CY24 Business Newsletter Volume1 English Version

March 2024

SHANGHAI OUTLOOK

Connection as One Molex,

Collaboration for Transformation!

MOLEX SHANGHAI

BUSINESS NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 1 OF 6

Preface

contents

Greeting to MXSH Employees

04-05

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

"Changing Paradigms" Workshop

06

PBM Shout Out Program

07-08

PBM Workshop Highlights

09

digital transformation

Shanghai Fusion PD Project Updates

10

Shanghai M&O Project Updates

11

Shanghai MOS Project Updates

12

Internal Use Only

Career Journey of New Leaders 

13-14

Shanghai ME Introduction

15

January - February  Long Service Award

16-17

PLANT DYNAMICS

“One Molex” Visit

18

CY24 Annual Party

19-20

Molex Shanghai 2024 Theme

21

Recognition of Molex Shanghai

22

Stamping: Organization Optimization

24-25

26-27

Molding: Material Improvement and 

Structure Optimization

28

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Materials: New Way of Export Transportation

Spring Festival Celebrations

23

Internal Use Only

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

contents

contents

Greeting to MXSH Employees

MARCH 2024

ISSUE 1 OF 6

Firstly, wish you and your family a good Chinese Long Year. I'm honored and excited to lead our transformation journey continuously since this February.

I'd like to say thank-you to Julia Huang for building the transformative culture in Molex Shanghai, and I believe she will continue to be a part of Shanghai team and reinforce to Shanghai Team, at her new position of CCS Global Supply Chain Operations VP!

I started working as an Operations Manager in Shanghai since the September of 2022 and it was a very short and long time for me. 

04

3"S":

CY22 Theme "ABC":

Simple

Slim

Speed

Agility

Breakthrough

Collaboration

In the aspect of comparative advantage, as we all know, we have gone through many transformations, we are still making great efforts and have achieved some excellent results.

Plating layout optimization to improve the work efficiency.

Mirror Mezz Ramp Up: exceed the original goals through overall planning and collaboration of the whole team.

Globalization: actively share knowledge with other entities and expand working scope through programs like Fusion and global ME projects, not only focus on Shanghai.

“One Molex” Mindset.

I has recently attended a PBM Workshop on the topic of "Changing Paradigms." From my personal understanding, it's similar like our transformation journey, there is a spirit of experimentation, diversity, and destructive challenge rather than fear or stereotypes, so that we are able to seek better bottom-up culture and active employee engagement through successful experiences.

I will try to support and do my best to ensure our continuous transformation and lead Shanghai team to become a Flagship plant.

Once again, I wish you and your family good luck and health in the New Year, and hope that we can go forward side by side in the future! Also, I'm pleased to greet all of you and will work closely in hands-on basis.

People

Process

Products

 I had been learning a lot from the concept of 3 "P":

When receiving this information at the beginning, I had mixed feelings when this suddenly came to me, but I was well aware that our team had the comparative advantage, respectful and cohesion culture, aligning with our vision and theme.

05

Shanghai Outlook

By: KH PARK

Molex Shanghai Operations Director

Shanghai Outlook

06

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

PBM Shout Out Program

By: Jolin Zhou

In early 2024, HR and Assembly team jointly launched the "PBM Shout Out" Program. The purpose of this program is to create a platform for all employees, especially DL employees, to openly recognize PBM good practices, encourage employees to be aware of and discover PBM behaviors in line with the PBM culture around them in the daily work, and let employees fully participate in the continuous PBM advancement activities.

In early January, the project team completed the instruction to cell leaders and foremen. After the front-line leaders learned about the "PBM Shout Out" Program, they actively joined with their supervisors to introduce and publicize the program internally, leveraging the support from cell leaders. In early February, Assembly manager provided timely recognition to the first batch of nominees with effective feedback. By the end of February 2024, we had received a total of 24 valid nominations for PBM good practices, and we subsequently introduced these employees and their stories of practicing PBM at our employee communication meetings.

The "PBM Shout Out" program was piloted in Assembly department in Q1. Later in Q2, we will collect feedback and opinions from our employees and decide whether the program will be rolled out to all production departments based on actual needs. Look forward to more exciting PBM stories, please stay tuned.

Program Introduction and Promotion to Front-line Leaders

Program Introduction and Promotion to DL Employees

Motivation and Recognition to Nominees

Outstanding Story Recognition at ECM

07

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

PBM Workshop Highlights

By: Molex Shanghai Employees

On January 26th, Nicolas Zhang facilitated "RR&E" PBM Workshop to the PD team, enabling all participants to have a deeper understanding of RR&E process.

The participants learned through this workshop that the RR&E process is not a one-time event or a general task, but is an ongoing activity that can be communicated to the supervisor for updates at any time.

For Individuals: In view of their different strength, skills and interests, they can discuss with their supervisors to understand how to create value in daily work based on their individual responsibilities and work priorities.

For Supervisors: Explore and develop clear and measurable goals with employees based on the differentiated characteristics of team members.

For Organizations: Apply PBM principles and focus on the individual to maximize value creation for the team by optimizing the assignment of responsibilities to members, while helping employees’ self-actualization.

PD PBM Workshop

Participant: Horace Ma

I am honored to participate in the first PBM Workshop of ME department this year, with the topic of "Contribution Motivated". The two facilitators guided us to think in a vivid and interesting way, and through the analysis and discussion of case studies in the plant, they made us deeply realize the importance of “Contribution Motivated" in the development of the team, and how to practice this principle in our daily work.

Through this workshop, I realized that the development of an organization cannot be separated from the contribution of the employees, and through the contribution of the employees, they also won the respect of other members and achieve self-actualization. The result of "win-win" also indicates the importance of " Contribution Motivated". But it is not just about working hard, it also requires each of us to have a correct understanding of ourselves, striving to realize our individual potential, and contributing to the team's capability to cope with various challenges based on the principle of mutual benefit.

ME PBM Workshop

Participant: Jim Ou

Shanghai Outlook

Individual brilliance is merely a fleeting moment, but helping the team achieve success through personal contribution is what truly shines and endures.

08

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

This workshop was co-facilitated by me together with Jolin from HR. The topic of the workshop was "Contributed Motivated", emphasizing the importance of contribution and the role of each employee in achieving the company's vision. In a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere, there was a great deal of enthusiasm and motivation amongst the participants.

We invited Murphy Miao, Assembly Senior Manager, to introduce the concept of "Contributed Motivated" as well as how leaders can inspire the potential of their employees, build a positive work culture, and align individual’s goal with the team’s vision. He also gave some case studies to provide colleagues with theoretical support and practical advice on how to utilize the power of contribution at work.

During the workshop, participants worked in small groups to explore how to be " Contributed Motivated". Each group had a topic, such as how to be more effecient, how to improve the customer experience, etc. The participants shared ideas, strategies and solutions with each other and were inspired by the experience of other group members. This interaction prompted employees to think about and explore new ways of working together.

I also shared some cases of personal success at work, explained the impact of my contributions on the business, and provided my own experience and lessons learned.

At the end of the workshop, participants were encouraged to keep their contribution motivated attitude, to practice what they have learned in their day-to-day work, as well as to continue to strive for excellence.

The success of this workshop lies in the fact that it was not just a platform for disseminating knowledge, but also an opportunity to stimulate thinking, encourage action and facilitate communication. Through this event, we hope that all employees will realize their value and influence and turn them into positive actions to contribute more to the success of our company.

Finally, we look forward to witnessing everyone is "Contributed Motivated" to create more value for the company and society in the future.

Production PBM Workshop

Facilitator: Wu Min

09

PRINCIPLE BASED MANAGEMENT

"Changing Paradigms" Workshop

By: Ye Lei

The PBM team has introduced a new principle "Changing Paradigms" in 2024. On February 28th, we invited Cythina Cao, Senior PBM Consultant, to facilitate a workshop for the management team of Shanghai and Kunshan plants to learn and explore the "Changing Paradigms" to deepen the understanding and application of this principle.

Through simple and real-life examples, the workshop illustrated how our (mindset/behavior) paradigms affect our actions, and the management team were guided to reflect on the (mindset/behavior) paradigms within the organization that block individuals and teams from achieving outstanding outcomes. Through reflection and discussion, several (mindset/behavior) paradigms were identified that hindered the success of the Molex Shanghai and Kunshan teams, such as the tendency to follow top-down instructions, thinking only in their own or their own team's perspective, etc.

So what actions should we take to change these (mindset/behavior) paradigms? Cynthia presented recommendations for action: apply the tool "Using the Five Dimensions to identify and close gap in you work”, helping individuals and teams get better achievements.

At the end of the workshop, all the management team who participated in the workshop expressed they had benefited a lot from it. Through this workshop, participants fully understood why "Changing Paradigms" is an important principle, why inherent "paradigms" prevent us from achieving better results, and what strategies and recommendations for action should be adopted after discovering and identifying the "paradigms" that need to be "changed".

For in-depth learning and exploration of "Changing Paradigms", the HR team will work with the management team to conduct ongoing workshops in each department, to identify more effective recommendations and suggestions that can be practically applied in daily work, taking into account the characteristics of each department.

The management team simulated how to fully apply the Five Dimensions to identify the gap between the current state of the paradigm and what can best be accomplished by fully applying our PBM principles to change the paradigm of "Follow Top-Down Instructions" and discussed ways to maximize their contribution. The simulation also enabled our management team to realize that the Five Dimensions is a tool that can be used not only in the principle of changing paradigms but also within the organization as well as in daily operations!

Shanghai Outlook

10

DIGITALIZED TRANSFORMATION

Shanghai Fusion PD Project Updates

By: Fusion PD Project Team

The Fusion PD Project came to the final deployment phase at the beginning of 2024. Considering the deployment schedule and training arrangement, the two business tools Polarion and Teamcenter will be launched one by one, with Polarion going live in early April and Teamcenter going live in mid-May.

Since mid-January, the CCS Fusion PD team has held activities such as "How to Become a Trainer" and "Train-the-Trainer" sessions, of which the "Train-the-Trainer" is divided into "Process Overlay and Integration" and "Polarion Live Training". All trainers and super users in China participated in these sessions or watched the training recordings, laying a solid foundation for subsequent end user training.

At the end of February, the China Fusion PD team organized the End User Townhall, where the trainer team was introduced to all end users and we explained the mental model change and introduced training course schedule in preparation for the end user training activities.

Meet Lina Xiong, Shanghai Fusion PD CCM Capability Representative

The Fusion PD Project will go live in Q2 and is now in the super user training and end user training Phases currently.

As the leader of CCM Capability in the early stage, I was deeply involved in combing the new product development process in Shanghai, analyzing the differences between the process and the global new product development process PDP5.0 and also working on fitting the gap.

In November 2023, I attended Business Simulation Practice session arranged by US team online. In December, as the capability leader, I participated in a four-days Business Simulation Practice live session with China team to further understand the relationship between Fusion PD and PDP 5.0 and became familiar with the actual operation of ALM and PLM systems.

Since February 2024, as a super user, I supervised all members of my team to complete the online training courses in preparation for the end user training, all the actions will lay a solid foundation to make sure the Polarion system go live smoothly in April.

11

DIGITALIZED TRANSFORMATION

Shanghai M&O Project Updates

By: Fusion M&O Project Team

Shanghai plant has been working on resolving those figured application issues and newly developed enhancements over the past 2 months, completing preparations for the OpCenter system upgrade. The current version of OpCenter, R32, cannot provide solutions for Molding Hetero (one mold with multiple cavities and multiple part numbers), PE function optimization, which makes a system upgrade a necessity to solve these challenges. In February this year, the project team completed 95% of the technical testing of the new enhancements, and plans to conduct user simulation tests in March, and will switch to the new version R37 in April.

In addition, the project team also repeatedly discussed and verified the solutions for the products that were not launched on the 4th floor of Assembly department, communicated with the Assembly team about the go-live plan for many times, and completed the system testing and other work.

The front-end of Charger 2.6 Pogo-pin has been launched and realized the function that the front-end process reports production in OpCenter and the front-end process immediately loads the material in OpCenter, which saves the time spent on SAP material flow operation, as well as realizes the system to trace back the production information.

The solution for D/V-Type C has been finalized and will be launched this month.

A single machine will be selected by Mirror Mezz for a trial run of the OpCenter system, and the system is planned to be launched on all MM production lines once the solution has been fully validated and the use of the new version of OpCenter has been smoothed out.

1

2

Furthermore, the digital tool - Kanban upgrading project has been developed in a prototype form, which is further refining the business requirements, improving the data sources and improving the user interface.

With the OpCenter system launched in many of Molex's manufacturing plants globally, the Molex Fusion team organized a "Value Realization" Workshop in Molex Shanghai plant this January, covering 10 plants from CCS, DSS and TIS. Representatives from each plant demonstrated the value that the digital system had brought to their operations and focused on how digitalization could be utilized to enable the plant's continued stabilization and performance improvement for a long-term value realization.

Shanghai Outlook

3

12

DIGITALIZED TRANSFORMATION

Shanghai MOS Project Updates

By: MOS Project Team

The plant completed a new round of Production System Maturity Assessment in October 2023. Based on the assessment results, we found there were still some opportunities for growth in the daily management of the production departments, especially in the leader standard work and Gemba Walk management, which needed to be further strengthened. After a unanimous decision by the management, the Molding department would be the pilot area to deepen the leader standard work and Gemba Walk management again, leveraging its greater value and better guaranteeing a continuous increase in performance.

The Gemba Walk management was in full swing, and we combined our previous lessons learnt and the experience shared by other sites to redefine the management process of on-site Gemba Walk under the guidance of the MOS coach. The purpose of Gemba Walk management is different from on-site audit, in which a group of capable personnel with decision rights jointly visit the production lines, take the initiative to find out the improvement opportunities and understand the obstacles in the production shopfloor, as well as to think about how to give full support from their own point of view, so as to ensure that the performance of the production is achieved. The new process will reiterate this purpose before each Gemba Walk and require participants to follow it strictly.

We worked with Molding managers and supervisors to develop a series of implementation plans, we aligned that the deep dive leader standard work should started at the level of department manager and supervisors. After a series of training, communication, data and information collection, the initial version of the leader standard work had been completed and was being piloted. It is expected to be completed by June 2024, with subsequent rollout to other leader roles within the department.

The new year ushers in new plans for MOS. In order to improve the standardization and stabilization of the workplace, and to follow through the daily management, MOS will make breakthroughs in the following aspects:

13

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Career Journey of New Leaders 

By: Newly Promoted Managers

I majored in chemistry in college, and my first job before joining Molex was related to Plating. Since joining Molex, I have held positions in Quality Systems, Plating Quality Assurance, Quality Control Supervisor, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Master Black Belt, Operations Excellence Manager, and Senior Plating Manager. I would like to thank all my supervisors for giving me one opportunity after another in these twenty years. Twenty-years is not a short period of time, yet it is fleeting!

During my 8 years in the Operations Excellence team, I actively practiced the PBM principles and helped my colleagues to maximize their contribution in specific activities such as TOP projects, plant layout transformation and MOS deployment, leveraging their comparative advantages. In my current position, I also believe that my colleagues in the Plating department will be able to break new ground and create greater value for Molex by working closely together, integrating Fusion and MOS, and enhancing their own work experience as well as internal and external customer experience!

In December 2023, I started another new career journey, transferring from the Digitalization team in ME department to the Operations department as Molding Manager.

The challenges of this transfer were significant, transitioning my role from being an individual contributor to managing a production department with over a hundred employees with a depth and breadth of expertise. Frankly, I personally felt a lot of pressure. It demanded that I continue to learn new aspects of the department business and develop myself quickly as a qualified manager so that I could influence and drive the department to embrace the aligned vision and work together to achieve a win-win result.

I believe that opportunities and challenges always exist side by side. "We have to be brave to step out of our comfort zone, because opportunities will not wait for us to be ready for everything, only by continuously improving ourselves and accepting challenges can we create a broader space for career development."

I graduated from Guilin University of Electronic Technology in 2011, and joined Molex Shanghai six years ago as a Black Belt, responsible for implementing the Six Sigma Black Belt projects. Since the end of 2021, I participated in the deployment of the Fusion M&O Project as site capability lead.

At the beginning of 2024, the organizational change of Shanghai plant brings me opportunities and challenges, and I have to start to shoulder the responsibility of the OE team in digital transformation and continuous improvement, etc. I will try my best to push forward no matter large or small projects to serve the plant operations, as well as continue to make changes together with the strong backers. I will always give my best to achieve even more remarkable achievements, in both present and future.

Shanghai Outlook

Cell performance review mechanism: enhance employees' engagement and activeness.

Upgrade Leader Standard Work comprehensively: maintain and benignly increase operational performance.

Optimize Gemba Walk management: maximize the support for production cell performance growth.

14

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

NPD Sourcing Manager

I graduated from Harbin University of Science and Technology in 2006, majoring in mechatronics. In 2011, I was honored to join Molex Shanghai to start a new career as a New Product Quality Planning Engineer. The PBM culture and advanced talent development plan of Molex has allowed me to continuously gain different knowledge, skills and experience from each project, training and team communication. The experience from Apple X121/X193/N51/N61 projects, IPASS project, Antenna MID project and Dalian Transfer project prompted me to grow up to be an AQP manager in 2021, responsible for the quality management of the whole new products, including PMI, V&K Charger, TypeC, E-Bike, DZ07, BTB & MM. Since January 2024, I officially transferred my role to the MQA Manager.

The transformation from new product quality to mass product quality, from technical position to management position is a leap in nature, the change of working style and method, the change of thinking mode, as well as the high demand for management ability are all new challenges for me, and I am very grateful to the Shanghai management for their trust, encouragement, and support, which make me grow up continuously.

When I look back on my past career journey, I think it is important to Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish! Keep learning, always be ready to change, keep challenging yourself to achieve transformation and growth; and keep striving to achieve better results. I am very lucky to be part of Molex Shanghai and to meet those people who have contributed to my growth.

Looking ahead, I sincerely hope that MQA will be transformed and upgraded into a professional, cooperative and effective team that will continue to make the greatest contribution to the quality and cost improvement of the Shanghai plant. Let's work together to achieve "Connection as One Molex, Collaboration for Transformation"!

My name is Leo Liu, now in charge of CCS NPD Sourcing China & Singapore.

MY TIP TO WORK: Try to Love our work first no matter how tough it is. As at work, there are always some aspects that aren’t much fun, when we love it and leverage our unique gift(s), work will be more energizing rather than draining, we will become more optimistic, get more willingness to learn from failures, rather than being discouraged and frustrated. Really like one sentence from Believe in People, “People, by and large, are neither smart nor stupid. We are all both, at the same time: smart in some ways, stupid in others. We are the smartest when we discover, develop, and apply our unique strengths – whatever they may be – and dumbest when we don’t.” So, let us be a smart person to dig our gifts while enjoying our work. We are busy NOT FOR OTHERS but for a good of our own.

My name is Yoonhoo Kim (YH) and I came to Shanghai through the Molex Talent Exchange Program in 2022.

I joined Molex in 2017 with 14 years of experience as a connector Plating engineer, responsible for selective Plating jig design, laser engineering, NPI, DPE and providing manufacturing technical support to other CCS plants.I take the role of Plating Engineering Manager at the beginning of this year, and I am mainly responsible for NPI project progress tracking and resource management, technical decision making and problem solving.

Our team’s responsibility is to enable new products through new Plating technology and process development, and to work closely with the Plating Production team to achieve an aligned goal. In order to improve the individual competencies of our team members, we also strive to grow together by providing timely support. The Shanghai Plant produces products for three business units, hence not only does it have a wider variety of products than other plants, but the processes are also more diversified. Because of this, I consider Molex Shanghai to be a plant full of opportunities to learn about different technologies and experience a wide range of products.

I'm a beginner as a manager and I know that I will face a lot of difficulties, but I will try to overcome them with a positive mindset and make them a great opportunity for my growth with my team members. I look forward to more advice and guidance from all of you!

MQA Manager

15

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Shanghai ME Introduction

By: Zachary Wang

Shanghai ME department, as a part of CCS ME team, focuses on process design and manufacturing technology development in the field of precision connector products, including various functional groups of PJM, Automation, Mold, Die, Plating, DPE, MPE and Toolroom. There are about 100 members in Shanghai ME team with the capabilities of developing more than 60 projects per year on average, and more than 200 machines/tools. The aligned vision for the whole ME team is to become a super Manufacturing Engineering team with high competitiveness in cost and delivery, fast response, and best cooperation through continuous capability enhancement and transformation, offering a strong technical escort for the continuous development and growth of Molex.

ME PJM Team applies Jira to digitally manage projects, integrates product design and process development resources, set project goals, and delivers customer with satisfied solutions, with extensive knowledge and a clear view of the overall picture.

ME Automation Team includes functions like mechanism design, electronic control design, visual design and assembly debug. With innovative and fully self-developed capabilities, the team mainly focuses on the development and application of high-speed insertion machine (1200RPM), assembly machine, inspection machine and so on.

ME Mold Team plays a wide range of applications in 32 cavities multi-cavity molds, automatic implantation of insert molding technology, as well as small amount and variety of HETERO molds, 0.35mm BTB high precision molds, and mold flow simulation software.

  

ME Die Team possesses full practice in multi-category (such as FIT, BTB, USB, Ends MM, DDR), wide range of thickness (0.06mm to 1.5mm) copper and stainless-steel materials, 0.35BtB ultra-precision die, as well as the development of die with complex strip.

 

ME Plating Team is capable of high-speed plating and selective plating, as well as spot plating jig and plating equipment development, such as high-speed plating of BTB and FIT series at 20m/min and plating of MM products.

ME DPE Team employs a wide range of knowledge and technical backgrounds, and applies the total process development mindset, bridging product design and process development, and integrating the ME team to complete the process development.

ME MPE Team has knowledge of various product processes, especially in the implanted ball technology, connecting NPI to mass production with end-to-end control of the whole process by coworking with multiple departments. The team has been focusing on the continuous improvement of COPQ and POEE to stabilize the production process.

ME Toolroom Team is mainly responsible for in-house machining of new spare parts and emergency repairs, with 18 machining machines. It is equipped with the capability of machining high-precision fine-toothed parts (BTB, MM, etc.) for insert molding and fine ultra-precision parts for PG stamping.

ME department is continuously promoting the Fusion PD project through the development of new technology applications such as AI technology, magnetic suspension platform, and undertaking the development of global projects (Volfinity, Busbar). With the continues application and learning of PBM, Shanghai ME team will always learn how to realize transformation and growth, continue to create more value for our company.

Shanghai Outlook

16

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

January - February Long Service Award

By：Deng Zhihui & Sam Zhu 

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 January-February 2024 Molex Long Service Awards, which were presented to 30 employees.

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

Time flies, I've been with Molex for 20 years. During these 20 years, Molex has offered me a lot of valuable experience and opportunities to let me continue to grow and improve.

In 2018, I was offered the opportunity to visit Molex Japan to learn about the production of the "BTB series". In Japan, I witnessed that the tolerance of BTB products is very small, their quality requirements were stricter, and the dies were more precise. I knew that this was a challenge, but also an opportunity for me to develop. I mastered all the essentials of stamping production in Molex Japan, and I also learned their rigorous work attitude and attention to every detail of the process, which was what we called "craftsmanship".

Stamping

Deng Zhihui

With the transfer of the BTB production line to Shanghai plant, I shared the skills and knowledge I gained with my team members to make progress together and worked together with all departments to overcome all the difficulties in the mass production afterward to achieve the goal of high quality and high efficiency. As expected, our team received the CEO High Performance Award that year.

In the future, I will continue to learn and grow, adapting to the ever-changing environment, job requirements and challenges to pursue excellence and self-actualization. I look forward to more opportunities and achievements in the future, and I believe I can do better.

17

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Time flies like a shuttle. I have already passed the 10th anniversary of joining Molex. Over the past ten years, I've had three transformations in my career, each of which I've treated as a new beginning. What makes me grateful is that each transformation has been so rewarding.

The first-time transformation happened when I joined Molex, I moved from mold designing for automotive exterior parts to designing in the connector industry, which I had been looking forward to for a long time, and I was excited finally can work and learn with more outstanding colleagues. Precision connectors are very challenging in the industry. Facing the unfamiliar field, I had to make a good design as well as familiarize myself with the company culture and communicate well with the related departments as soon as possible. Through a period of work and study, I quickly mastered the connector mold design standards, adapted to the new project development process, and eventually became a competent design engineer. In this process, I got the support and assistance from my coworkers, and deeply felt the great warmth of our big family.

The second transformation took place in the fifth year after I joined Molex, from molding design engineer to molding process engineer. Encouraged by the leadership, I did not hesitate to transfer to production. Although I had never been formally exposed to insert molding design and production, I firmly believed that with the support of my supervisors and colleagues, I could certainly make something through my own efforts. After taking over the Type-C project, through the joint efforts of the team, we reduced the QAP from more than 5% to less than 1% in more than a year, and at the same time, we won the "2020 Best Quality Improvement Team", in which I have enriched my knowledge and experience.

ME - DPE

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

My third transformation was in the seventh year of joining Molex, from molding process engineer to design process engineer. Because the previous knowledge of insert molding was far from enough for this role, which gave me the opportunity to start from scratch, and made me feel the excitement again. However, it was fortunate that my colleagues had passed on their knowledge and experience to me unreservedly. With the guidance and support of my supervisors and colleagues, in which I didn’t have any worries, I was able to find my best state and dedicate myself to work and study in my new position.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the company for every opportunity given to me and to my colleagues for their assistance. Every change in my role has been made possible by your support, which has made them an invaluable asset to me. I believe that every experience makes us stronger. There is no shortcut to becoming stronger as growth is always a long process and requires perseverance to face challenges.

Shanghai Outlook

18

PLANT DYNAMICS

Molex Shanghai 2024 Theme

By: HR Team

As mentioned in Molex Shanghai 2023 theme, “Synergy with Advantages, Growth against Headwinds”, Molex Shanghai team has experienced several exclusive moments like Digital Transformation, Mirror Mezz Ramp-up, Cost-saving with Productivity Improvement!

In 2024, Molex Shanghai collected keywords for the theme from colleagues again, encouraging them to fully reflect on the PBM principles and values, development philosophy, team spirit, business strategy, meanwhile combining to the individual goal, then sharing personal ideas of 2024 theme.

We received a lot of good ideas from employees, and with the input of the management team, the Molex Shanghai 2024 theme came to be "Connection as One Molex, Collaboration for Transformation"!

We will still face the business headwinds in the year of 2024, while a new round of transformation ahead of us, we should proactively seek for the opportunities to collaborate as one team to response to the difficulties and challenges calmly, aligning with GOC and CCS visions. 

19

PLANT DYNAMICS

By: Shaw Song

"One Molex" Visit

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. In the first month of 2024, the Shanghai plant hosted and co-organized 5 rounds of big workshop.

Molex has been working on the Fusion digital transformation for about 4 years globally. By the end of 2023, 10 Molex manufacturing plants have completed full go-live of the OpCenter system and the Fusion transformation has moved from the deployment phase to explore how to realize digital value. The project leaders from the 10 plants, along with the global deployment team, and the technology team reviewed the actual execution status of MOS and Fusion M&O in each plant, shared their best practices, and more importantly discussed the measurable value that the digital system had already been delivering to business.

14 members of the GOC Management Team discussed at this meeting how to improve and refine priorities for 2024 and beyond, pertaining to: business plans and delivery of superior value to Molex business units & divisions, organization (talent and performance), and development of GOC capabilities. During the three-days workshop, the management team shared knowledge and ideas on building momentum into the future, strengthening our culture and advancing our talent pool.

Shanghai Outlook

We did a mapping of employees’ competency in the department and made initial arrangements based on their abilities, self-interests and skills, as well as mobility and motivation. Then we went to the Chengdu plant to learn from the experience and understand the difficulties in carrying out the organizational change and the advantages of the improvement. After that, we changed the shopfloor structure from 3 cells to 2 cells in the Stamping area. Finally, we selected cell leaders, and conducted a communication meeting, designing a program to reward individuals based on their contribution and the improvement of overall indicators they brought to the department. Through the thorough communication, employees were made aware of how their daily behavior at work could positively affect the performance of the cell.

After the trial run in January and the official implementation in February, we also actually experienced the benefits of flat organizational management. The motivation of the production employees had been improved and their desire to learn something new had been increased. They came forward with the offer "Can I do something other than my job so that the machines can run faster?"

The current organizational structure will be in continuous operation for about 3 months to verify whether the flat organizational change really creates value to the team and adds new energy to the Stamping department.

Through the early stages of goal-setting, selection of cell leader, accumulation of knowledge and learning, as well as the decision to implement and customize incentives, we are getting closer and closer to the goals we have set. The rising performance of the Stamping team allows us to be more certain of the benefits of the change. Certainly, there are still many aspects of the change activities that need to be further improved, such as capability development, selection and motivation of future leaders, application and promotion of digitalization.

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Six representatives from Operational Excellence Teams across GOC entities spent two days to explore and develop an aligned vision for the Operational Excellence organization and clarifying the RR&E for divisional OE leaders and site OE leaders as a way of facilitating collaboration across the various OE teams. During the workshop, participants also focused on how to strengthen each plant's OE capabilities and how to engage in continuous knowledge sharing.

Five representatives of CCS HR management team from China, Korea, Malaysia, and Vietnam gathered in Molex Shanghai to discuss how to enable the business aligning with the GOC and CCS vision while building a high-performing HR team with the support and guidance of PBM team. The two-day discussion achieved rich outcomes, and the members reached a lot of consensus in the areas of PBM culture advancing, talent development, strategic workforce planning, organizational development and change management, as well as HR technology and data analytics, which laid a solid foundation for confirmation of 2024 CCS HR focus areas and strategies.

During the 3-day workshop, 15 members of CCS SBM team reviewed the performance of each plant in procurement area for 2023, summarized the successes and looked for improvement opportunities. The participants worked through breakout sessions to work out how the SBM team can support the plants in achieve their business goals in headwinds in 2024.

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Stamping: Organization Optimization

By: Zhou Shen (Stamping Cell Leader)

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

The Stamping Department was given to manage organizational flattening as the pilot department in Q3 2023. We started by understanding why the change was necessary, what the benefits of the change were, what the difficulties were and where assistance was needed. Then we discussed and developed goals and actions.

The goal of the organizational change: change the previous multi-layer reporting line to a single layer of reporting line, allowing a direct information sharing and efficient problem solving.

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Molding: Material Improvement and Structure Optimization

By: Yang Lei (Molding Toolmaker)

Mold parts insertion are one of the potential quality risks in insert molding production. Uncertain damage of mold parts not only brings us quality and cost risks, but also lead to hidden defects that are not easy to find, which affect the late delivery or customer complaints.

Based on the principle of quality first and reducing losses, we have conducted in-depth discussions and implemented related solutions for mold parts that are often prone to damage or cannot be judged in the early stage. Through the conclusion of the statistical analysis of data on wear parts, we found that the strength of different molds and components in the production of force points, and the sharpness of the edge is completely different. After we counted the wear parts number and product structure, we found that there is a common weakness in this series of mold broken PIN. Combined with all the reference data, we tried to improve the material and optimize the structure:

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Materials: New Way of Export Transportation

By: Wang Zhian （Shipping Supervisor）

Since last December, the impact of the actions of the Houthi rebels on the Red Sea shipping route had been increased. The Red Sea shipping route was one of the important routes connecting Asia and Europe and was also an important channel for global trade. These interception operations had resulted in late arrival of shipment, with goods stranded at sea, causing serious impacts on global trade.

European maritime transport reaches various countries in Europe via the Suez Canal, which is the shortest route. Changing the route to go around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope would add about 15 days to the journey.

The longer shipment causes the higher cost, and the shipping companies will increase their as well. Now shipping companies around the area of the Middle East and Red Sea are raising their prices wildly.

In view of this incident, Molex Shanghai, in order to shorten the shipping time and control the logistic cost, no longer chooses the sea transportation, but changes to choose CR Express, which is a better way. CR Express is a containerized international rail link between China and Europe and countries along the "Belt and Road". Since January 2024, we have been negotiating with China Railway Corporation for cooperation in order to secure more advantageous transportation prices while ensuring that our container requirements are met, thereby reducing our transportation costs. The expected savings are RMB 9,000 per container, approximately more than RMB 600,000 one year in total.

👉Faster: CR Express usually takes only about 10-20 days to deliver the goods to the destination compared to weeks by sea.

👉Higher Reliability: The arrival time of the goods is more controllable due to the relatively fixed transportation path and predictable transportation time of CR Express. Whereas sea transportation may be affected by weather, sea conditions, ship schedule and other factors, and is prone to delays and uncertainties.

👉More Flexibility: CR Express has a relatively fixed departure time, which makes the loading and unloading operations of goods more convenient and can better meet the urgent transportation needs of customers. On the other hand, the shipping schedule of sea transportation is relatively less flexible, which needs to be booked in advance and may be limited by the capacity of the ship.

👉Better Traceability: CR Express is usually equipped with a modern logistics tracking system, which can track the location and transportation status of goods in real time and provide more accurate feedback on the goods. On the other hand, it is relatively more difficult to track goods by sea, and it is necessary to obtain the transportation status of goods through the information of the transshipment ports of ship transportation.

Route around the 

Cape of Good Hope

CR Express

Here are several advantages of CR Express over traditional sea transportation:

① We firstly tempered the part material to improve the verification, but due to the weak part pin, unidirectional retention force could not resist the punching rubber directional compression force, there were still a few crooked pins or broken pins.

② We added 0.1mm R angle from the original PIN C angle and plane → 0.2mm R angle.

③ We changed the movable and fixed mold pins to the butt-insertion form.

④ We optimized the final material hardness from 58° to 48° under the above conditions, and eventually improved the mechanical properties and durability requirements of mold parts in the molding process until we obtained the best test results.

We had a professional team with different role setting in this project, with a wide range of theoretical knowledge and practical skills to meet the normal production requirements and efficient solutions, realizing the team’s value in the optimization of this series of molds:

👉Cost reduction: reduced by 40% on the original cost.

👉Meet the requirements of different industries and products: such as in the application of various product structures, material properties, like high-strength steels, special alloys and so on.

👉Selection of optimal mold part material: select the optimal material by comprehensively analyzing the test data on the properties, density, and thermal properties of the material.

👉Improve the strength and stability of the part: increase the uniformity of the stress distribution of the material by optimizing the design changes, such as reducing the stress concentration.

👉With full consideration of the mechanical loading of the parts under different working conditions, our Molding department provides solutions with excellent performance and reliability through mold part material improvement and structural optimization project!

Shanghai Outlook

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Recognition of Molex Shanghai

By: HR Team

Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Xin Fa Zhan Co., Ltd. held the 2024 Spring Festival Customer Appreciation Conference on January 26th, 2024, guests from China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Management Committee FTZ Zone Management Bureau, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Group Co., Ltd and enterprises attended the meeting. Molex Shanghai was honored with the "1997-2024 Sincere Cooperation Award"!    

At the beginning of January, the Shanghai General Investigation Team of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published the results of the Shanghai Purchasing Manager Survey, and Molex Shanghai was honored as an "Advanced Enterprise in Shanghai Purchasing Manager Survey".

In addition, Molex Shanghai was rewarded as "CY23 Pudong New District Advanced Company of Statistics" by the Statistics Bureau of Pudong Shanghai, as we pay much attention to the statistics and give full play to the function of statistical service!

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!

Good News! Molex Shanghai has been honored as the 2023 " Best in Class " for achieving outstanding results in quality, delivery, productivity, and profit performance by practicing our comparative advantages!

This outstanding honor cannot be achieved without the hard work of every colleague. Thank you for creating outstanding value for our company with "One Molex" mindset !

We have entered the brand-new year of 2024, and at the beginning of a new round of transformation, we will always be committed to continuous learning, leveraging our comparative advantages, and working together to create a better transformation!

Recently, Molex Shanghai has been awarded the "Shanghai Harmonious Labor Relationship Enterprise" again issued by the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau for the year 2023, as we has played a leading role in the harmonious labor relations and ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of both enterprises and employees!

In the future, Molex Shanghai will continue to deepen the construction of harmonious labor relations by adhering to the spirit of innovation, cooperation and win-win!

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Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

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CY24 Annual Party

By: Rachel Zhang

For Chinese people, annual party demonstrates the cultural values and traditions cherished, enhances interpersonal relationships, and fosters a sense of belonging and pride among colleagues.

To greet the Year of Long, Molex Shanghai organized a series of annual party activities by joint effort from all departments! Let's review the wonderful moments of the annual party and feel the vitality of Molex Shanghai once again!

The Assembly Annual Party was held on January 13th. In addition to Molex Shanghai Management Team and the employees from Assembly department, the representatives of the division lead team, CK Ryu and James Jeong, joined the party as well. And all of them gathered to welcome the new year!

Assembly employees prepared a series of performances. The atmosphere of the annual party was climaxed by a song performance by Murphy Miao, the Assembly manager, and the engineer group, and finally the party was ended by the chorus of Friends and Gangnam Style by the management team.

The Assembly team will keep the energy going for a bright future in 2024!

🎉Assembly Team Session 

The session for Component Team was held on January 14th, 2024. Colleagues from the Stamping, Molding, Plating, and Quality Team gathered with Molex Shanghai Management Team! JH Lee, GOC Senior VP, and colleagues from Molex Vietnam also joined the celebration of the Chinese New Year!

With love and enthusiasm, everyone overcame the language barrier and sent New Year wishes to each other with songs and dances. The annual party not only showed the enthusiasm and vigor of Molex people, but also the cohesion and innovation of the team!

🎉Component Team Session

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🎉Office Employee Session

On January 16th, 2024, the party for office employees was grandly held, with the theme of "Connection as One Molex, Collaboration for Transformation"! As the first annual party after the COVID epidemic, everyone highly looked forward to this event. We also invited 14 representatives from the GOC management team to join in the party with more than 400 Molex Shanghai employees!

JH Lee, GOC Senior VP, delivered a speech, recognizing the achievements of Molex Shanghai in the challenging 2023, and wishing the Shanghai team could continue to stick to PBM culture in 2024, and create even more brilliant achievements together!

The annual party started with the exciting drums and the passionate dragon dance performance, carrying the best wishes for Molex Shanghai. Then, Molex Shanghai management team performed an "Ancient Fashion Show" and various departments presented wonderful performances, such as singing, dancing, and cross talk, which showed the different talents of employees. Along with the rounds of exciting lucky draws, colleagues raised their glasses and celebrated the new year, meanwhile the relationship between each other was closer.

With a popular song "Gangnam Style", GOC members danced on the stage and the enthusiastic atmosphere of the party reached a peak! The employees raised their glasses with a resounding "Cheers", which was very lively.

The 2024 Molex Shanghai Annual Party came to an end, which was not only a stage to show the extraordinary talents of the employees, but also an epitome of teamwork and cohesion. More than 100 members at front stage and behind the scenes spent about 2 months to create this grant show together.

In the new year, we are confident that we will have a brighter future, with the joint efforts of all Molex people!

Shanghai Outlook

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Spring Festival Celebrations

By: HR Team

With the arrival of the Year of the Long, Molex Shanghai was decorated with a Red look to add a beautiful color to the festival!

We beautified the lobby with Chinese New Year decorations like traditional Chinese lanterns and golden dragons, symbolizing good luck, highlighting the unique charm of traditional Chinese culture. Many colleagues were attracted to take photos the special decorations!

On February 16th, the first working day after Chinese New Year, Molex Shanghai plant was filled with joyful laughter everywhere! The Molex Shanghai management team distributed red packets to all the colleagues in the plant, symbolizing good luck and best wishes!

• Shanghai Outlook / Award-winning Quiz  •

The pilot area for Gemba Walk management in 2024 is?

The Shanghai plant have gone through many transformations and making great efforts and have achieved some excellent results, including?

What actions did Stamping team take for the organizational structure flattening project?

What is the estimated annual saving for Molex Shanghai from the new CR Express transportation?

Reader

Award-winning Quiz

Shanghai Outlook

Shanghai Outlook

The answers to these four questions can be found in the above text. You can surely get full marks! We prepare a gift for 20 readers who get full marks. Scan the QR code and answer the questions now!

A. Plating layout optimization to improve the work efficiency.

B. Mirror Mezz ramp up: exceed the original goals through overall planning and collaboration of the whole team.

C. Globalization: actively share knowledge with other entities and expand working scope through programs.

D. “One Molex” Mindset

A. Mapping employees’ competency in the department.

B. Conducted a communication meeting.

C. Changed the Shopfloor Structure from 3 cells to 2 cells in the Stamping Area.

D. Enhanced management skills of foremen and increased shift employee numbers.

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Editorial Team Introduction:

Final Reviewer: Lucy Li

Editor: Rachel Zhang