CY24 Business Newsletter Volume2

SHANGHAI OUTLOOK

MaY 2024

ISSUE 2 OF 6

Connection As One Molex,

Collaboration For Transformation!

contents

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

Principle-Based vs Rule-Based

07

Quality Team "Changing Paradigms" Seminar

06

PBM Workshop Highlights

04-05

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Shanghai Fusion PD Project Updates

08

Fusion M&O End User Feedback

09

Shanghai Outlook

Career Journey of New Leaders 

10

Shanghai Manufacturing Services 

Team Introduction

12

March - April Long Service Award

13

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Supervisor Development Program Ⅲ

11

PLANT DYNAMICS

14-16

“One Molex” Visiting Ⅱ

Internal Use Only

Q4 Employee Communication Meeting

17

Recognition of Molex Shanghai

18

Stamping: Efficient Automation Equipment

19-20

Molding: New Planning of Workshop Layout

21

Plating: Mirror Mezz Gold Saving Project

22

Manufacturing Engineering: Innovation of DDR5 

23

Lab: Testing Technology Exchange

24

INTERACTION WITH READERS

Award-winning Quiz

25

26

Call For Articles

Shanghai Outlook

Internal Use Only

05

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

PBM Workshop Highlights

By: Molex Shanghai Employees

From March to April, there were 11 PBM workshops (Production-3, ME-3, Quality-3, Supply Chain-1, OE, Finance & MFG Service-1), on topics such as "Change Paradigms", "Contribution Motivated", "RR&E", "Challenge", etc. We invited some of the participants to share their insights and positive impacts on their work and life after attending the PBM workshop:

In Q1 2024, the ME PBM workshop started as scheduled and I was honored to participate. The topic of this workshop was "Contribution Motivated", which included four aspects:

To have a deeper understanding of the topic, participants completed an ice-breaking challenge – "Building Towers Together", an immersive experience that made them to fully feel the importance of teamwork to build a tower and the joy of success. Focused on the four aspects of the topic, the participants then also had a lively discussion about their performance in the game, meanwhile challenged and complemented each other.

Through this workshop, I realize that we need to have self-awareness, fully understand our abilities, and then work on our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, try to realize our potentials and make creative contributions to maximize our contribution to company’s long-term success.

I hope that I can keep my contribution motivated in future work, create long-term value for our company, and work together with my colleagues to build our company more and more prosperous!

ME PBM Workshop

Participants: Li Tian Zhao

06

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

Quality Team conducted two workshops on March 19th and April 2nd, with topic of "Knowledge" Dimension, which gave participants a new understanding of it.

Quality PBM Workshop

Facilitator: Bill Gao

One participant shared a recent case of successfully resolving a customer complaint, using the "Knowledge" Dimension: there were low-frequency Burnt PCBA/Low impedance functional quality issues with the company's products. By seeking knowledge experts, conducting experiments, challenges, and other processes, he successfully found the root cause of the issues and solved them completely, reducing quality risks for the company's important product.

Continuous learning is the only way to succeed in the ever-changing world!

We are now living in an era where tradition and innovation coexist, and where new products and services emerge endlessly. Through the learning of "Comparative Advantage" Workshop, I will try to explain this principle from the traditional Eastern perspectives of the idioms "Make the Best Use of Things" and "Commitment to Excellence".

Importance of "Make the Best Use of Things": it is a strategy to save cost and improve efficiency. We can better understand the characteristics and applicable scenarios of different products by comparing their advantages and disadvantages so that we can make a choice of the most suitable product or service for ourselves. It will not only avoid the waste of resources but also reduce costs and improve the quality of life. So, how can we achieve it?

1. Understand product features: We can read product manuals, and collect feedback to learn about the performance of the product, the target population and other information.

2. Compare different products: Comparing the advantages and disadvantages of different products can help us better understand application scenarios, and find out the most suitable one for us.

3. Update concepts continuously: We can keep an eye on market trends, stay up-to-date with the times, and better choose products and services that suit us.

Importance of "Commitment to Excellence": it is a spirit of going for perfect that encourages us to keep pursuing higher and better goals, which means that we have to keep exploring, and improving to achieve the best usage effect and experience.

Through these methods, we can better understand the features and applicable scenarios of different products, so that we can make wiser decisions and achieve the above goals. In this process, we need to maintain curiosity, try new things, and also summarize our experiences to continuously improve our ability to choose and use products effectively!

Supply Chain Cross Team

PBM Workshop

Participant: Luo Jing Tao

Shanghai Outlook

04

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

Quality Team "Changing Paradigms" Seminar

By: HR Team

To strengthen the learning and application of the "Changing Paradigms" principle, we have continued to expand on this principle across all departments. The Quality Team conducted a workshop on "Changing Paradigms" in April.

KH Park, Operations Director of Molex Shanghai, was invited to have the opening speech of the workshop. KH recognized the contribution of the Quality Team to the Shanghai plant in the past and expressed his expectation that through the learning of "Changing Paradigms", the Quality Team can improve their understanding of it, and better utilize PBM to create more value for Shanghai plant.

During the workshop, more than 20 colleagues, led by Quality Senior Manager Eric Ye, not only understood the "Paradigms", but also identified the "Paradigms" that blocked the development of the team and needed to be changed in their work. More importantly, they realized that only through combining theory with practice can knowledge be truly effective. Therefore, participants will further discuss the identified paradigms that hinder development and propose improvement solutions.

The Quality Team will continue to optimize and implement these improvements based on the priorities voted by the employees, so as to integrate the principle of "Changing Paradigms" into our daily work. We look forward to seeing more results from these paradigm changes.

We manually use visual images to recognize CCDs for appearance sorting；

The calibration of equipment in supplier side managed and calibrated by Molex;

When we receive a complaint, we firstly consider how to sort it, and then consider the solution of the issue.

Automatic sorting with AI memorized CCDs could be used.

The instruments be calibrated and maintained by the user unit, with reports provided to Molex.

Anticipate issues in advance and take preventative measures.

Three paradigms that need to be changed and related suggestions

07

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

Principle-Based vs Rule-Based

By: HR Team

Promoting human progress and achieving success, rather than following detailed instructions or rules, is at the core of our culture and our long-term success. When we adopt a principle-based approach, we free up everyone's ability to think and innovate, to discover different approaches and solutions, rather than blindly following instructions.

Certainly, the principle-based approach is not completely abolish rules; rather, judgment must be made based on fundamental principles when using necessary policies, processes or procedures. We expect our employees to challenge and suggest improvements to policies, processes or procedures on an ongoing basis, or to abolish them when they block progress.

Let's look at the following examples to help us understand the difference between principle-based and rule-based ways of thinking and working. You'll see that in these examples, being "principle-based" will help us broaden our thinking, become more entrepreneurial, and create more value for our company.

This is how it has always been done when my master demonstrated the workflow, but some of the steps seem unnecessary.

Understand the purpose of this step and give suggestions to help determine if improvement is needed.

This is what the work instructions say, so I'll just follow the instructions.

My team has had good results since we updated our quality inspection process. And other plant workshops have similar inspection processes.

Share knowledge with other people/teams that may benefit and help them understand the purpose and effect of the process update.

Ask other plant workshops to adopt this process.

I have found an unusual odor in the work area, but everything looks normal with our compliance system and inspection results.

Report the situation to the supervisor, raise concerns, and engage in challenges for better results.

There is nothing to worry about as the compliance system and test results are normal.

We encourage you to understand and apply the "principles" behind the "rules", to find the right roles, to know how to create the greatest value, and to be motivated to take action. We hope that in the future, you will try to discuss with your supervisors the processes & systems being used in your daily work, understand the principles behind them, and think about whether there are opportunities for improvement to better meet the principles and goals of the process.

Rule Based

Principle Based

Rule Based

Principle Based

Rule Based

Principle Based

8

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Shanghai Fusion PD Project Updates

By: Fusion PD Project Team

According to the deployment plan, the Polarion System End-User Training was started in March for Fusion PD project, trainers of CCS China carefully prepared Chinese version of training materials to help and guide the CCS China end users to learn and use the new system. CCS Fusion PD Townhall - "Creating Value with Polarion" was held by CCS Fusion PD project team in late March, special guests from TSBU shared their experience using Polarion over the past years, including benefits, lessons learned, and some best practices. It let CCS users learn more about the value of Polarion.

In early April, CCS achieved the key milestone of Fusion PD project that we made the official go-live of Polarion! More than 30 projects of CCS have been created in Polarion system by the end of April, it made an excellent start in CCS for the new system.

Teamcenter Train-the-Trainer sessions were also started from March 18th. Based on the feedback from the previous Polarion system training, the CCS Fusion PD team has made reasonable adjustments to the training schedule. By the end of April, a total of 4 CCM training sessions and 4 BOM training sessions were completed.

Because ongoing Teamcenter performance issues are negatively impacting the existing user community (TIS and DSS), the Teamcenter system needs to be updated to improve employee and customer experience. The CCS Teamcenter go-live planned for May 22nd will be deferred to the second half of 2024. However, Teamcenter Train-the-Trainer sessions will continue to be completed and more training feedback and requirements will be collected through workshops. In addition, End User Training will be scheduled based on the new project timeline.

9

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Fusion M&O End User Feedback

By: Fusion M&O Project Team

The digital transformation team has been committed to optimizing the system functions. OpCenter system was upgraded to version R37 on May 8th, with 16 new functions, including optimization of QC inspection tasks, PE function, solving the issue of 3-layer packaging, and optimization of the function of planning and scheduling APS system.

We are also in the process of deepening the digitalization projects, such as the development of task level dashboard, including intelligent dispatching project, the development of OpCenter auto trigger material request and the fast response device, etc. These projects are planned to be put into use by the end of this year, so please look forward to them.

Look back at each stage of the successful deployment of Shanghai Fusion M&O project, it has always been inseparable from the strong support from management team, the efforts of the project team members, and even more dependent on the active participation and cooperation of each frontline employee. We hope you will continue to support the digital transformation project and let us work together to open a new chapter of digital transformation in Molex Shanghai!

It has been half a year since the full deployment of the OpCenter system. To better understand the current situation and collect the voice of the users from Production, Materials, and Quality departments, the Fusion M&O team invited 12 end users to participate in the skip level meeting.

Fusion M&O Project, which we took one year to prepare and another year to deploy in Shanghai plant, is a big project of Molex digital transformation globally. The real users are the frontline employees, and they have the most authority to tell how they feel about the system. The end users had a lively discussion around the topic of "What changes have occurred in the work after the deployment of the OpCenter system? "

👉 Advantage: With the deployment of OpCenter system, materials, packaging, mold change inspection, etc. can realize fool-proofing, and tracing production information also becomes faster and more convenient. Customers are very satisfied with the current traceability system during the audit.

      We are also concerned about some of the issues that we received feedback in two main areas:

👉The system is expected to operate more conveniently;

👉 The current system functions need to be further optimized. Among them, 7 issues have been solved, 8 issues have been given solutions, and 3 issues are to be solved by follow-up development of new functions.

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

10

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Career Journey of New Leaders 

By: New Promoted Managers

I joined Molex in 2011, mainly responsible for production planning for Apple, Motorola, Nokia, etc. After 6 years, I had the honor to join the "Sunrise Project“ transfer from Lincoln plant, and I was responsible for the Molding team, arranging the production according to the transfer plan, coordinating the product validation, balancing the production capacity, etc. The different product types and planning modes, ranging from antenna to connector, enriched my experience and enhanced my comprehensive ability, and I was promoted to Planning Supervisor in the same year.

The year 2024 witnessed significant challenges, such as the company's digital transformation and the launch of the new system, which is not only a change in my role, but also a change in workflow and methodology, as well as a change in mindset. In the future, I will lead the team to work closely with other teams, constantly adapt to the company's transformation needs, adjust the planning mode to maximize production and revenue, to complete the transformation of the role of the planning team, and ultimately to achieve alignment with the company's development goals.

I firmly believe that everything can be accomplished with a clear mind!

PIC Manager

HR Manager

Hi Anny & Julia! Congratulations to both of you for reaching self-realization by self-challenging, learning and progressing through your efforts to scale new heights in your career journey at Molex Shanghai! 👏👏

We are honored to have two newly promoted managers introduce themselves and share with you how to better meet the challenges of their work as they transform from individual contributors to team managers!

I joined Molex over 13 years, and my career in Molex started as HR Specialist, and afterwards through efforts I was promoted to team leader of Training and Development. Since 2016, the HR team has started an organizational transformation. I was fortunate to participate in the experimental exploration and successful launch of the HRBP model in Shanghai plant, first plant in Molex China, and then formally became the HRBP to support the teams of Production, Quality, R&D, Engineering, Molex China Investment Company, etc., and now I have become the HR Manager.

Although I have been with Molex for many years, the company has offered me many opportunities for career development and self-actualization, and I have never stopped learning, transforming and constantly trying new possibilities. My current focus is on building the PBM culture and talent development system to help Shanghai plant achieve long-term success. Although my new position is full of unknown challenges, I am very confident that I will be able to contribute and give better services and solutions to the business teams. I also firmly believe that every employee will be able to become a better version of themselves under the influence of PBM culture.

11

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Supervisor Development Program Ⅲ

By: Jolin Zhou

On March 25th, 20 participants attended the third workshop of the "Supervisor Development Program". The topic of this workshop was the "Five Dimensions", including how to use it to close gaps as well as how to apply this principle into supervisor responsibilities. We invited the participants to make a quick self-assessment during the warm-up part, and all of them humbly agreed that they still need to improve. 

On April 19th, Sylvia Zhang, Compliance Manager, led a discussion among the supervisors on the topics of "How to improve the competitiveness of enterprises in compliance" and "As a supervisor, how to strengthen the compliance management in the key aspects to create an efficient and healthy working environment".

In this workshop, we reviewed and discussed topics such as the meaning of "compliance", what good "compliance" looks like, as well as the various appealing systems in the company, and thought about our work closely with compliance, so that we could gain new knowledge by reviewing the old.

This workshop made supervisors realize that we have the responsibility to raise questions and concerns about compliance or ethics bravely. When we know or suspect a possible violation, we are obligated to report the situation to our supervisor. Compliance is a principle that must be observed by a enterprise and is the foundation of its long-term development, for which supervisors play an extremely important role.

We also invited Simon Shen, the guest with rich project experience, to share his insights on how to integrate the "Five Dimensions“ tool with project management, which was very interesting to all of the participants. The two-hour workshop allowed the participants to get the "Five Dimensions", as a handy and practical tool, help and inspire them in their future work.

Shanghai Outlook

12

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Shanghai Manufacturing Service Team Introduction

By: Shanghai Manufacturing Service Team

Shanghai Manufacturing Service Team of consists of four modules: Facility, EHS, Wastewater Treatment, and General Affairs, led by Senior Manager Liu Yun, with a total of 20 members.

Facility Team:

The team mainly focuses on energy management, facility operation and maintenance, and engineering renovation of the plant, and contributes to the sustainable development of the plant through a series of targeted maintenance and project improvement tasks. Engineering project renovation is the strength of the Facility team, whose members possess the ability to design and manage the whole process of engineering projects. The team implements many engineering renovation tasks with targeted solutions in combination with historical engineering pain points and difficulties; it closely assists with the IE team and the production team, listens to different needs and voices, and helps with workshop layout adjustment, pipe network optimization, as well as other business optimization actions through renovation projects, to ensure the operational business of the plant.

EHS Team：

👉Regulatory Compliance: it is mainly responsible for the safety, environmental, occupational health and fire compliance requirements of the whole company, organizing EHS compliance evaluation to make the company comply with laws and regulations and customer audit requirements.

👉Risk Control: it is responsible for organizing and participating in the formulation of EHS regulations, operating procedures and emergency rescue plans for production safety accidents; preventing safety risks, fire prevention risks and environmental risks to ensure that the risks are controllable.

👉EHS Education and Training: it provides systematic and professional safety training. The team eliminates all kinds of accident, environmental and occupational disease hazards by establishing a systematic mechanism of preventive management measures to minimize the occurrence of accidents, environmental pollution and occupational diseases, thus achieving the management method of improving the safety, environment and health performance of the enterprise.

Wastewater Treatment Team：

The team operates three shifts to meet Plating's needs, providing high-quality pure water, improving the environment of the plating area, and treating plating emissions of wastewater, and waste gas. As the national environmental protection requirements continue to improve, the team keeps abreast of the times, continues to learn, and strives to improve the three-waste management capabilities, meeting the requirements of the state, and making every effort for environmental management, to achieve 100% compliance with the three-waste emission standards!

General Affairs Team：：

The team is a platform for logistic support and an important link for the company, responsible for daily administrative affairs, office asset management and general logistic management.

👉It ensures that every security guard sticks to different positions in the fixed-post system, and always adheres to the company's goal of "100% security, 0 security accidents".

👉The team operates more than 10 bus routes to Shanghai and Kunshan, focusing on providing a comfortable commuting environment for employees.

👉The team methodically maintains greening service management of 55,000 square meters in the plant, creating a diverse and beautiful plant and providing a peaceful and comfortable office environment for the employees.

👉The team established an independent canteen with 1,000 square meters in the plant, which is oriented to the health of the employees, and provides four meals a day.

We will continue to strive under the PBM culture, move forward with all faith and efficient action, and create achievements together!

13

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

March-April Long Service Award

By: Kavin Chen & Wu Ju Ming  

Molex Shanghai Long Service Award is a certification of professionalism, down-to-earthness, hard work and excellence, recognizing the efforts of our employees and their outstanding achievements!

We are honored to announce our March-April 2024 Molex Long Service Awards, with 16 horned employees.

We invited two of our employees as the representatives of the award winners to share their experience of working in Molex Shanghai.

Supplier Quality 

Assurance

Years go by like a flash. It has been 20 years since I joined Molex. I have learned a lot during this period, which has benefited me a lot.

When I first started to work at Molex, all the people and things were new and unfamiliar to me (work skills, relationships, etc.) and I was overwhelmed by the need to integrate into the group as soon as possible as well as to learn new skills. Fortunately, I got help from my leaders and colleagues and completed the transformation with their guidance and support.

Toolroom

Time flies. It's been more than 20 years since I joined Molex, and over the years I've grown from an individual contributor to a manager of team.

I was initially a Manufacturing Quality Engineer who was not familiar with the workflow, but I was fortunate that my supervisor and colleagues were willing to guide and help me in time. So I cherished this opportunity and overcame many difficulties in my work. I also actively exchanged with my colleagues to find solutions to issues, making the early days of my job a memorable experience!

As I continued to grow in the company, I was promoted to Supplier Quality Management Manager in 2012, which meant that I had to take on more responsibilities. I have tried my best to apply my understanding of PBM to my work. I have also been a PBM workshop facilitator last year to share with the Quality Team, with the hope of planting the seeds of company culture in the minds of all my colleagues!

With the progress of science and technology and market changes, enterprises must adapt and make adjustment through continuous change and innovation, which bring us new opportunities and challenges. I believe that, as employees, we need to adjust our mindset, embrace these changes, and continue to learn knowledge. Only by actively adapting to the changes can we create greater value for the company and our customers!

Then I joined the ME-Toolroom team, which allowed me to learn many skills and knowledge (management, process, quality and efficiency in many aspects) once again. Although I had great psychological pressure to face a brand-new field, I quickly adjusted my working condition with the support of leaders and the help of colleagues, overcame the difficulties, and strengthened my confidence!

Most importantly, I have met many excellent colleagues and friends in these 20 years. We have worked hard, shared experiences, grown together, creating wonderful memories. Whether it is success or failure, it has been an unforgettable experience.

14

PLANT DYNAMICS

Recognition of Molex Shanghai

By: Rachel Zhang

Guided by the PBM culture, Molex Shanghai has been exploring in various fields deeply, and gains excellent reputation internally and externally, including many recognitions and awards from government. 

Let's review the honors and recognitions which Molex Shanghai received recently!

The CEO Awards aims to recognize individuals and teams who have made outstanding contributions to the company each year.

With the rapid development and adoption of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Smart Driving, and 5G/6G in China, the demand for high-speed infrastructure for network servers, data storage, as well as data centers continues to grow. The Mirror Mezz product developed by Molex Shanghai through its partnership with Nvidia has enabled Molex to achieve strong growth in the AI chip field.

The Mirror Mezz Innovation and Manufacturing team at the Shanghai plant has been honored with the 2023 CEO Awards for their tireless efforts and extraordinary contributions in the area of Innovation and Transformation. While expressing our congratulations to them, we are also inspired to keep pursuing excellence! 👏👏

2024 is the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Shanghai Plating Association. In the recent celebration, the "Outstanding Enterprise Award" was held to recognize enterprises with outstanding contributions and set up benchmarks and examples for the plating industry. Molex Shanghai won the award.

Since joining the Association, Molex Shanghai has achieved excellent innovation, sound business strategies and a good sense of social responsibility, and has won both economic and social benefits, which has been recognized by the judges' panel!

Under the guidance of PBM principle, Molex Shanghai will adhere to the theme of "Connection as One Molex, Collaboration for Transformation" to set a good example and create a new brilliant era for the industry!

15

PLANT DYNAMICS

By: HR Team

CY23 Q4 Employee Communication Meeting

👉Operations Director KH Park, Production Manager Steven Song, Loucts Zhang, Murphy Miao shared the CY23 Q4 business updates as the management representatives;

👉Jason Fu, John Xu, and Grace Guo from Quality team reviewed the plant's CY23 Q4 quality-related data and zero-defect activity follow-up program;

👉EHS Manager Jerry Li shared the plant's safety related data and safety activities preview;

👉HR team introduced the progress of “PBM Shout-Out" campaign and presented awards to the award winners on the spot.

👉CEO Joe Nelligan introduced CY23 Molex Business Updates via video;

👉KH Park, Operations Director, and Samuel Cai, Finance Manager of Molex Shanghai plant presented the plant business Updates;

👉Nicolas Zhang, Fusion PD Project Leader, and Mojo Zhu, Operational Excellence Manager, shared the progress of the digitalization projects in the plant;

👉Jason Fu, Manufacturing Quality Manager, reviewed the 2023 Q4 plant's quality related data and zero-defect activity follow-up program;

👉HR team shared the new learning resources "PBM Quick Start" and “myLearning".

Shanghai Outlook

16

PLANT DYNAMICS

By: HR Team

"One Molex" Visit Ⅱ

Aligning with the GOC vision, more and more "One Molex" knowledge sharing and visiting are taking place among Molex divisions and plants. The Shanghai team has become one of the popular sites to host such sharing sessions due to our comparative advantages and successful transformation experience, and employees from Shanghai plant visited other plants for exchange and learning.

During the past two years, it has successfully implemented two digital transformation projects "Rapid Response" and "Fusion" in Shanghai plant. Along with the gradual application of the systems, the work content of GSOP and GSOE has also found gaps and changing quietly. We are aware that the new systems need to be connected, integrated and adjusted with each other to enhance the user experience to be friendly and better in the process from "Planning" to "Scheduling", as well as to improve operational efficiency.

Bill Oakley, Vice President of Global Sales and Operations Planning, and KO Yew, Senior Director of CCS Operations Strategy & Supply Planning, visited Shanghai plant with their teams. The Shanghai S&OP and S&OE teams shared with Bill their experiences and thoughts on the transformation in Shanghai, and provided feedback on the requirements for system optimization, to achieve a successful integration between S&OP and S&OE in the future, improve the effectiveness of the entire production planning and scheduling execution, as well as increasing the efficiency of the work.

17

PLANT DYNAMICS

At the beginning of April, the Shanghai ME plating team and the Korean plating team visited the Singapore plant and supported its Plating team in the "Gold-Saving Program" as well as the transformation project of the Plating shopfloor. Singapore plant has a wide variety of Plating products, which tests the compatibility of the Plating line. Through the exchange and communication with the local Plating team, they combined the Plating experience of the three plants, as well as constant brainstorming and risk assessment, and finally selected 18 products for the "Gold-Saving Program" and planned the transformation route of the Plating shopfloor of Singapore plant in the next two years.

In the future, Molex Shanghai will continue to support the transformation program of the Plating in Singapore plant. Let's make full use of each other's comparative advantages and make progress together!

At the beginning of 2024, Shizuoka plant faced many important new product deliveries in the short term without sufficient technicians, so it required support from Shanghai to produce BTB products in Japan.

Shanghai team overcame their manpower pressure and quickly arranged 3 toolmakers from the Stamping and Molding Team to support the Shizuoka plant. During one month in Japan, Shanghai toolmakers overcame the language barrier, and not only accomplished the set target but also exchanged the experience of BTB production and maintenance with their Japanese colleagues to improve the capability of both sides, which was highly appreciated by the Japanese plant!

Thanks to this exchange program, Shanghai plant toolmakers fully demonstrated their skills while practicing the "One Molex" concept raised by the GOC Team.

This workshop aimed to better utilize the resources of ME Project Management (PJM) within the division to assist the plant in facilitating the delivery of new projects. The following topics were discussed in depth by PJM colleagues from China, Japan, and Korea:

Moreover, during the intense schedule, participants also have the PBM learning journey with PBM consultants to have an in-depth discussion on CY24 ME PJM strategic goals and how to better integrate the PBM culture with their work, aiming to accomplish self-fulfillment and achieve better business goals.

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

1. Further defining and recognizing the RR&E of the ME PJM;

2. How to better allocate ME resources across locations within the division;

3. Definition of KPIs for ME PJM and how to better achieve them;

4. How to evaluate the new product budget, and how to shorten the time of internal challenge process.

18

PLANT DYNAMICS

Members of the ME, HR, Facility, PJM and OE teams from Shanghai plant visited Katowice, a city located in the southern part of Poland, to conduct a site visit and complete preparations for a customer audit visit to the plant.

The facility renovation of the CCS Katowice plant is about to be completed. To better cope with the plant audit, the team members carried out a three-day on-site wiring and layout discussion to provide the customer with a visualization of the division of functional areas and material flow display. All teams were well prepared for this customer audit, and worked closely with colleagues at Katowice plant to strengthen communication and learn from each other, which further improved the project progress, and ultimately completed the on-site audit and gained the customer's appreciation!

Four members of the CCS Hetero Tooling Transfer Project team (Molex Shanghai: Sam Zhu, Spring Lin, Bruse Xue, Molex Japan: Takuro Kageyama) visited the plants in Nogales and Lincoln for a week in preparation for further support of the project.

When they visited Nogales plant, the members fully understood the local production and technical strength, and discussed the preparation of personnel, equipment, materials, environment, as well as the reserve and training of professional and technical personnel required for the project transfer.

During the visit to Lincoln plant, they learned the advanced production management experience of the Molding shopfloor, systematic production control, they also focused on the production of the hetero tooling transfer project, which involves the daily maintenance of molds, spare parts management, and the connection between the production plan and the switching of the part numbers.

We learned that teamwork is the foundation for efficient collaboration and communication to accomplish goals, as well as the foundation for improving the overall effectiveness of an organization while creating more positive value.

19

PLANT DYNAMICS

By: Simon Gong

Previously, the production dashboard only displayed information and could not be shared with employees instantly. Since multiple machines are operated by one person in the Stamping Department, every downtime in production may have a loss of waiting time, resulting in lower POEE. To address this pain point, we collaborated with our Operations Excellence, ME Automation, and IT teams to develop a task dashboard based on OPC data, which includes three parts: production equipment status, production area KPIs, and task bar. In this way, the distribution of machines on dashboard is consistent with the actual layout of the workshop, making it possible to grasp the status of the machines at a glance, and the KPI area also lets employees know the performance of their units.

We have also set up a LoRa-based watch information sending and receiving platform in the workshop to realize the connection between dashboard and users, and the tasks automatically generated by dashboard will be instantly sent to the corresponding personnel through the watch instant platform, which is currently being piloted in the Stamping Department, and will be extended to other departments in the future!

Digitalization based on real-time information and intelligent transformation are particularly important in the value realization stage of Fusion. Through the establishment of a bridge between OPC and users, efficient information sharing can be realized to achieve operational excellence. Also with the increasingly fierce competition in the external market, the demand for automation in manufacturing production is increasing. The Stamping Department, through continuous innovation, has increased automation from all processes of production, combined with digital transformation, which has greatly improved productivity.

Digital Dashboard and Fast Response Device

In addition to production task dashboard, we will also develop material, QC, machine repair, tooling dashboard. The tasks generated by these dashboard will be sent to the corresponding personnel through the watch instant platform. We will also develop daily report dashboard based on the background data of these 6 dashboards, through which we can identify opportunities for improvement.

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

2-forming Accumulator De-coiler Machine

• Before Improvement: 2forming products are characterized by low raw material packaging quantities and frequent material changes, resulting in long downtime.

• After Improvement: The development of an accumulator line at de-coiler machine, together with the on-pitch welding equipment, achieve zero downtime for material change, and reduce the number of material change scraps by 98%.

20

PLANT DYNAMICS

Fully Automatic Packing Machine

The production time for each tray of Mini-Fit and Micro-Fit products is less than 5 minutes, which means that the operators need to repeat the action of changing reel and packing more than 100 times a day, which is a very high workload. The Stamping Department developed a full-automatic packaging machine in collaboration with the supplier. Through continuous improvement and refinement, the machine realizes the full-automatic loading of reel, receiving, fixing of tapes, labeling, switching of paper bags, and packing of boxes, which greatly improves the production efficiency and at the same time reduces the load on the operators. With the help of this achievement, one operator can easily complete the production of 6 automatic machines, the man-machine ratio has been improved by 500% (from 1 to 6), and POEE has been increased from 60% to 90%.

Fully Automatic 

Packing Machine

Automatic Inspection Equipment

The DDR5 connector has 2 rows of 10 pins each, involving many inspection items, which would take more than 40 minutes if inspected manually. The Stamping Department developed automatic inspection equipment together with the ME Automation team, which can accomplish automatic inspection in both longitudinal and horizontal directions, reducing the inspection time from the original 40 minutes to 3 minutes, which is also compatible with all DDR series products of the same pitch.

For high-precision products of SSB6 and Mirror Mezz, Keyence LM-100 automatic inspection equipment with special fixtures has been adopted to realize quick one-button automatic inspection with an inspection accuracy of 0.1 micron. Currently, the Stamping Department has completed the introduction of automated gauging for all 217 parts that are regularly produced, and the average time per inspection cycle has been reduced by 35%.

Automatic Inspection Equipment

2-forming Accumulator De-coiler Machine

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PLANT DYNAMICS

Molding: Shopfloor Re-layout

By: Hu Xue Feng

With the transformation of the company and changes in production, the Current Molding layout has become unsuitable for the existing production, and the shopfloor needs a more reasonable machine layout to improve the team's personnel efficiency, space utilization, productivity, etc., to maximize the benefits of production needs.

We also encountered many challenges in the early stage of the project planning: the plant floor design has been fixed, some facilities cannot be changed; there are numerous general-purpose equipment and various irregular OM equipment in the production line, and the VOC pipelines are interspersed and connected; and there are complex and numerous centralized feeding system pipelines, water, electricity, and gas pipelines, and various kinds of high-voltage and low-voltage signaling cables in the basement.

Our project team met regularly, raised questions, collected suggestions, repeated arguments, and gradually solved issues in the process. Our planners arranged the production according to the machine movement planning to minimize the impact on the daily production.

The project continued to progress with the full cooperation of the team members. The IE team assisted the Molding team in continuously optimizing the proposal and improving the overall layout planning drawings; the Plant Affairs team provided consulting and construction support for the specific proposal; the EHS team considered the safety and provided timely protection suggestions; the Finance team gave professional guidance in finance-related matters, especially in the formulation of DMF; and members of the OE team assisted in the overall proposal discussion and provided professional advice in the compilation of the report. The project was carried out through useful debates and close cooperation.

A complex project is often com with challenges, and the phrase "Stop, Think,  Act" is a very practical rule of action to avoid unnecessary consequences when encountering problems. Conflicts may arise when planning and production are affected by the movement of machines. Weighing the interests of the team, the department, and the plant, and applying economic thinking is an effective way to solve problems. We didn't have much experience with this project, So the leadership and team members took advantage of the PBM's "Knowledge" Dimension, organized and contacted other plants to share their experiences with the Shanghai team, which was very profitable and gave us some experience to learn. We set up a pilot line, with the first batch of 12 machines already completed and put into operation. The project also met the expectations: the production lines were merged, the space was optimized, the layout was more reasonable, and the path was more convenient, which provided an important implementation basis and reference for later planning.

Crowded shopfloor path and operation

 area before the improvement

Simpler and clearer shopfloor after improvement

The overall plan for the Molding team has now been finalized and the machines and site areas will be re-optimized. It is expected that the OEE of the renovated workshop will be increased by 20%, MMR will be increased by 50%, basement pipeline will be reduced by 50%, space will be saved by 600m², independent personnel and logistics paths will be created, and overall productivity will be improved. It is hoped that Molding Department will be shown to you with a new look in the near future.

Shanghai Outlook

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PLANT DYNAMICS

Plating: Mirror Mezz Gold Saving Project

By: Pioneer Lv

We are also continuing to optimize the plating process and molds, to explore and promote the second phase of the gold saving program. The expert team will utilize PBM's "Bottom-Up" rather than "Top-Down" principle, fully listen to the opinions and ideas of all employees involved, and conduct a more in-depth study on the distribution of the thickness of the gold plating layer as well as the consumption of gold in non-essential plating areas. We are confident that we will achieve better results in the future!

Mirror Mezz is one of the major projects carried out by Molex Shanghai in 2024 and is the most productive project in the plating team.

The reduction of gold consumption in Mirror Mezz is the main cost reduction and efficiency improvement target of the plating team for the year 2024. To achieve this, the plating team has set up an expert team to focus on gold consumption savings, guided by the PBM’s principle of "Experimentation".

Through 12 process optimizations and experiments over a period of 3 months, this project has overcome challenges such as failure of plating nitric acid vapor reliability test, substandard plating speed, short service life of gold plating solution, reddish plating, etc., and has achieved remarkable results under the joint efforts of mass production process engineers, development process engineers and production team.

👍The consumption of MM plating gold was reduced from 0.129g/K to 0.11g/K, a 15% savings in gold consumption.

👍In March 2024, 2.78Kg of gold was saved, totaling $177,000 USD. In the coming year, we expect to save 58Kg gold, with a cumulative savings of US$3.3 million.

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PLANT DYNAMICS

Manufacturing Engineering : Innovation of DDR5 

By: Summer Liu

DDR, or Double Data Rate, is a technical standard for computer memory controller chips. It is a high-speed, high-bandwidth, low-power memory port standard that can be used in various applications, such as personal computers, servers, and mobile devices. DDR technology increases the data transfer rate by using two clock signals on the memory bus for two data transfers in the same clock cycle. The family of DDR products is the standard connectors between the computer motherboard and the memory stick. Evolving from DDR to DDR2, DDR3 , DDR4 until the current DDR5, each version utilizes different technological improvements to increase speed and bandwidth.

The DDR5 assembly line contains: Metal pin insertion, terminal pin insertion, TAB pin insertion, electrical testing, Latch assembly, CCD inspection and packaging. According to the pain points of DDR4, we have made the following innovations in DDR5 assembly line: the cycle time (C/T) has been improved from 1.8s in DDR4 to 1.2s in DDR5, the QAP has been reduced from 1.53% in DDR4 to 0.90% in DDR5, and the gross margin of the product has been improved from 5% in DDR4 to 34% in DDR5.

Pain point: Different HSG warpage at different HSG cavity.

Improvement: As shown in the picture, divide the final seating punch into 4 areas: Left (Up/Down row)& right (Up/Down row); Different HSG cavity number used different parameters for final seating with auto change by Vision.

Thanks to James Chen, Calvin Fang, Mountain Wu, Sun Xing, Tony Chen, Wang JingQian, Xia Feng and other coworkers for their hard work on the DDR5 assembly fully auto line.

Clamp stitcher Mode

(Left)

Shanghai Outlook

23

PLANT DYNAMICS

Lab: Testing Capability and Technology Exchange

By：Pan Min

To continuously improve product quality, the Lab team conducted a technical exchange with the PD team recently focusing on lab testing capability and testing methods. This aimed to better help the PD engineers understand the characteristics of product reliability, failure analysis, functional testing, and measurement methods, as well as practice the sharing and application of "Knowledge" principle in the PBM.

In response to the actual PD needs, key points, and difficulties of the test process, the lab team arranged the experienced colleagues to share the test standards and requirements with simple words, pictures, and videos with representative real cases. To let the engineers have an easier understanding of the experimental process, the sample pre-treatment, the operation of instruments and equipment, and the way of testing data were demonstrated through on-site operation.

Before the training, I had little knowledge of each test, and knew only the content of each test and the purpose of the test without knowing why. The trainer made us have a deeper understanding of each test through the combination of methodology, introduction of test instruments and practical demonstration during the training. Through this training, I have a more solid theoretical and practical foundation for product design and improvement, as well as the formulation of related specifications in my future work, which allows me to deal with related customer demands better.

Feedback from PD Participant

Leo Wu

• Shanghai Outlook / Award-winning Quiz •

What are the ongoing projects to deepen digitization?

What’s the increase in the gross margin of DDR5 products compared to the DDR4?

What are the purposes of adopting a more rational machine placement in the Molding team?

Corner

Award-winning Quiz

Which of the following is required to realize the principle of "Contribution Motivated"?

During the training, the PD engineers raised many test-related questions they encountered in their work, which were discussed actively and reached an agreement. The PD engineers suggested to set up regular technical exchange meetings to create an open, transparent and respectful working environment, where the lab and PD engineers can have the opportunity to share their work progress and challenges, making all colleagues ready to work together willingly and effectively.

This exchange provided an excellent opportunity and platform for technical exchanges between the lab team and PD team, fully demonstrated the testing capability of the lab team and provided practical opportunities for PD, strengthened the communication and cooperation between the two sides, and had a positive effect and significance in promoting the company's technological development, as well as product quality enhancement.

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Editorial Team Introduction:

Final Reviewer: Lucy Li

Editor: Rachel Zhang

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