The Shanghai Nicera Sensor Co., Ltd. is a joint venture set up in 1986 by the Tech-Phys Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., an affiliate of the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and by the Nippon Ceramic Co., Ltd. (Japan) with a total investment of RMB 113 million Yuan. The Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences offers its achievements in infrared filter research, its technology and facilities while the Nippon Ceramic Co., Ltd. supplies its technology, equipment and managerial skills for sensor manufacturing At present, the registered capital is 1.24 hundred million. The company has introduced advanced automatic assembly lines one after another for pyroelectric sensor production and Hall sensor production etc. The main products of the company include pyroelectric sensors, ultrasonic sensors, Hall element, filters and applied devices of those sensors, with over 90% of its products for export enjoying good reputation .The Shanghai Nicera Sensor Co., Ltd. has, for years in succession, been awarded by the China Association of Enterprise with Foreign Investment the honour of "Double Excellence" as an advanced enterprise of China for both outstanding profit earnings and foreign-exchange earnings. The company was approved by the Shanghai Municipal Government as a “Double Intensive Type” enterprise for its knowledge and technology intensive features and recognized as a Hi-tech and New-tech enterprise of the city of Shanghai. It also ranks among the top 500 enterprises for the industrial products income of Shanghai City. In 2003, the sales revenue reached RMB245,000,000 and foreign exchange earning was $26,460,000. In 2004, the sales volume is expected to reach RMB300,000,000. In the past eight years, the company has successfully beaten out the way of industrialization of technological outcomes under the enterprise spirit of innovation, improving, practice, hardworking, enterprising and sustainable development Intensive and pioneering effort In the early stage of the pioneering period of the company, the most difficult problem under such hard condition is mass production. When the first infrared filters produced by technicians were subject to the examination of customers, the films could not stand cutting of the dicing saw and fell down in succession. To solve the problem, the company set up the group whose members worked over fifteen hours per day. In the end the filters produced by the company pass the examination of customers by doing a series of trials, for example, putting filters in an autoclave for ten hours. The successful industrialization of technological outcome-infrared filters paves the way for the main product—pyroelectric infrared sensors. By the end of March 1987, the first 1000 handmade infrared sensors were exported to Japan. At the same year, the company recouped the capital outlay back three years ahead of time. At the end of 1988, both sides of the company first increased investment in ultrasonic senses which surpassed 150,000 per month after half year. In June 1990, the output of handmade pyroelectric infrared sensors totaled over 100,000. Steady development In order to gain the edge in the international market, the company put automation and domestic production and regional cooperation into practice to lower cost and enhance productivity. In 1991, we introduced the automatic production line for ultrasonic sensors. In April, 1992, the output of ultrasonic sensors was over 500,000, five times that made by hand per month. Six months later, the second automatic production line was introduced and the output of sensors per month totaled more than a million. The introduction of the automatic production lines has marked the change of historical importance in the process from the pioneering stage to the development stage for the company. We have to achieve the domestic production of components to lower the cost of products .In the early stage, we had to import all the other components from abroad except filters. By the end of 1980s, the young and old technicians had worked together with other factories in the suburb of Shanghai and overcome the technological difficulty in the main components of infrared sensors in several years when they only had some samples in hand. Finally they improved the level of the domestic production from zero to 80% and realized the goal of domestic production of main components in principle. When the competition in the market grew fiercer, the price of infrared sensors in the international market fell sharply. The leaders in the company decided to implement regional cooperation and moved the working procedures of infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors and other applied sensors to other places to reduce the cost of products. The development of our company has attained new height after exertion of several years. Exploitation and innovation Innovation is the dynamo of progress for the enterprise. By adopting the new idea of “step by step”, we set up the R&D department in 1991 to develop a trial produce all sorts of sensors. At the suggestion of General Manager of the Chinese party, Yue Xiuhai, we established the production department and put the R&D outcomes into mass production. It makes new contributions, such as automatic inductive switch, infrared lamp, infrared burglar detectors, carbon monoxide detector etc. to the prospering of markets and the well-being of the people and bring the considerable economic turnover for the company. In 1995, the company introduced the production line for Hall elements and the new product, the Hall sensor came into being. The hot products of the company, such as infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensors, Hall sensors have been launched one after another. Cooperation in the spirit of sincerity. As the 117th joint venture in Shanghai, we deeply feel that our success should be attributed to the guiding principle of “mutual benefit on equal footing, cooperation in the spirit of sincerity. In the beginning, though the GM from China has stressed the importance of the international rules that grant the GM and experts from the foreign party the power in management and technique under the authorization of the board. The enterprise management and the way of operation have been elaborated in the book titled “the Altered Appearance of the Chinese Enterprises”, which is published by a publishing house in Japan. The managers and technicians from the foreign party play active roles in the whole .operational process, which is also highly acclaimed by us. Strict Management As a high-tech company, our success lies in scientific and strict management. In the enterprise management, from the beginning, after the leaders of the company had done research on dozens of consultancy companies, institutions and different foreign-invested enterprises, they stipulated rules and regulations for the joint venture and kept improving them in the practice. In quality control, we aim to supply the users with 100% qualified products and attach importance to the role of quality control at grass roots since it is crucial to strengthen the control of products in the early stage. Because the employees in the company abide by “quality first, customers first”, the products from us have won great reputation in the market. At present the up-to-standard rate of ultrasonic sensors for export reaches 99.98%. The company is granted the authentication of ISO9002 on December 21, 1995 and ISO9001: 2000 in November 2002. We not only produce high-quality products but also strive for the goal, namely, “first-class technology, first-class management, first-class reputation and first-class economic turnover”. Concerning the environmental protection, it Passed ISO14001 Environmental System Certification by the end of 2000, which is of vital importance either to the sustainable development of the enterprise or to open up the international market. Cultivation of talents The competition in the 21st century is competition of human resources. The high-quality staff is the key to the success of a company. Until now 30% of the staff in the company have the college education or above. The company attaches great importance to the training and education of its employees since it has successively sent more than 140 people to pursue their study abroad. In addition there are often some training programs in technical, managerial and operational skills to stimulate their creativity and potential. The company has the “keeping talents with business, keeping talents with sensation, keeping talents with treatment and keeping talents with the model of leaders” raised by General Manager of the Chinese party, Yue Xiuhai as the support for the development of the enterprise culture. By right of this support, the Shanghai Nicera Sensor Co., Ltd. considers employee education as its crucial task and has carried it out. The Enterprise Culture The successful enterprise also pays much attention to the spiritual civilization. In the past eighteen years, the enterprise culture creates the good reputation of the Shanghai Nicera Sensor Co., Ltd. in this trade. The Enterprise Culture is following: Trust and respect individual; Seek for outstanding achievement and contribution; Persist in honesty and sureness in production and management; Development stably by means of teamwork; Encourage flexibility and creativeness. The teamwork spirit in all kinds of activities mirrors the enterprise culture , the essences of which are exploitation, innovation, improving, practice, hardworking, enterprising, sustainable development that encourage the staff to strive forward. The company has gone through ups and downs in the market economy from optical filter to sensor, from manual operation to the full automatic production line, from imported parts to 80% of domestic production, from production of components to development of products. Looking forward, the Shanghai Nicera Sensor Co., Ltd. will make strides to achieve the rapid advance in the 21st century as a member in the high-tech industry in the vast expanse of the mainland China. |
