The 25th Shenzhen (China) International Small Motor, Electric Machinery, Magnetic Materials & Coil Winding Exhibition

Exhibit: http://e.zbase.cn/50e3726e
Visit: http://e.zbase.cn/cb37d8db

Today, in the global home appliance market, one out of every two air conditioners and one out of every five washing machines use Welling motors. In recent years, Welling has produced and sold over 200 million motors annually, leading the world by a wide margin.

At Welling, one motor rolls off the line every 0.1 seconds — millions per day, a true industry "miracle."

1. Company Overview

Founded in 1995, GMCC & Welling is the world's largest manufacturer of core components for home appliances, ranking first globally in air conditioner compressors, air conditioner motors, and washing machine motors. Driven by market demands, business goals, lean transformation needs, and knowledge succession, the company launched its lean manufacturing transformation project.

2. Key Challenges

Internal issues: The lean system was fragmented, low-level, and unsustainable.

Business targets: 35% annual efficiency improvement, 50% reduction in quality loss rate, and 50% reduction in inventory.

Succession: Prior phases delivered results, but a third phase was needed to consolidate gains.

Industry risks: Low entry barriers, labor intensity, low standardization, and volatile orders made large-scale investment risky.

3. Approach: The Welling Production System (WPS)

Based on value-stream-driven lean production, WPS identifies and eliminates waste, creating a continuous flow that delivers exactly what customers need, when they need it — building a learning-oriented enterprise.

Phase 1: Systematic "Welling Flow" planning.

Phase 2: Wide coverage (28 of the 6 factories' workshops, 68% coverage) with low cost, quick results, and full employee involvement.

Assembly automation rate at the Shunde plant rose from 65% to 87.5%, creating a "lights-out" stator workshop.

Equipment utilization reached 100%.

The Anqing plant's 900V round-wire stator line hit 93% automation; overall line automation exceeded 95%.

Core innovations:

Split-core technology: cut iron core manufacturing steps by 40%, achieving over 99% online qualification.

"Four eliminations" (defects, tools, manual work, automation-ready): fewer assemblers, unmanned sub-assembly.

Flexible production: universal tooling cut changeover time from 15 minutes to "zero."

Phase 3: Diversified metrics and continuous improvement, with lean knowledge cascading to team leaders, supported by ongoing expert input.

4. Implementation

Through lean culture, supply chain optimization, company-wide lean management, and breakthroughs in manufacturing technology, quality, value stream, and automation, the company achieved balanced production and fast delivery.

5. Results

"Welling Flow" lean model established.

Efficiency up 35% year over year.

Quality loss rate down 50% annually.

Inventory down 50% annually.

One motor produced every 0.1 seconds, millions per day.

Shunde DC motor plant: 30% efficiency gain.

Annual output and sales exceed 200 million units — global leader.

Huai'an plant capacity raised to over 50 million units, with a 65-million-unit energy-efficient motor upgrade project launched in 2025.

Source: Motor World 电机通