Putting Talent at the Centre An Evolving Imperative for Manufacturing 2025

Haier COSMOPlat – Hefei, China (continued) TABLE 1 Site Change storyTalent innovations Description Impact Haier COSMOPlat – Hefei, ChinaHaier Hefei faced significant challenges due to the expansion of its product range into diverse industries like automotive and health equipment. This expansion demanded new talent and added complexity to frontline employee management. Likewise, it increased the need for employee satisfaction. To address these challenges, Haier implemented a series of innovative solutions focused on talent development, process optimization and employee experience.Skill evaluation and developmentEvaluates employee skills across job types and certification levels Combined with competitions and a digital skill matrix, encourages talent development and improves training effectiveness –An increase of 27 percentage points in the proportion of high-skilled talents –A 30-day decrease in training period –A $12,000 decrease in total training cost Social platform for innovationEncourages employees to share ideas and innovations Facilitates a culture of innovation and improves operational efficiency –A 415% increase in cost savings –A decrease of 10 percentage points in time lost due to equipment breakdown Frontline employee salary accounting systemProvides transparency into salary calculations and enables employees to understand how to improve their performance –An increase of 10 percentage points in employee satisfaction –A 28-day decrease in salary accounting cycle –A decrease of 3 percentage points in data error rate Western Digital – Prachin Buri, Thailand TABLE 2 Site Change storyTalent innovations Description Impact Western Digital – Prachin Buri, ThailandWestern Digital’s Prachin Buri plant faced significant challenges due to a technological shift and a shortage of skilled labour. To overcome these challenges, the site embarked on a transformation journey focusing on automation, intelligent work redesign and employee upskilling.AI-powered operational transformationTransitions operators from repetitive manual tasks to managing automated processes and digital dashboards Increases job satisfaction and improves operational efficiency –A 108% increase in the ratio of jobs redesigned and improved –A 34% decrease in quality alerts related to man-machine- method –A 75% increase in degree of work process automation Empowering the frontline workforceSmart maintenance reducing equipment failure diagnosis time from two hours to 10 seconds Predictive maintenance shift from fixed-time schedules to performance-based maintenance, improving efficiency and employee engagement –A 110% increase in degree of work analytics intelligence –A 99.9% decrease in time to slot failure diagnosis Empowering remote teamsCombined IIoT, agile practices and remote knowledge-sharing to create a flexible and efficient remote workforce –A 100% increase in young talent retention 29 Putting Talent at the Centre: An Evolving Imperative for Manufacturing