How the factory in China achieved ‘0 infections’

Labor-intensive companies in China are applying the strictest measures to prevent Covid-19 from entering dormitories crowded with workers.
At the factory of SMC China in the Beijing Economic and Technological Zone, workers are hard at work, their hands quick to assemble pneumatic components. Apart from the mask on the face and the distance of at least 1 meter between the workers, there is no indication that this is life after Covid-19.

As a major parts manufacturing company for industrial machinery, SMC China resumed operations in early February 2020, while the epidemic swept through China. But within a month, production activity here returned to pre-epidemic levels. After 3 months, SMC has 0 infections among nearly 7,000 employees, according to Think China . SMC China General Manager Ma Qinghai said that when the virus spread at the end of January 2020, many companies in China switched to producing ventilators and masks. This led to a sharp increase in orders received by SMC China. Therefore, the return to the operation of the company is paramount. The core strategy of SMC China is to keep the defense and not allow the virus to have a chance to stay. “Our employees know each other face to face and are familiar with the factory environment. As long as we secure the entry point, there will be no cross-contamination. The key lies here,” Ma said. Check employee health via mobile phone SMC China is a balance model between the need to prevent the epidemic and the need to return to work. Before returning to work, the company created a mobile app and asked employees to report their temperature and health condition every two days during their time off. This ensures workers stay healthy when they return to the factory from locations across China. Workers at the TCL air conditioning plant in Jiujang city are required to bring their own towels to dry their hands after soaping, according to an online notice. Photo: Getty. According to Mr. Ma, when he first returned to work, the goal was to ensure that there was no infection in the dormitory. To do this, the company arranges for all workers returning to Beijing to be isolated for 14 days before entering the dormitory. Each dormitory room is only occupied by 2-3 people to reduce the possibility of cross-infection. The production department must daily submit detailed records of temperature checks, workplace disinfection, mask distribution, and cafeteria meal times. The minutes also include information of each person in charge of each content in the anti-epidemic work. More than 3 months after returning to operation from February 3, 2020, SMC China has been able to supply products to many supply chains that produce anti-epidemic supplies, such as mask production machines for more than 500 companies and core components for dozens of ventilator factories. Stricter than authorities regulations Chinese authorities set strict regulations for companies that return to work, such as having to open office windows three times a day, 30 minutes each time In the capital Beijing, companies are required to stop fingerprinting and prohibiting employees from sitting across from each other during lunch. According to the Washington Post , some companies set anti-epidemic measures stricter than the regulations of the authorities. One of these companies is iPhone assembly plant Foxconn Technology Group – China’s largest private employer with more than 1 million employees. At Foxconn’s iPhone manufacturing complex in Zhengzhou, Henan province, workers are grouped into groups of 20 and have to live together day and night, according to a Zhengzhou government notice. Part of the manual instructing workers how to cover their mouths when sneezing to prevent the virus from spreading at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou. Photo: Foxconn. “This group of workers work, move, live, and eat together to ensure each person’s path can be traced,” the statement read. Reply Washington Post , a 36-year-old worker at Foxconn said that every morning, each worker is given a mask and has their temperature checked. At lunch, they ate at the high partition canteen. “There are partitions on the table so we can’t see or talk to each other,” the worker said. Seats at the Foxconn cafeteria are affixed with a QR code for workers to scan before eating. This helps the company understand who eats where and when, the company said in a statement. At the dormitory, workers must leave their coats and bags at a designated place for disinfection. Foxconn even installed infrared cameras to check the temperature of employees as they pass by. In a statement, Foxconn said it was following “all medical and hygiene recommendations… including the use of nucleic acid testing and chest X-rays where necessary.” The company said that by the beginning of April 2020, it had produced 10 million medical masks, of which the goal was to produce 2 million pieces per day for internal use. Helping employees overcome fear According to the Think China , the strict measures at Chinese factories encountered no obstacles because the company proactively reported information and the workers’ own virus fears. “The initial problem was to help workers overcome psychological fear. The rigorous and comprehensive measure makes them feel safer… Everyone knows such strict regulations are put in place to ensure their own health,” said Hiroyuki Hamada, President and CEO of Renesas Semiconductor, said. Renesas Semiconductor is a semiconductor company with a factory in Beijing. Renesas Semiconductor’s factory has about 600 workers, of which more than 90% live in company dormitories. Before the company resumed operations on February 10, 2020, more than half of the workers were on vacation in their hometown and were picked up by the company to Beijing. Those returning by public transport must live 14 days in a segregated dormitory. Workers have lunch at Renesas Semiconductor. Photo: Think China. Tables at the Renesas Semiconductor canteen are also numbered. Workers must record the number of tables and meal times for tracking purposes. “With these measures, we were able to maintain zero cases for the past few months. Up to now, 90% of the preventive measures are still in place, ”Mr. Hamada replied Think China in May 2020. Thanks to the above epidemic prevention measures, China’s huge economic engine can be safely restarted. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of April 21, 2020, industrial enterprises that generate at least 20 million yuan in revenue have achieved an operating ratio of 99.1 % and the rate of workers returning to the factory is 95.1%.