Employees work at a shop in JATCO (Suzhou) Automatic Transmission Ltd in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]
JATCO (Suzhou) Automatic Transmission Ltd, which is located in the Zhangjiagang Economic and Technological Development Zone, Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, has leveraged advanced equipment, internet of things, and information and communications technology to build intelligent production lines and digital management system.
The branch in Zhangjiagang is the youngest factory of JATCO, one of the world's major suppliers of shiftless transmissions, and its second wholly owned production base in China.
According to Zhao Wei, an assembly technician, the level of intelligent manufacturing at the company is higher than most of its industry competitors in China. For example, the assembly workshop has an automation rate of 35 percent and robots account for 25 percent of job positions.
In addition, the factory's equipment connectivity rate is as high as 99 percent. A monitoring system keeps an eye on the entire production process and can transfer data to watches worn by management personnel.
The company manufactured over 230,000 automotive shiftless transmissions in 2021 and its products have shown good performance in terms of fuel economy and noise reduction. It has also maintained close partnerships with many leading carmakers including Nissan and GAC Mitsubishi.