Author ｜ Sang Mingqiang

In the digitalization and intellectualization of enterprises, WoFei ChangKong has hardly made any detours.

As a key player in the low-altitude economy sector, WoFei ChangKong was founded in 2015. Two years after its establishment, it adopted DingTalk internally.

At that time, WoFei ChangKong was still a small company with only a few dozen employees. If following the traditional path of digital transformation for enterprises, it would have needed to deploy an IM platform, an OA system, a comprehensive office platform, and a file collaboration platform.

For WoFei ChangKong at that time, this was clearly an excessive and uneconomical choice.

'We learned about DingTalk, which is a highly cost-effective and systematic tool.' Liu Mingming, head of the Digital Development Office at WoFei ChangKong, and his team discovered after investigation that DingTalk's solution basically covered all their needs at that time.

Therefore, starting in 2017, centered around DingTalk, Liu Mingming led his team to adapt to internal business scenarios. From early office collaboration to product development, material management, quality improvement, over the past seven years, WoFei ChangKong's cooperation with DingTalk has deepened.

Thanks to the integration of DingTalk with multiple business scenarios, WoFei ChangKong's R&D cycle and project advancement efficiency have been improved. In Liu Mingming's words, 'DingTalk is their pioneer on the path to digitalization.'

However, he still felt it wasn't enough. Starting last year, WoFei ChangKong further explored DingTalk's large models and AI capabilities and began integrating upstream and downstream participants in the industrial chain onto the platform.

Relying on DingTalk's digital capabilities, since deciding on digital transformation, WoFei ChangKong has been exploring specific business scenarios. Today, this transformation continues to evolve along with its business development.

01

Low-Altitude Economy

Also Needs a Pair of Digital Wings

The low-altitude economy sector in which WoFei ChangKong operates is an industry driven by digital technology. As a typical representative of new productive forces, the low-altitude economy integrates technologies from multiple fields such as information technology, digitization, aviation, and drones.

At the same time, the low-altitude economy is characterized by its multi-field, cross-industry, and full-chain nature, covering numerous aspects from R&D and manufacturing to infrastructure construction and service assurance.

Although the low-altitude economy emerged alongside the development of digital technology, it still faces challenges in digital transformation, particularly in internal collaboration and digital management.

Even more challenging is that, unlike other industries, the low-altitude economy falls under the special industry of aviation, which also faces issues such as technical safety, privacy protection, and regulatory formulation during its digital transformation process.

According to Liu Mingming, WoFei ChangKong needs digital transformation, but due to industry influences, driving this transformation must be more cautious.

Thus, the question before Liu Mingming and his team was: If digitalization is a required task, how should they approach it and what kind of digital platform should they establish?

After joining WoFei ChangKong in 2017 and undergoing long-term research and repeated verification, Liu Mingming discovered that for WoFei ChangKong, the meaning of digital development needs to be viewed from two levels: the first level is digitization, which involves digitizing business through information technology. The second level is development, which involves supporting business growth through digitization to transform the entire data into value.

Among these, data is the most critical resource in the low-altitude economy. Reflecting on the business chain, in Liu Mingming's words, 'In the R&D process, from product definition and requirements, functional design, drawing, engineering implementation, testing, and other stages, we need to accumulate traceable data.'

Therefore, in terms of WoFei ChangKong's digital transformation, what they need to establish is a digital R&D platform that meets 'airworthiness' requirements.

Airworthiness refers to the ability of aircraft, engines, propellers, and other components to fly safely under specified conditions and meet the conditions stipulated in relevant aviation regulations, which is particularly crucial in the field of civil aviation.

In simple terms, the goal of airworthiness certification is to ensure that aircraft can maintain flight safety under a wide range of operating conditions, thereby protecting the lives and property of passengers, crew, and ground personnel.

This is also the original intention of WoFei ChangKong in establishing its R&D digital platform. 'In case of any issues in a certain stage, we can trace back in time.' said Liu Mingming.

Therefore, when initially selecting the R&D platform, WoFei ChangKong clarified four core objectives: achieving integration and uniqueness of R&D data; interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation; supporting concurrent interaction between design and manufacturing; and covering full-cycle project and quality management.

02

When Competition Hinges on Efficiency

Although the direction is clear, during the actual construction process, Liu Mingming and his team encountered many problems.

'This industry is highly confidential. Our entire system is deployed within the R&D network, but this is also equivalent to setting up a layer of physical isolation.' Liu Mingming told Xinmou that he found this layer of isolation could affect R&D efficiency and progress.

However, compared to the traditional aviation industry with R&D cycles that can last up to ten years, the R&D cycles in the low-altitude economy sector are more compact, requiring enterprises to be more efficient. It was at this time that Liu Mingming and his team thought of DingTalk.

'We used DingTalk's Teambition for a project, and the results were very satisfactory.' According to Liu Mingming, this project concerned quality improvement of their products.

Specifically, quality improvement during aircraft R&D is a complex and dynamic process involving problem identification, problem assessment, cause analysis, further assessment, determination of improvement measures, implementation, adjustment, and other stages.

Throughout the verification process, one problem analysis might expand into thirty tasks, potentially involving dozens of engineers from multiple departments. Before using Teambition, this was a huge and complex task.

WoFei ChangKong placed task information in Teambition, using it to break down quality improvement tasks layer by layer and enabling real-time information task transmission and delivery, thereby efficiently promoting the implementation of quality improvement issues.

In Liu Mingming's view, as a management platform, DingTalk has a sufficiently detailed granularity, allowing for shorter time and fewer human resources to uncover and break down problems, thereby reducing cost investment.

'The highlight of DingTalk is that messages can be delivered in real-time to the intended recipient.' Liu Mingming said that in this way, the efficiency of problem-solving can also be greatly improved.

In other words, by connecting WoFei ChangKong's 'Dassault' R&D system with DingTalk, on the one hand, R&D-related notifications such as version releases are posted on DingTalk, allowing R&D task information to quickly reach the corresponding R&D personnel. On the other hand, notifications about approval processes for specific components are posted on DingTalk, accelerating the approval progress of R&D processes.

To further connect projects, WoFei ChangKong's designated strategic partners are also included in DingTalk's organizational structure. 'We specifically created a supplier category. After joining, communication efficiency will be very high, especially evident at the meeting level.'

It is worth mentioning that in terms of confidentiality, DingTalk can also achieve real-time blocking. 'If there are non-compliant operations, DingTalk will immediately send an alert,' said Liu Mingming.

With the rapid development of the industry, competition in the low-altitude economy sector continues to intensify. Recently, the entire R&D team at WoFei ChangKong has been fully focused on eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing) products.

For WoFei ChangKong, improving efficiency means enhancing the competitiveness of its products in the market. 'To quickly bring products to market, we must shorten our R&D cycle,' said Liu Mingming. As a result, DingTalk's capabilities have been further amplified at WoFei ChangKong.

03

The Next Stop for Advanced Manufacturing

In the Industrial 4.0 era, the urgency of digital transformation in manufacturing is increasingly evident, and WoFei ChangKong is no exception.

Liu Mingming also expressed concern about this, mentioning that digital transformation throughout the manufacturing process will be a significant challenge. This challenge mainly manifests in two aspects: the application of advanced technology and management.

Liu Mingming provided a specific explanation: The first challenge is how to integrate current advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, big data, AI, and IoT, into the enterprise's entire digital operation? The second challenge relates to issues that the industry may encounter, including airspace management, operational management, and flight safety management. 'The data protection issues involved also deserve attention.'

Although WoFei ChangKong has not fully addressed these two challenges, through DingTalk, Liu Mingming and his team have already begun to make attempts.

'This year's first half, we created a new product based on DingTalk AI and gave it a cool name, 'WoZhiDao.'' According to Liu Mingming, this product uses DingTalk's model and trains WoFei ChangKong's exclusive model by inputting text knowledge such as R&D standards, testing standards, business processes, and permission matrices as corpus.

The greatest value of 'WoZhiDao' also points to efficiency.

'In the past, managing employees often required several themed trainings to teach them basic compliant operations, involving the finance, administration, human resources, digital, R&D departments, often consuming a lot of time, manpower, and energy.' With 'WoZhiDao,' everyone can now obtain real-time and clear answers.

On the other hand, in terms of operational management, WoFei ChangKong has also achieved a more efficient solution through DingTalk's audio and video conferencing. Currently, DingTalk's audio and video conferencing supports remote communication and project collaboration among personnel from WoFei ChangKong's various branches and subsidiaries.

The translation function of DingTalk's audio and video conferencing helps domestic employees overcome barriers in understanding foreign languages. At the same time, Flashnote can help efficiently record meeting content, while AI capabilities can further assist in summarizing key points of the meeting.

In terms of administrative management, by using the low-code platform Yida, WoFei ChangKong has built low-code applications for inventory management, such as accessories and material requisitions. In the past, applying for and approving material requisitions through the ERP system took 1-3 days. Now, the entire process can be completed in about an hour through DingTalk's IM approval flow.

Currently, China's advanced manufacturing industry is developing rapidly and gradually shifting to a new stage guided by product R&D and technological innovation, especially in the low-altitude economy. However, during its rapid development, enterprises also need their internal organizational structures and management systems to keep pace with the times.

Therefore, only by leveraging advanced methodologies and technological tools can enterprises ultimately achieve the goals of improving efficiency and reducing costs. As a pioneer, WoFei ChangKong is entering the next stage together with DingTalk.