On August 21, 2015, “Wind Power Drives the Future: 2015 China Wind Power Supply Chain Forum” was grandly held in the beautiful and rich Yinchuan, Ningxia by the Chinese Wind Energy Association (CWEA) and NGC Gears.
This forum invited over 100 wind power plant developers, wind power unit and large-size component suppliers, and experts from domestic renowned universities and supply chain management of the automobile industry with study or experience in their respective fields. Here, guests participated and widely discussed such issues as “how to transmit a timely and accurate production plan under large-scale customization”, “wind power industry supply chain safety”, “scientific and orderly capital chain management in the wind power industry”, and “how to establish a scientific running stock under large-scale customization” for information management and development of the wind power industry. Professor Shi Pengfei, Honorary President of the CWEA, and Dr. Gou Jianhui, Managing Director and President of NGC Gears, gave a welcoming address on behalf of sponsors.
Welcoming Address by Dr. Gou Jianhui, Managing Director and President of NGC Gears, and Professor Shi Pengfei, Honorary President of the CWEA
Mr. Zhou Zhijin, Vice General Manager of Strategic Purchasing, NGC Gears; Mr. Sun Yizhong, Technical Manager of Calculation and Analysis of Wind Power Gear Box, NGC Gears; Professor Xu Xiaolin of Nanjing University; Mr. Chen Weimin, Chief Supply Chain Director of Envision; Mr. Xie Qizhen, Vice General Manager of Guodian United Power; Mr. Wang Hongjun, Ford Asia-Pacific Material Planning and Logistics Manager; and Mr. Shi Haibo, Market Manager of Sinomatech Wind Power Blade Co., Ltd. respectively gave a keynote address on supply chain management of wind power and information related to production technologies of wind power units, gear boxes, and vanes.
Conference Site
Renewable energy represented by wind power is carrying out a huge historical mission. “China is going through an energy revolution, and we will stride directly from the oil and gas era to an era of renewable energy. This will simultaneously steer the industrialization of the Chinese economy into the information age”, said Shi Pengfei, Honorary President of on the CWEA, at the forum.
Influenced by the current situation of development in the environment, the development of the wind power industry has experienced significant changes and innovation. New capacities of the wind power industry for the first half of 2015 have increased 45% for the corresponding period. Moreover, promoted by China’s 13th Five-year Plan for Wind Power Planning (2016-2020) and other favorable policies, the manufacturing industry for development of wind power equipment will face a bright future.
Nonetheless, the components of wind power equipment are of large volume and mass with complicated manufacturing technology and a long production cycle. Along with the acceleration of wind power plant construction in the country and an increase of the product model, market demand and equipment manufacturing face contradictions with supply cycles. Therefore, establishing a scientific, healthy, and orderly supply chain for wind power equipment is of utmost importance for wind power equipment manufacturers.
Create an Efficient and Mutually Beneficial Smart Wind Power Supply Chain
Dr. Gou Jianhui, Managing Director and President of NGC Gears, gave a speech titled “NGC Gears Promotes an Efficient and Mutually Beneficial Wind Power Supply Chain”, thereby introducing the business development status of NGC Gears in 2015 and analyzing challenges of the wind power supply chain with the participants.
Keynote Speech titled “NGC Gears Promotes an Efficient and Mutually Beneficial Wind Power Supply Chain”–Dr. Gou Jianhui
Dr. Gou Jianhui indicated that the delivery challenge brought by the customization of wind power machines, frequent fluctuation of plans, swift change in demand, etc. and customers shortening delivery cycle day by day increase the difficulty in spare parts reserves. Moreover, unit models update fast, and production of many models has been shut down. This has created difficulty in the purchase and supply of corresponding spare parts along with an increasing demand for extending operation time. These are all huge supply chain challenges brought by the accelerated development of the wind power industry.
Faced with so many difficulties, NGC Gears reduces material waste, improves supply flexibility, reduces response time, and optimizes inventory and cost by using a production platform, parts standardization, and design modularization. This is also accompanied by a top-notch product development system, zero flaw quality management system, and advanced production equipment and technology.
Transferring from Production-oriented Manufacture to Service-oriented Manufacture is an Irresistible Trend
The supply chain of wind power equipment can be divided into upstream, midstream and downstream. It is a value-added network with multiple participants, cross-territories, and multiple stages. Moreover, it features complexity, dynamics, and interactivity, and connects suppliers with end users. Stages that can determine the degree of product heterogeneity always have the richest profits, and these stages are often on two ends of the value chain. One end is upstream of the value chain, such as research, development, and design, and the other is downstream, such as after-sales services.
By 2020, it is estimated inside the wind power industry that the annual market value in the services market will reach around RMB 15 billion, including 40% by spare parts demand, which will total approximately RMB 6 billion per year. The wind power services market is attracting more and more attention and will become a new focus of competition. Under the background of serious product homogeneity and intensifying price competition, transfer from production-oriented manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing is a basic trend for current wind power development.
Information Construction of the Supply Chain
Roundtable Forum
One of the highlights of this wind power supply chain forum was the addition of the discussion stage—the roundtable forum. The forum was jointly hosted by Professor Shi Pengfei, Honorary President of the CWEA, and Zhu Quan, Vice General Manager of Electrical Business Marketing in NGC Gears. Guests in the discussion included Dr. Gou Jianhui, Managing Director and President of NGC Gears; Gu Yefu, Vice President of Goldwind Science & Technology; Zhou Hongwen, Executive Director of Envision; Professor Xu Xiaolin of Nanjing University; Wang Hongjun, Manager of Ford Asia-Pacific Material Planning and Logistics Department; Xie Wenbo, Business Contract Center of CGNPC Wind Power Generation; Wang Yongbo, Chief Engineer of China Wind Power Group; and Dong Wanli, General Manager of the former Yongji Electric Motor (Xi’an Jieli). All guests respectively offered their suggestions and opinions on information construction of wind power plants.
As participants clearly expressed during their discussion on supply chain issues, such renewable energy as wind power (as the dominant player) has an increasingly important position and role, and occupies a growing proportion in the consumption of primary energy resources. Therefore, wind power enterprises must have a strong information management system to serve commercial operation and management.
Information-based management of wind power can not only provide convenient and fast information handling for the production and operation of wind power enterprises, but also adjust operating strategies based on market demand to control the realization of objectives for operations. This will in turn create higher economic benefits and open up the wider power market for wind power owners. (By Zhao Jian)