CAE Members’ Consultation Tour to Wuhu was held by the Division of Engineering Management, CAE, in the Chery Automobile Co. Ltd in Wuhu on September 21, 2012. A total of 15 CAE Members went on the tour, including CAE President Zhou Ji, Division Director Wang Jiming, Deputy Directors Fu Zhihuan and Wang An, as well as CAE Members He Jishan, Zhu Gaofeng, Lu Youmei, Sun Yongfu, Shen Rongjun, Guo Chongqing, Jiang Shicheng, Jin Jianming, Xu Qingrui, Hu Wenrui and Zhao Xiaozhe. Accompanied in the consultation tour were top officials from Anhui Province, Wuhu City, relevant universities and enterprises, such as Ni Fake, Vice Governor of Anhui Province, Xu Genying, Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology of Anhui Province, Gao Dengbang, Party Secretary of the Wuhu Municipal Party Committee, Yang Jingnong, Mayor of Wuhu City, Li Lian, Party Secretary of the Hefei University of Technology, and Yin Tongyue, Chairman of the Chery Automobile Co. Ltd, among others. 
 

CAE Members, first of all, inspected the Second Engine Plant, the Second Assembly Plant, as well as the product design room for the Auto Institute of Chery Automobile Co. Ltd, and listened to briefings by corresponding administrators on technological innovation. CAE Members showed intense interest in Chery, conducting exchanges with Chery personnel with regard to issues like the innovation concept, advanced management principles and theories, vigorous corporate culture, research and development of new products, personnel training. CAE Members also sang high praise for the persistence Chery had held over the past 15 years in innovation, which brought Chery out from an extremely difficult initial stage to an enterprise full of vitality and vigor as a large scale business. 

At a workshop held during the tour, Yang Jingnong, Mayor of Wuhu, briefed on basic information of Wuhu City, with his focus kept on scientific and technological innovation in Wuhu from perspectives such as strengthening the guiding role of the government, accelerating innovation capacity building, attaching due importance to the inducement and absorption of investment as well as introduction and employment of talented personnel, building up a special zone for talents, promoting integration and cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutes, as well as the transformation and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements. Yang also expressed earnest wishes to further strengthen exchanges of various sorts and collaboration with the CAE in the future, aiming at further enhancing the innovation capacity of the city, thus boosting sci-tech innovation of Wuhu and propelling the development of high-tech industries.

Yin Tongyue, Chairman of Chery, introduced Chery’s major approaches and experiences in the past in terms of fostering self-directed research and development capability, establishing a sound quality management system and sales service system, upgrading the brand of Chery, developing a sound supporting system and key parts crucial to automobile manufacturing, attracting talented innovative personnel, moving towards the international market, etc. He also briefed the visiting experts on the development plan of Chery. 

Zhou Ji, President of CAE, said he was very much impressed and inspired by what Wuhu City had achieved in its science and technology sector, as well as what Chery had achieved in the past. Zhou aired his opinions as to corporate innovation from three perspectives, namely, innovation-driven development, innovation capability enhancement as well as the stress on the role of enterprises being the main player of innovation, who well combined essence of the National Science and Technology Innovation Conference held in July in his speech. Zhou also pointed out that CAE enjoyed natural and tight bonding with enterprises, with Chery being a typical example. Zhou praised Chery as a banner for corporate innovation, facing both opportunities and challenges at the turning point of its development currently. Zhou suggested that Chery should sum up past experiences seriously, aiming at scientific development in the future, thus making even bigger brand names through innovative efforts. In addition, Zhou extended willingness on behalf of the CAE to further work with local development as well as enterprise development, thus making contributions to the grand transition of China from being a big manufacturing nation to a powerful manufacturing one. Other CAE Member on the tour also made comments and proposals as to the development of Wuhu City and Chery from perspectives of their respective professional areas. (By the Office of Engineering Management Division of CAE, October 2012; translated by Liu Chang)