This time it was none other than his old club who drove him down.Do readers know why?It was because Jiang Haoliang did not listen to Apple's instructions on the cost control of a small iPhone part. Apple was angry, so it called Terry Gou directly and asked him to remove the general manager, otherwise he would no longer place an order with Foxconn.The purpose of my citing this example is to say that even a small iPhone spare parts are carefully managed by Apple, and everything must obey Apple’s scheduling, and those who are disobedient will be dismissed.Think about it, even Jiang Haoliang can be dismissed, not to mention our poor employees born in the 80s and 90s, what are they in the eyes of Apple?It's just a screw on the machine. The dignity of employees is a fart in Apple's eyes. They can investigate you as they want. Readers, why do Foxconn employees work 12 hours instead of 8 hours?The reason is still Apple.For the sake of commercial confidentiality, Apple has a very confidential planning process.First, the production line workers don't know what they are producing until the last moment of production, and Apple keeps it completely secret.Second, Foxconn or many spare parts manufacturers must provide several prototypes or samples of spare parts in advance at Apple's request, but Apple will make a decision after a long time, although Apple knows in advance which prototype is needed , this is just a blindfold.Since Foxconn and the parts factory don't know which one Apple will end up using, they can't divulge the secrets.Apple only told these manufacturers a week before the shipment time, so that they had no time to buy and sell to competitors.Third, what is the extent of Apple's culture of secrecy?Its products use special models and sizes every time. All the current production platforms of the factory are not available. The entire process of the platform must be changed in the last week to meet its model and size.Apple is afraid that if the factory knows it in advance, it will resell it in large quantities to its competitors. For Foxconn, there is only one week left in the production time limit, so they have to work overtime and work 24 hours a day.At this time, Foxconn has two options, either three shifts a day for 8 hours, or two shifts a day for 12 hours.At present, Foxconn operates two 12-hour shifts a day, and employs 400,000 people, but if it is changed to 8-hour three shifts a day, it will have to employ 600,000 people.However, the peak seasons for iPod sales are Easter in April and Christmas in December. Other times are basically off-seasons. Sales are not so hot and orders will decrease. So for Foxconn, what is the best choice?The fewer workers the better. The cost of 400,000 people is always lower than that of 600,000 people, so Foxconn and Chinese OEM (OEM) companies are forced to adopt a 12-hour double shift system.The question is how did Foxconn get to this point?Because it was forced by Apple.Moreover, workers can only earn the local minimum wage for working so hard overtime. In addition, since there is only one week left to deliver the goods, the assembly line moves very fast, otherwise there will be no time for assembly, so that every worker must concentrate on doing the same action, such as inserting pins, which is why Foxconn employees say that the work is boring The real reason for the monotony.This assembly line model originated from Ford Motor in the United States in 1910. At that time, its concept was that the assembly of a car went through the assembly line, and each worker only did one job. I inserted a screw and you installed a steering wheel.A car goes from the first step of the assembly line to the last step, everyone does the same job, the efficiency is very high, and the cost is very low.But it is for this reason that people are alienated, as Marx said.In this kind of production process, people are just a small screw in the whole machine. This small screw with flesh and blood only does one thing every day, and in order to ensure that this thing does not go wrong, it is necessary to promote militarized management.If employees do a good job of labor protection step by step and then go to work, they may not be able to keep up with the speed of the production line, because the flow of the assembly line is too fast, and he has to rush, so many employees can only violate the operating procedures, and there are often employees in the electroplating workshop If you don't have time to wear gloves, you will directly touch the equipment and parts with high concentration of chemicals, which will bring immeasurable damage to the health of employees.One employee said how he wished his needles would fall on the ground so that he could bend down to pick them up. This little laziness turned out to be his greatest enjoyment.The fact is that the time wasted by a worker bending down to pick up a needle will immediately cause Foxconn to suffer losses, because its profits are set by Apple, and employees cannot tolerate mistakes. As long as employees make mistakes, Foxconn's meager profits could suffer particularly large losses.Therefore, the strictest militarized management must be used to ensure that everyone does the same boring and monotonous work at high speed every day, and you cannot make mistakes, because if you make mistakes, Foxconn will have to lose money.Whose problem is this?Apple of course. If our media scolds Foxconn today, is it going to scold another company tomorrow?There is no point in cursing and scolding. Haven't you found that all Chinese OEMs are at the level of Foxconn?And let me tell you, most factories are not as good as Foxconn.Almost every OEM in China is struggling to survive under the control of a big factory like Apple.And what's more sad?At the end of the scolding, we discovered that the real black hand is still at large.As long as companies such as Apple exist, Chinese OEM companies must be in such a miserable situation, and the suicide situation of post-80s and post-90s will not get any improvement.If you push Foxconn any more, if it closes, you will have 400,000 people unemployed.And the result of transferring these 400,000 people to other factories is the same, maybe even worse. So should we have a better bargaining condition?Sharing some of Apple's profits with our workers is, of course, nonsense.Do readers know how much money Apple makes?According to the research results of financial statements, Apple's gross profit rate is 70%, and the net profit rate is 40%. What about Foxconn?What about Chinese OEMs?Only about 2%.All the costs of suicide are borne by ourselves, the pain of suicide is borne by the younger generation, and our society bears it.But the militarized management, squeezed all the profits obtained by our post-80s and post-90s, didn't Foxconn take it?No, who is that?apple.But now Foxconn has become the target of the attack, the scapegoat, and the victim. Remember, it was harmed by Apple.In fact, Chinese OEMs are all Foxconn, and all Foxconn employees are just screws to Foxconn, a small screw and a poor worm who has no self and only does the same job every day according to Foxconn's requirements.But Foxconn has no self for Apple, it is just a small screw, and it is also a small screw that does the same job every day according to Apple's requirements.It’s just that under the little screw of Foxconn there are more little screws, and this little Huisi screw couldn’t adapt to this system, and finally committed suicide, so our media attributed all the faults to the little screw of Foxconn, and the real Apple, the black hand behind the scenes, is at large outside the public opinion. At the end of May 2010, Apple sent an independent investigation team to Foxconn to investigate employee suicides. After that, Apple stated that it would give Foxconn 1% to 2% of its profits. In early June, it was reported that Apple had reached a consensus with Foxconn to provide a 2% subsidy for Apple products manufactured by Foxconn, that is, an additional 2% increase on the basis of the original OEM fee, in order to alleviate Foxconn’s salary increase. cost pressures.While many people are delighted by the increase in workers' wages, there are reports that the OEMs represented by Foxconn are migrating from the coast to the Midwest where the cost is lower, and Apple's subsidies are not enough to fundamentally solve the problems of the Foxconn model. question.So, is there a better production method that goes beyond streamlined production and avoids the "Foxconn tragedy"?
Finally, I would like to mention a new production process to the readers—the cell-based production process.This case is described in detail in my book "Thinking".This process was created by Canon in Japan. In fact, Canon also adopted Ford’s assembly line operation method in the past. A camera is assembled through the assembly line. A installs a screw, B installs a cover, C installs a lens, ABC these three workers I have been doing the same boring job all my life, so the suicide rate in Japan is very high, because there is too much frustration, the salary is not high, and the work is boring.In the end, Canon decided to abandon the assembly line and change to a round table process, which is called a cellular production process. 10 people surround a table, and the same camera is made by these 10 people without going through the assembly line.It’s not that you insert a screw and I insert a lens, but these 10 people chat while doing the work, talking about their children, and talking about everyday things, so the workers will not be alienated, and the humanized communication will start again.I insert a screw, and then you put a lens.You went to eat, went to the bathroom, and I will help you install the lenses.That is to say, everyone knows every job. He doesn't just install lenses all his life, but he knows how to install all the spare parts in the whole camera.In other words, Canon has replaced the mechanized production method of the assembly line with a humanized production method, and these 10 people can do any job.Do you think it takes a lot of time?Do you think it is inefficient?Then you are wrong.It is precisely because of the humanization of chatting and working that the efficiency is improved.If it's an assembly line, is it okay to go to the toilet alone?All assembly lines will stop because of one person. Readers should understand that employees of the entire assembly line cannot ask for leave, so it is very troublesome to ask for leave at Foxconn, because if you ask for leave, who will insert your pin?If you don't insert the needle, you won't be able to do the following work.So if one person asks for leave, the team leader will find someone else to take your place, but other people can only do their work, and no one will do your work, so you can't let you ask for leave.Foxconn employees complain that the supervisor always refuses to approve the leave, because if you ask for leave, the entire assembly line will stop immediately.But what about cells?It's okay if you ask for leave, I'll just do it for you, and you can do it for me tomorrow, because I can do everything. If the company has only one assembly line, everyone must work continuously, because the assembly line cannot be broken.You can't say that the assembly line is turned in half, that's not allowed.But the cell formula is different.What if sales drop after Christmas?The factory originally had 100 cells, but now only 50 cells are used to make it, and the employees of the other 50 cells simply have to go on vacation.In contrast, the assembly line must go through the entire process to make the entire product, so it is either zero or 100%, and it cannot be only half.But once it is changed to a cell type, it is very flexible. In case of Easter or Christmas, 100 cells will work together.Therefore, for Foxconn, it can consider re-innovating production methods, and don't always stick to the past assembly line military management model.You see, how humanized are cells?Although it is not a militarized management, after adding more human factors, can the efficiency be improved compared with the assembly line?Take a look at Canon. In 1997, Canon abolished the 16,000-meter-long assembly line and adopted a cellular production method. In 1998, after the second year, it started to bear fruit, and labor productivity increased by an average of 50%.Unbelievable, right?Among them, Canon Group's factory in Dalian, China, adopted the cellular production method, and its labor productivity increased by 370% within one year.The company's profit margin increased from 2% in 1999 to 10% in 2004, an increase of five times.Moreover, Canon's profit contribution per employee increased by as much as 80% in a single year from 1999 to 2000, and the percentage in 2004 was four times that of 1999. The cell-based production method and the conveyor belt production method are repeated with the development of the times. Entering the 1990s, Japan's manufacturing industry ushered in a business environment similar to that in the 1970s.After the bursting of the bubble economy, the production with few varieties and large output can no longer adapt to the sluggish demand.In addition, Japanese manufacturers have realized the crisis of cost wars with overseas countries, and the production method without conveyor belts has returned to people's sight. In the past 20 years, the conveyor belt has deposited a lot of "dust", which has created the need to completely abolish the conveyor belt and re-slim the manufacturing line. The cycle of "conveyor belt production line - cell production line - conveyor belt production line - cell production line" is inevitable for factories.Not only the conveyor belt production method, any production method will inevitably accumulate many chronic diseases after going through the road for 20 years. There is a problem that cannot be ignored: after more than 20 years of introducing a certain production method, the workers on the production line will become slaves to the shape of the production line.Workers only know this kind of production method, and it is difficult to think deeply to dig out the fundamental problems.This has become an ethos in the workshop.When a company introduces a production method, it will naturally judge its advantages and disadvantages calmly.However, if you work in a certain mode of production from the moment you enter the company, you will have no way of knowing the background and experience when it was introduced. In the mid-1990s, the workers on the production line were all trained in the "conveyor belt method".Since they have not participated in the experience of establishing the conveyor belt method, they do not understand the principles and principles.Therefore, there will be an assumption that "the manufacturing line is originally the world of conveyor belts". Even if the environment changes, it is difficult to calmly think about production efficiency. In addition, after 20 years of constant use, the dead work of the production line must accumulate.This is as natural to any method of production as dust deposits.In particular, the conveyor belt method has a lot of heavy equipment and is very expensive, so frequent large-scale changes cannot be made.This is one of the reasons why stereotypes are deeply rooted. This article is excerpted from "Canon Cellular Production Method" written by Hisashi Shumaki
We have made a simple summary of all the analysis of the media, militarized management is the root of all mistakes.Is that right?So should there be more suicides in the army?But I still remember that many of our entrepreneurs also came out of the army, including Liu Chuanzhi, Zhang Ruimin, Wang Shi, Ning Gaoning, Ren Zhengfei, and Guo Taiming himself served as a soldier in Taiwan.Foxconn employees born in the 1980s and 1990s talk about the hardships they have suffered at Foxconn. In my opinion, what kind of suffering is it?You go and try to be a soldier, it is really hard to be a soldier.Take me personally as an example. When I was a soldier, I went to bed at 11 o'clock every night, and got up at 5:30 the next morning. I started to drill after getting up. I practiced for a day, and beatings and scolding often happened. What's the big deal?And at that time, I was also suffering from skin diseases, because the underwear and underwear of all our officers and soldiers were washed together, so as long as one person had an infectious disease, we would all be infected. This skin disease was so prevalent.I remember that when I was in the army, I suffered from various skin diseases, such as acne, scabies, eczema, boils, etc., itching to death every day, and scratching the itching every day while having sex, the pain was unbearable.However, readers, please don't look at me with strange eyes, I am cured now.In addition, when I was in the army, I had to go out to exercise and run every day, and we were still fighting on the front line, and our lives were in danger.Two years in the army have passed, and I never resented that time, but it is a good memory for me. We are not saying that these employees born in the 1980s and 1990s are wrong to complain about Foxconn, but that this complaint itself has symbolized that the first generation of hardworking migrant workers who dedicated themselves to China's reform and opening up has become a thing of the past.I suggest you take a look at the construction site, you will find that there are almost no people born in the 80s and 90s, usually people my age, probably born in the 50s to 70s, why?Because the children of the first generation of migrant workers - the second generation of farmers, no longer go to work in construction sites, because the working environment is too bad.The second generation of farmers is different from their parents.Why did their fathers and fathers endure so much pain for 1,000 yuan a month, and endure the hardships of sweatshops that are much worse than Foxconn?Because they have faith, and this faith is not faith in God, but faith in family.They work so that their wives and children in their hometown will not go hungry, and so that their children born in the 80s and 90s can study and grow up smoothly.The agricultural generation is the group of people I admire the most. They work hard and work day and night. They are happy if you ask them to work overtime, but they are unhappy if you ask them to work 8 hours a day. They think it is best to work 12 hours a day. ,why?Because in this way, they can earn 4 more hours of money to support their families and their children born in the 80s and 90s.The peasant generation has become the most important driving force behind China's economic development in the past 30 years. But the second generation of farmers is different. The same working environment that gave birth to the first generation of farmers, the second generation of farmers responds with suicide.Although I am saddened by the suicide itself, I want to know more, when the second generation of farmers committed suicide, did they think about how the poor old mother of the first generation of farmers would live?At the beginning, your old father suffered so many years in order to train you the second generation of farmers. After raising you, you jumped off the building if something went wrong. Do you know how much impact this will have on your parents?Where is the minimum filial piety of the second generation of farmers?Moreover, the second generation of peasants is not like a soldier, and a soldier cannot be discharged until the time is up.You are at Foxconn. If you don’t want to do it, you can quit and go home.I don't understand, why do you leave the suffering to the poor peasant generation?When I saw these 13 second-generation peasants who committed suicide, I did feel sad, but not for them, but for their parents.The first generation of farmers wasted their whole life in order to raise the second generation of farmers. As a result, the second generation of farmers rewarded their parents with severe blows and ruthless destruction. Since the post-80s and post-90s cannot accept Foxconn's semi-military management model, let's talk about whether this management system is reasonable or not? I will first read a few comments to the reader. One is the "Minbao" report that Foxconn's internal management is militarized, and thousands of people are silent when eating in the canteen, which clearly shows the strict management of the company. The second is that on May 25, 2010, a commentator of Phoenix Satellite TV said in the mainland news: Foxconn implements militarized management, and employees are under great pressure. The third is the 21st Century Business Herald, which once interviewed Professor Luo Jiade from the Department of Sociology of Tsinghua University. Professor Luo believes that the most fundamental reason for these suicides is that Foxconn's management model is too old, which is no longer suitable for the post-80s and post-90s.There is some truth to this statement, because this set of militarized management is indeed only applicable to the peasant generation who have faith, and our post-80s and post-90s cannot bear it. Fourth, a major newspaper reported that Foxconn's semi-militarized management mechanism, barrier-based management, and the rigid means of treating people as machines have caused heavy psychological pressure and even harm to employees, and objectively led employees to commit suicide due to personal problems. a major incentive.From these media reports, readers can find that the semi-military management system that gave birth to the peasant generation in the past seems to have entered a new bottleneck through the suicide of 13 Foxconn employees.This kind of semi-militarized management has bred the achievements of 30 years of reform and opening up. Does it need to make a fundamental change to cater to the mentality of the new generation born in the 1980s and 1990s? As the world's largest OEM company, Foxconn has developed rapidly since its establishment in Shenzhen in 1988. In 2008, its total export volume reached 55.6 billion US dollars, accounting for 3.9% of the total export volume of mainland China, and it has ranked first in the top 200 mainland exporters for seven consecutive years. .Semi-militarized management is considered to be the source of Foxconn's competitiveness. Some people even said that "in Guo Taiming's blood, there are genes of military management."So, are the institutional problems at Foxconn really caused by militarized management?What kind of driving factors are buried behind the militarized management?
Before talking about how to change, I want to find out its essence through this phenomenon and see who is responsible for this semi-militarized management?Is it Foxconn, or the black hand behind it?Readers are asked to first think about why Foxconn conducts militarized management?It's because the black hand behind it asked for it, and this black hand is Apple.Let me talk about Apple. Apple advertises itself as a socially responsible company at all times, and Apple also stipulates in the system that Foxconn must pay attention to the personal rights of employees to ensure that they can have a good enough working environment and receive reasonable compensation. remuneration.What is reality?According to our analysis, Apple is doing everything possible to squeeze Foxconn's profits.In order to reduce costs and earn more profits, Foxconn can only rely on increasing the labor intensity of employees to improve work efficiency. Therefore, semi-military management must be carried out to meet Apple's requirements. Therefore, Apple is the embodiment of American hypocrisy. It is the real black hand behind the suicides of young people born in the 80s and 90s, and Foxconn is just its tool.Of course, I am not saying that Foxconn has no responsibility, but for Foxconn, if it does not follow the customer's requirements, it will not get the order, it's as simple as that! Then let's talk further, to what extent is Foxconn's responsibility and to what extent is Apple's responsibility?Let's take the iPod as an example. The sales volume of iPod in the first half of 2006 was 8.5 million units, a year-on-year increase of 61%, and the revenue exceeded 10 billion US dollars.Apple makes so much money, how much can Foxconn make?Let me tell you, $4 means that Foxconn can only get $4 for each iPod, accounting for less than 1% of the profit, because the production costs such as electricity, equipment, and materials have not been excluded, and the other 99 % of the money is earned by Apple.Let's talk about the labor cost, which is also stipulated by Apple. Foxconn has no right to decide. How does Apple stipulate the labor cost?They are calculated by multiplying the minimum wage in a factory location, such as Shenzhen, by the maximum hours worked per product.There is also the cost of spare parts. Apple places orders directly with various spare parts suppliers other than Foxconn, and the purchased spare parts will be sent to Foxconn for assembly on time according to Apple's regulations, so the cost of spare parts for Foxconn It is also undecidable. According to Guo Taiming, Hon Hai Group currently has 900,000 employees worldwide, and Foxconn in mainland China has about 820,000 employees, of which 450,000 are in Shenzhen.Terry Gou's companies include almost all high-tech products, such as Apple's iPod, iPhone, SONY's PS3, and Intel's chips.However, according to the analysis of relevant industry insiders, since 2000, Foxconn, which has risen with the advantage of "low prices", has lowered the profit margin of the entire industry from 20% to the current 5%-6% through competition.What challenges does Foxconn's profit model face today?
Post-80s and post-90s often complain that working at Foxconn has no dignity. They are right to complain, but I would like to ask who deprived them of their dignity?Is it Foxconn, or the black hands behind it?Let me give you an example, let the reader judge.In order to ensure that the prototypes are not stolen, Foxconn employees are not allowed to carry any iron-containing items on them. The mobile phones found are confiscated. The iron buttons of jeans must be cut off, and all underwear including bras with iron buttons must be cut off. Why?Because they are afraid that employees will steal the prototype.But readers, please think about it, is this Foxconn's regulation or Apple's regulation?On the surface, it seems that there is nothing wrong with Foxconn's regulations, but why is it so stipulated?This is because Apple, the black hand behind it, stipulates that if the prototype is lost, Foxconn will be severely punished, which forces Foxconn to make such a rule.In the end, it was like a spy novel, employees had to be body-searched every day, leaving those of us born in the 80s and 90s without even the most basic dignity.Not only that, Foxconn can also investigate any employee suspected of leaking secrets. The reason behind this is because Apple will investigate leaks and will punish Foxconn once it is discovered, so Foxconn is forced to investigate.Therefore, Foxconn clearly pointed out that if a leak occurs, it will not hesitate to sue the relevant persons. Why?Because it's Apple's decision. Foxconn, which is facing the test of the crisis, raised the basic monthly salary of general workers in the Shenzhen factory from 900 yuan to 1,200 yuan on June 1, 2010. The monthly minimum salary of employees who are assessed monthly is raised to 2,000 yuan.Then, how are Foxconn workers' wages and working conditions determined?
Also, in August 2009, Jiang Haoliang, one of Guo Taiming's hand-picked successors, suddenly left the first-line core business of his company Hon Hai (called Foxconn in the mainland) in Taiwan and became a special assistant to the president.Jiang Haoliang worked at Apple for 16 years before joining Hon Hai.After being dug into Hon Hai by Guo Taiming, he borrowed his old relationship with Apple and became the person in charge of Apple's orders.This time it was none other than his old club who drove him down.Do readers know why?It was because Jiang Haoliang did not listen to Apple's instructions on the cost control of a small iPhone part. Apple was angry, so it called Terry Gou directly and asked him to remove the general manager, otherwise he would no longer place an order with Foxconn.The purpose of my citing this example is to say that even a small iPhone spare parts are carefully managed by Apple, and everything must obey Apple’s scheduling, and those who are disobedient will be dismissed.Think about it, even Jiang Haoliang can be dismissed, not to mention our poor employees born in the 80s and 90s, what are they in the eyes of Apple?It's just a screw on the machine. The dignity of employees is a fart in Apple's eyes. They can investigate you as they want. Readers, why do Foxconn employees work 12 hours instead of 8 hours?The reason is still Apple.For the sake of commercial confidentiality, Apple has a very confidential planning process.First, the production line workers don't know what they are producing until the last moment of production, and Apple keeps it completely secret.Second, Foxconn or many spare parts manufacturers must provide several prototypes or samples of spare parts in advance at Apple's request, but Apple will make a decision after a long time, although Apple knows in advance which prototype is needed , this is just a blindfold.Since Foxconn and the parts factory don't know which one Apple will end up using, they can't divulge the secrets.Apple only told these manufacturers a week before the shipment time, so that they had no time to buy and sell to competitors.Third, what is the extent of Apple's culture of secrecy?Its products use special models and sizes every time. All the current production platforms of the factory are not available. The entire process of the platform must be changed in the last week to meet its model and size.Apple is afraid that if the factory knows it in advance, it will resell it in large quantities to its competitors. For Foxconn, there is only one week left in the production time limit, so they have to work overtime and work 24 hours a day.At this time, Foxconn has two options, either three shifts a day for 8 hours, or two shifts a day for 12 hours.At present, Foxconn operates two 12-hour shifts a day, and employs 400,000 people, but if it is changed to 8-hour three shifts a day, it will have to employ 600,000 people.However, the peak seasons for iPod sales are Easter in April and Christmas in December. Other times are basically off-seasons. Sales are not so hot and orders will decrease. So for Foxconn, what is the best choice?The fewer workers the better. The cost of 400,000 people is always lower than that of 600,000 people, so Foxconn and Chinese OEM (OEM) companies are forced to adopt a 12-hour double shift system.The question is how did Foxconn get to this point?Because it was forced by Apple.Moreover, workers can only earn the local minimum wage for working so hard overtime. In addition, since there is only one week left to deliver the goods, the assembly line moves very fast, otherwise there will be no time for assembly, so that every worker must concentrate on doing the same action, such as inserting pins, which is why Foxconn employees say that the work is boring The real reason for the monotony.This assembly line model originated from Ford Motor in the United States in 1910. At that time, its concept was that the assembly of a car went through the assembly line, and each worker only did one job. I inserted a screw and you installed a steering wheel.A car goes from the first step of the assembly line to the last step, everyone does the same job, the efficiency is very high, and the cost is very low.But it is for this reason that people are alienated, as Marx said.In this kind of production process, people are just a small screw in the whole machine. This small screw with flesh and blood only does one thing every day, and in order to ensure that this thing does not go wrong, it is necessary to promote militarized management.If employees do a good job of labor protection step by step and then go to work, they may not be able to keep up with the speed of the production line, because the flow of the assembly line is too fast, and he has to rush, so many employees can only violate the operating procedures, and there are often employees in the electroplating workshop If you don't have time to wear gloves, you will directly touch the equipment and parts with high concentration of chemicals, which will bring immeasurable damage to the health of employees.One employee said how he wished his needles would fall on the ground so that he could bend down to pick them up. This little laziness turned out to be his greatest enjoyment.The fact is that the time wasted by a worker bending down to pick up a needle will immediately cause Foxconn to suffer losses, because its profits are set by Apple, and employees cannot tolerate mistakes. As long as employees make mistakes, Foxconn's meager profits could suffer particularly large losses.Therefore, the strictest militarized management must be used to ensure that everyone does the same boring and monotonous work at high speed every day, and you cannot make mistakes, because if you make mistakes, Foxconn will have to lose money.Whose problem is this?Apple of course. If our media scolds Foxconn today, is it going to scold another company tomorrow?There is no point in cursing and scolding. Haven't you found that all Chinese OEMs are at the level of Foxconn?And let me tell you, most factories are not as good as Foxconn.Almost every OEM in China is struggling to survive under the control of a big factory like Apple.And what's more sad?At the end of the scolding, we discovered that the real black hand is still at large.As long as companies such as Apple exist, Chinese OEM companies must be in such a miserable situation, and the suicide situation of post-80s and post-90s will not get any improvement.If you push Foxconn any more, if it closes, you will have 400,000 people unemployed.And the result of transferring these 400,000 people to other factories is the same, maybe even worse. So should we have a better bargaining condition?Sharing some of Apple's profits with our workers is, of course, nonsense.Do readers know how much money Apple makes?According to the research results of financial statements, Apple's gross profit rate is 70%, and the net profit rate is 40%. What about Foxconn?What about Chinese OEMs?Only about 2%.All the costs of suicide are borne by ourselves, the pain of suicide is borne by the younger generation, and our society bears it.But the militarized management, squeezed all the profits obtained by our post-80s and post-90s, didn't Foxconn take it?No, who is that?apple.But now Foxconn has become the target of the attack, the scapegoat, and the victim. Remember, it was harmed by Apple.In fact, Chinese OEMs are all Foxconn, and all Foxconn employees are just screws to Foxconn, a small screw and a poor worm who has no self and only does the same job every day according to Foxconn's requirements.But Foxconn has no self for Apple, it is just a small screw, and it is also a small screw that does the same job every day according to Apple's requirements.It’s just that under the little screw of Foxconn there are more little screws, and this little Huisi screw couldn’t adapt to this system, and finally committed suicide, so our media attributed all the faults to the little screw of Foxconn, and the real Apple, the black hand behind the scenes, is at large outside the public opinion. At the end of May 2010, Apple sent an independent investigation team to Foxconn to investigate employee suicides. After that, Apple stated that it would give Foxconn 1% to 2% of its profits. In early June, it was reported that Apple had reached a consensus with Foxconn to provide a 2% subsidy for Apple products manufactured by Foxconn, that is, an additional 2% increase on the basis of the original OEM fee, in order to alleviate Foxconn’s salary increase. cost pressures.While many people are delighted by the increase in workers' wages, there are reports that the OEMs represented by Foxconn are migrating from the coast to the Midwest where the cost is lower, and Apple's subsidies are not enough to fundamentally solve the problems of the Foxconn model. question.So, is there a better production method that goes beyond streamlined production and avoids the "Foxconn tragedy"?
Finally, I would like to mention a new production process to the readers—the cell-based production process.This case is described in detail in my book "Thinking".This process was created by Canon in Japan. In fact, Canon also adopted Ford’s assembly line operation method in the past. A camera is assembled through the assembly line. A installs a screw, B installs a cover, C installs a lens, ABC these three workers I have been doing the same boring job all my life, so the suicide rate in Japan is very high, because there is too much frustration, the salary is not high, and the work is boring.In the end, Canon decided to abandon the assembly line and change to a round table process, which is called a cellular production process. 10 people surround a table, and the same camera is made by these 10 people without going through the assembly line.It’s not that you insert a screw and I insert a lens, but these 10 people chat while doing the work, talking about their children, and talking about everyday things, so the workers will not be alienated, and the humanized communication will start again.I insert a screw, and then you put a lens.You went to eat, went to the bathroom, and I will help you install the lenses.That is to say, everyone knows every job. He doesn't just install lenses all his life, but he knows how to install all the spare parts in the whole camera.In other words, Canon has replaced the mechanized production method of the assembly line with a humanized production method, and these 10 people can do any job.Do you think it takes a lot of time?Do you think it is inefficient?Then you are wrong.It is precisely because of the humanization of chatting and working that the efficiency is improved.If it's an assembly line, is it okay to go to the toilet alone?All assembly lines will stop because of one person. Readers should understand that employees of the entire assembly line cannot ask for leave, so it is very troublesome to ask for leave at Foxconn, because if you ask for leave, who will insert your pin?If you don't insert the needle, you won't be able to do the following work.So if one person asks for leave, the team leader will find someone else to take your place, but other people can only do their work, and no one will do your work, so you can't let you ask for leave.Foxconn employees complain that the supervisor always refuses to approve the leave, because if you ask for leave, the entire assembly line will stop immediately.But what about cells?It's okay if you ask for leave, I'll just do it for you, and you can do it for me tomorrow, because I can do everything. If the company has only one assembly line, everyone must work continuously, because the assembly line cannot be broken.You can't say that the assembly line is turned in half, that's not allowed.But the cell formula is different.What if sales drop after Christmas?The factory originally had 100 cells, but now only 50 cells are used to make it, and the employees of the other 50 cells simply have to go on vacation.In contrast, the assembly line must go through the entire process to make the entire product, so it is either zero or 100%, and it cannot be only half.But once it is changed to a cell type, it is very flexible. In case of Easter or Christmas, 100 cells will work together.Therefore, for Foxconn, it can consider re-innovating production methods, and don't always stick to the past assembly line military management model.You see, how humanized are cells?Although it is not a militarized management, after adding more human factors, can the efficiency be improved compared with the assembly line?Take a look at Canon. In 1997, Canon abolished the 16,000-meter-long assembly line and adopted a cellular production method. In 1998, after the second year, it started to bear fruit, and labor productivity increased by an average of 50%.Unbelievable, right?Among them, Canon Group's factory in Dalian, China, adopted the cellular production method, and its labor productivity increased by 370% within one year.The company's profit margin increased from 2% in 1999 to 10% in 2004, an increase of five times.Moreover, Canon's profit contribution per employee increased by as much as 80% in a single year from 1999 to 2000, and the percentage in 2004 was four times that of 1999. The cell-based production method and the conveyor belt production method are repeated with the development of the times. Entering the 1990s, Japan's manufacturing industry ushered in a business environment similar to that in the 1970s.After the bursting of the bubble economy, the production with few varieties and large output can no longer adapt to the sluggish demand.In addition, Japanese manufacturers have realized the crisis of cost wars with overseas countries, and the production method without conveyor belts has returned to people's sight. In the past 20 years, the conveyor belt has deposited a lot of "dust", which has created the need to completely abolish the conveyor belt and re-slim the manufacturing line. The cycle of "conveyor belt production line - cell production line - conveyor belt production line - cell production line" is inevitable for factories.Not only the conveyor belt production method, any production method will inevitably accumulate many chronic diseases after going through the road for 20 years. There is a problem that cannot be ignored: after more than 20 years of introducing a certain production method, the workers on the production line will become slaves to the shape of the production line.Workers only know this kind of production method, and it is difficult to think deeply to dig out the fundamental problems.This has become an ethos in the workshop.When a company introduces a production method, it will naturally judge its advantages and disadvantages calmly.However, if you work in a certain mode of production from the moment you enter the company, you will have no way of knowing the background and experience when it was introduced. In the mid-1990s, the workers on the production line were all trained in the "conveyor belt method".Since they have not participated in the experience of establishing the conveyor belt method, they do not understand the principles and principles.Therefore, there will be an assumption that "the manufacturing line is originally the world of conveyor belts". Even if the environment changes, it is difficult to calmly think about production efficiency. In addition, after 20 years of constant use, the dead work of the production line must accumulate.This is as natural to any method of production as dust deposits.In particular, the conveyor belt method has a lot of heavy equipment and is very expensive, so frequent large-scale changes cannot be made.This is one of the reasons why stereotypes are deeply rooted. This article is excerpted from "Canon Cellular Production Method" written by Hisashi Shumaki