I. Company Introduction (公司介紹)

Yuren Industry primarily produces rubber tire repair patches, used for fixing tires on cars, motorcycles, and bicycles.

Products & Brand:

  • The company owns its brand, PEX.

  • 99% of products are exported, with markets spread globally.

  • The sales model is: 60% are direct exports under the PEX brand, and 40% is OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) for other companies.

Key Export Markets:

  • Middle East, Egypt, and Dubai: Due to the harsh climate and poor road conditions in these regions, which result in a higher frequency of flat tires.

  • The US Market: Due to high labor costs and fewer repair shops compared to Taiwan, prompting people to tend towards DIY (Do-It-Yourself) repairs.

II. AI and Digital Transformation Cooperation (AI與數位轉型合作)

Yuren Industry adopted AI and a Cloud War Room to solve long-standing operational pain points and enhance competitiveness.

1. Pre-AI Pain Points

  • Time-Consuming Manual Reports: The factory, with about five departments, generated stacks of manual reports from just one department every day.

  • Time Waste: Compiling reports from all five departments took about two weeks every month.

  • Management Misplaced Focus: Management’s main attention shifted to ensuring the numbers on the reports were correct, rather than focusing on improving product quality or optimizing processes. This wasted significant time on tasks that did not boost competitiveness.

2. AI and Cloud System Implementation Process & Benefits

  • Opportunity: They participated in an AI course (15 hours) under the "Smart Operation Plan".

  • Implementation Strategy (Phased Approach): Since customized AI is expensive, they decided to start by implementing the system on only 20 of their 60 machines—the ones that are most frequently used or critical.

  • Benefits of AI:

    • Time Saving & Efficiency: The time saved by AI frees employees to focus on more productive work, such such as analyzing why a machine produced less for 20 minutes, instead of collecting reports.

    • Quality Improvement: With "Machine Networking" (機聯網), managers can monitor equipment in real-time, preventing operators from randomly adjusting parameters or secretly stopping the machine. Stable parameters ensure product quality and actual production capacity are consistently maintained.

    • Immediate Response: AI actively notifies staff when an abnormality occurs. This is particularly helpful for solving communication issues with foreign workers (移工): if a machine is down for too long, the system sends an alert, allowing managers to dispatch help immediately without waiting for instructions, thus effectively boosting capacity.

    • Cloud Customization: Their adopted system operates on the cloud. The vendor continuously updated the system in the cloud based on Yuren Industry’s user feedback, allowing the system to gradually align perfectly with the actual on-site workflow.

    • Transparent Management: The cloud dashboard visualizes key data (like temperature, process settings, and mold opening data), providing clear, at-a-glance information for the owner and shareholders -.

III. Utilizing Resource Advantages (善用資源優勢)

Yuren Industry excelled at integrating various internal and external resources.

1. Utilizing "External Government and Education Resources"

  • Resource: Government's "Smart Operation Plan" and the AI course (15 hours).

  • Advantage Utilization: They gained quick knowledge of AI's potential and likely reduced initial risk/cost by leveraging governmental support for the transformation.

2. Utilizing "Internal Human Resources"

  • Resource: Staff previously responsible for compiling reports.

  • Advantage Utilization:

    • Time Reallocation: Time saved by AI (two weeks per month) is redirected to highly productive tasks.

    • Skill Upgrade: Employees are no longer clerks but data analysts, focusing on management improvements like analyzing "why machines underperformed" or "temperature instability".

3. Utilizing "Technical Supplier Resources"

  • Resource: External system vendor providing the "Cloud War Room".

  • Advantage Utilization: Yuren provided continuous user feedback to the vendor, driving cloud updates. This collaborative growth resulted in a highly customized tool specifically tailored to their factory needs, rather than a standard off-the-shelf product.

4. Utilizing "Internal Production Resources"

  • Resource: Real-time operating data from the factory's 60 machines.

  • Advantage Utilization:

    • Precise Monitoring: Using Machine Networking (機聯網) to send data to the cloud for remote, real-time supervision.

    • Focused Breakthrough: Employing a "Key Machine" strategy by first investing in only 20 critical machines. This allowed them to achieve maximum benefit with minimal initial expense, validating the success before full deployment.

5. Future Expectations

Yuren Industry expects all data to be collected digitally in the future, with AI handling all routine work. This allows human personnel to focus entirely on data analysis and factory improvements, seeking answers to deeper issues like why machines stop at certain times or why temperatures fluctuate.

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