April 27th 2017 is a day worth remembering for all Sullair people. On this day, Hitachi Group and Sullair reached a strong alliance to jointly pursue the goal of building the world's No.1 air compressor brand. With sincere cooperation between the two parties, the leadership of Mr. Xie Weidong, the president of Sullair Asia, and the efforts of all employees and outstanding agents of Sullair, Sullair delivered a brilliant performance in the 2017 fiscal year, with all indicators showing rapid growth.

—  Don’t Forget Why We Started and Move Forward Bravely  —

In order to achieve more stable growth for Sullair in the 2018 fiscal year, we embarked on a journey to the east with strong ambition for learning. Sullair Asia’s outstanding agent representatives and the company’s various functional staff set off to the Hitachi Group in Japan under the leadership of Mr. Xie Weidong, President of Sullair Asia, to learn from their experiences.

Hitachi Production Systems Co., Ltd. has 9 plants in Japan. The main destinations for Sullair's journey to the east were the Shimizu plant in Shizuoka and the Sagami plant near Tokyo.

—  The first destination- the Hitachi Shimizu Company  —

Travel along the road to the east and look for treasures in every step Accompanied by designated personnel from the Hitachi Group, Sullair pilgrims came to their first stop along the journey——the Hitachi Shimizu Company. With a history of nearly one hundred years, the plant focuses on the design and manufacturing of oil-free screws and scroll machines. As Hitachi's "time-honored brand",  the Shimizu plant deeply impressed us by its clean and well-managed environment, sophisticated error-proof processes and ingredient design, and their specific attention to detail.

Neat and Orderly

It's definitely not the first time you hear about how nice the environment in Japan . However, in addition to the lively activity area, the quietness and tidiness in the plant is also quite unique. Whether it is a busy production plant, or a neat and orderly office or meeting room, every corner that can be reached by the eye can offer a distinct view.

Advanced error-proof processes and ingredient design
"Being old in body but young in mind"While the plant has a long history and has an ordinary, and even slightly poor appearance, the production mode within the plant is rather advanced. As the tour went further, detailed designs could be found everywhere.
The 100% ingredient-to-line model for all parts ensures efficiency of the execution of production plans. Each part on the line has an independent bar code, standing for a special and unique identity that allows for 100% traceability of each part of each machine, and the process control for quality can thus be accurately managed.
There is a visual computer monitor in front of each pre-installed or assembled workbench, and the assembly process drawing of the assembled parts can be instantaneously displayed according to the input instructions of the assembler. When the operator starts the transfer, the computer automatically guides the next assembly operation according to the pace. What was more worth mentioning is that sensors are installed in the material box in front of the assembly table to collect and direct the signals, and they are perfectly matched with the assembly process drawings to instruct (by lighting-up indicator lamps) material selection for each installation part.
The rigorous assembly process and efficient error prevention system eliminates errors in the drawing or incorrectly installed parts and ensures perfect quality of the products. Workbenches like this are distributed in different assembly stages, ensuring consistent and stable process control and the quality of products.
Every employee of the Shimizu plant upholds the principle of high standards and strict requirements. What does this mean? Unlike outsourced processing and procurement of raw material and internal assembly adopted by most of the air compressor companies in China and overseas, the Shimizu plant has a whole-chain general assembly for products including the manufacturing of sheet metal  (including spraying), pressure vessels, structural parts and pipe joints. Its whole-chain control of the product and manufacturing supply chain reflects high product standards. By attending to each product's process details, the quality of all parts can be ensured. In addition, all packaging personnel in the plant wear white gloves and hold cleaning spray in their hands. They keep looking for any minor defect to prevent the outflow of defective products even at the moment of final product delivery.

This kind of production system that can quickly adapt to the changing needs of users and streamline redundant steps to achieve the best results in all aspects of production can be regarded as a masterpiece of Japanese lean production.

—  The second destination- Sagami Company ; —

After saying goodbye to Hitachi's Shimizu plant, the Sullair visitors came to the Sagami Plant, not far from Tokyo. The plant also has a long history and mainly produces Hitachi vortexers and piston engines. What's more worth mentioning is that there are two special numbers related to this plant, namely, the sales monuments of 2million Hitachi vortex machines and 3 million piston engines. This is a supreme honor, and also a driving force that inspires Sullair employees to remember where they started off and continue to strive in the future to challenge Sullair and Hitachi's sales records!

—  The third destination- Comrade Banquet  — 

Sullair delegates who travelled all the way to the east   have also drawn the attention of the Hitachi Group.During the banquet on the last day of the visit, Mr.  Aoki, vice president of Hitachi Group had dinner with Sullair delegates.During the banquet, everyone gathered and discussed the future of the Hitachi Machines Business Unit and planned for the future of Sullair Asia.

For Sullair, joining the Hitachi Group is undoubtedly the right choice. It not only provides a better development platform for Sullair, but also makes Sullair's production technology and solutions more comprehensive and optimized. We believe that with the better integration and mutual promotion of Hitachi and Sullair, the two companies will become the benchmark of the world's air compressor market industry in the future! Sullair and Hitachi's peer partners are willing to work hard for this end and jointly create success!