Joyoung
Hangzhou Joyoung Household Electrical Appliances Co., Ltd. (Joyoung), a professional soybean milk machine manufacturer established in 1994, is a public company devoted to the research, development, production and sale of electrical appliances for healthy eating. The company has 4,062 employees and 702 patents. It was restructured in 2007 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange starting in 2008. The company was honored as the most influential small electrical appliance brand in China in 2011.
Most influential small electrical appliance brand in China
Joyoung has a modern, cross-regional management structure with several production and research and development (R&D) bases, including facilities in Ji'nan and Hangzhou.
Joyoung has hundreds of product models in eight series: soybean milk machines, pressure cookers, induction cookers, food machines, juice extractors, red ware pots, kettles and rice cookers.
Improving product R&D processes
Currently, Joyoung is applying for 306 patents. The research, development and application of these new technologies form the technical base of Joyoung’s efforts to dominate the market. However, as the market requirements for small kitchen appliances evolve and the product cycles get shorter, the company’s need for high-quality product development processes gets more pronounced. As a result, the conflict between standardizing and individualizing data management and applications is increasing every day.
Unlike the development modes adopted by other small electrical appliance companies, Joyoung has always believed that kitchen appliances should not only deliver functions and capacities as required, but focus on the capability to make healthy, tasty and nutritious food. To this end, Joyoung performs a large number of recipe verifications in the lab to ensure that its products can cook food in line with design requirements.
While this process helps ensure Joyoung’s high-quality products create value for users, it also puts a lot of pressure on the engineering technicians, who have a heavy product development workload. To address this challenge, it was incumbent upon Joyoung to reduce product development cycle time while improving product quality, which meant developing a smoother process and closer collaboration between disciplines and departments.
In the past, Joyoung’s R&D had been conducted manually. Individuals organized, managed and coordinated the whole process, including research, development, production, sales, service and support. However, with the development of hundreds of product models, it became unrealistic for Joyoung to manually handle the process using traditional systems. Joyoung management felt the company needed to resolve this issue or eventually it would be unable to keep up with market demand, which would lead to compromising the quality of its products and competitiveness.
Changing gradually
In the face of changes in the small electrical appliance market, Joyoung chose to implement a product lifecycle management (PLM) system to restructure and optimize its product R&D process.
Joyoung chose Teamcenter® software from Siemens PLM Software for three primary reasons. First, the functional design and product R&D logic of Teamcenter appeals to small electrical appliance manufacturers, and its industrial features are in-line with that sector’s product R&D requirements. Second, Teamcenter has been widely applied in the small electrical appliance industry to great success, so Joyoung had a lot of experience to draw upon. Third, Siemens PLM Software offered technical support and services for Teamcenter that would enable Joyoung to continuously improve its business processes.
There were two options for implementing the PLM system: either reform business rules to adapt to the information system as the blueprint for the enterprise’s business processes, or set clear goals and evolve the operating structure to align with the information system. The latter would mean making corrections and improvements on an incremental basis, thus integrating the information system with the enterprise’s actual business processes gradually and where it made sense. Both options had some appeal, but the former option seemed riskier. Therefore, Joyoung chose the more moderate approach to avoid potential issues as a result of making sudden changes to the management methodology.
Joyoung set specific implementation and application guidelines, and after Teamcenter went live, it gradually changed its business rules, ideology, organizational structure, business rules, process systems and executive methods, thus avoiding serious disruptions while continuing to strive for success.
While Joyoung encountered some challenges upfront, primarily related to user adaptation to a new way of doing business, these were quickly solved. Moreover, in addressing its challenges, Joyoung experienced an even deeper commitment to and success with its PLM implementation.
“We worked with Siemens PLM Software to organize training sessions within the company, including instruction specifically on the business objectives of the roll-out, as well as on business rules and operations,” says Jing Jin, PLM project manager at Joyoung. “We are always seeking ways to improve organizational effectiveness and increase efficiency. We thrive on straightforward and simple solutions that make everyone’s job easier and more productive. The comprehensive technical support and cooperation of Siemens PLM Software helped make our optimization process an outstanding success.”
Improved enterprise business processes and productivity
Today, Joyoung uses Teamcenter for a variety of functions, including managing data for product planning, development, production, maintenance and service. Teamcenter has helped Joyoung in a number of measurable ways. First, it has allowed the company to standardize and unify product development; errors across operations have been substantially reduced. Second, the use of digital project management has notably improved transparency across the product R&D process, enabling more flexible project control, and helping to assure seamless information sharing and collaboration among project members. Third, the knowledge management process is now conducted according to requirements, such as the administration of standard parts, general parts libraries and design specifications, which makes it more convenient for engineers to use and re-use data as well as helps ensure significantly higher quality in product development execution.
Jin notes, “Teamcenter has helped Joyoung enhance its business processes, including the way we conduct product R&D and knowledge management. We expect this trend to continue in the long run as we improve our systems and promote our business. We are now more systematic and efficient. Moreover, the use of Teamcenter has fundamentally changed the way Joyoung works, and that is helping the company maintain its position as a leader and innovator in the small electrical appliances market.”
Joyoung has a modern, cross-regional management structure with several production and research and development (R&D) bases, including facilities in Ji'nan and Hangzhou.
Joyoung has hundreds of product models in eight series: soybean milk machines, pressure cookers, induction cookers, food machines, juice extractors, red ware pots, kettles and rice cookers.
Improving product R&D processes
Currently, Joyoung is applying for 306 patents. The research, development and application of these new technologies form the technical base of Joyoung’s efforts to dominate the market. However, as the market requirements for small kitchen appliances evolve and the product cycles get shorter, the company’s need for high-quality product development processes gets more pronounced. As a result, the conflict between standardizing and individualizing data management and applications is increasing every day.
Unlike the development modes adopted by other small electrical appliance companies, Joyoung has always believed that kitchen appliances should not only deliver functions and capacities as required, but focus on the capability to make healthy, tasty and nutritious food. To this end, Joyoung performs a large number of recipe verifications in the lab to ensure that its products can cook food in line with design requirements.
While this process helps ensure Joyoung’s high-quality products create value for users, it also puts a lot of pressure on the engineering technicians, who have a heavy product development workload. To address this challenge, it was incumbent upon Joyoung to reduce product development cycle time while improving product quality, which meant developing a smoother process and closer collaboration between disciplines and departments.
In the past, Joyoung’s R&D had been conducted manually. Individuals organized, managed and coordinated the whole process, including research, development, production, sales, service and support. However, with the development of hundreds of product models, it became unrealistic for Joyoung to manually handle the process using traditional systems. Joyoung management felt the company needed to resolve this issue or eventually it would be unable to keep up with market demand, which would lead to compromising the quality of its products and competitiveness.
Changing gradually
In the face of changes in the small electrical appliance market, Joyoung chose to implement a product lifecycle management (PLM) system to restructure and optimize its product R&D process.
Joyoung chose Teamcenter® software from Siemens PLM Software for three primary reasons. First, the functional design and product R&D logic of Teamcenter appeals to small electrical appliance manufacturers, and its industrial features are in-line with that sector’s product R&D requirements. Second, Teamcenter has been widely applied in the small electrical appliance industry to great success, so Joyoung had a lot of experience to draw upon. Third, Siemens PLM Software offered technical support and services for Teamcenter that would enable Joyoung to continuously improve its business processes.
There were two options for implementing the PLM system: either reform business rules to adapt to the information system as the blueprint for the enterprise’s business processes, or set clear goals and evolve the operating structure to align with the information system. The latter would mean making corrections and improvements on an incremental basis, thus integrating the information system with the enterprise’s actual business processes gradually and where it made sense. Both options had some appeal, but the former option seemed riskier. Therefore, Joyoung chose the more moderate approach to avoid potential issues as a result of making sudden changes to the management methodology.
Joyoung set specific implementation and application guidelines, and after Teamcenter went live, it gradually changed its business rules, ideology, organizational structure, business rules, process systems and executive methods, thus avoiding serious disruptions while continuing to strive for success.
While Joyoung encountered some challenges upfront, primarily related to user adaptation to a new way of doing business, these were quickly solved. Moreover, in addressing its challenges, Joyoung experienced an even deeper commitment to and success with its PLM implementation.
“We worked with Siemens PLM Software to organize training sessions within the company, including instruction specifically on the business objectives of the roll-out, as well as on business rules and operations,” says Jing Jin, PLM project manager at Joyoung. “We are always seeking ways to improve organizational effectiveness and increase efficiency. We thrive on straightforward and simple solutions that make everyone’s job easier and more productive. The comprehensive technical support and cooperation of Siemens PLM Software helped make our optimization process an outstanding success.”
Improved enterprise business processes and productivity
Today, Joyoung uses Teamcenter for a variety of functions, including managing data for product planning, development, production, maintenance and service. Teamcenter has helped Joyoung in a number of measurable ways. First, it has allowed the company to standardize and unify product development; errors across operations have been substantially reduced. Second, the use of digital project management has notably improved transparency across the product R&D process, enabling more flexible project control, and helping to assure seamless information sharing and collaboration among project members. Third, the knowledge management process is now conducted according to requirements, such as the administration of standard parts, general parts libraries and design specifications, which makes it more convenient for engineers to use and re-use data as well as helps ensure significantly higher quality in product development execution.
Jin notes, “Teamcenter has helped Joyoung enhance its business processes, including the way we conduct product R&D and knowledge management. We expect this trend to continue in the long run as we improve our systems and promote our business. We are now more systematic and efficient. Moreover, the use of Teamcenter has fundamentally changed the way Joyoung works, and that is helping the company maintain its position as a leader and innovator in the small electrical appliances market.”
