In the eyes of the public, Western Digital is a globally leading data storage company. Indeed, with the leading particles created by the company and its partners, the understanding of storage technology, and the insight into customer needs, Western Digital has created highly competitive storage products. Behind this, the outstanding performance of the company's factories is also indispensable. This is not only reflected in the creation of high-quality products; on the other hand, the company has also upgraded its factories to be intelligent, meeting the needs of sustainable development, which is also the reason why Western Digital can stand tall in the storage market for many years.

Recently, Western Digital announced that its Shanghai-based subsidiary, Shanghai Xindie Semiconductor Co., Ltd., has successfully been selected into the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Factory Network, and has been awarded the title of China's first "Sustainable Development Lighthouse Factory" for its breakthrough achievements in the field of sustainable development. Western Digital emphasized that its Shanghai factory is the third advanced intelligent manufacturing factory of Western Digital to be selected into the Global Lighthouse Factory Network, and it is also a representative enterprise of the end-to-end Lighthouse in Shanghai.

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This achievement is also an industry recognition of Western Digital's investment in factory intelligence.

The Shanghai factory keeps pace with the times.

According to CK Chin, Vice President and General Manager of Shanghai Xindie Semiconductor Co., Ltd., China has always been one of the important strategic markets for Western Digital for a long time, and the company has continued to invest in R&D and expand production in the Chinese market. The award-winning Shanghai Xindie Semiconductor Co., Ltd. was registered and established in the Zizhu High-tech Zone in August 2006, mainly engaged in the research and development, packaging, and testing of advanced flash memory storage products.

As one of the larger global advanced flash memory product packaging and testing factories, after years of innovation and upgrading, the production model of Western Digital's Shanghai factory has been transformed into a fully automated dark factory, and the automation production rate continues to be promoted. During this period, Western Digital has established a strong big data platform and a robust Internet of Things system. Millions of data are collected from every production step every day, and these data provide clear decision support for operators through the operation on the machine learning platform, solving practical problems in the production process, and greatly improving the factory's production efficiency.

Turning to sustainable development, under the premise of increasing demand, Western Digital doubled the factory's petabytes (PB) output from 2017 to 2021, while reducing the environmental footprint of each PB product to achieve the company's emission reduction targets. This result is driven by many technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, such as the use of machine learning to dynamically optimize the water cycle system and the energy consumption prediction system based on real-time production data. These measures have reduced the water consumption per PB product by about 62% and the energy consumption by about 51%.

With the help of the powerful factory data center built by using digital twin technology and Internet of Things technology, and relying on the collection and analysis of big data from all aspects of production, the Shanghai factory of Xindie Semiconductor has significantly reduced energy consumption and pollution. At present, the factory has a world-leading water cycle utilization system, and the recovery rate of production water has been increased to more than 90%; energy consumption prediction systems, thermal energy recovery and reuse, and other methods have also greatly reduced the energy consumption and carbon emissions per unit of production.At the same time, the company has also achieved transformation from traditional production models to various forms of automation, intelligence, and digitalization by deeply deploying automation, digital twins, the Internet of Things, and big data-driven factory management systems, as well as introducing fourth industrial revolution technologies such as lights-out factories and machine learning. This has significantly improved the factory's productivity, operational efficiency, supply chain resilience, and sustainable production, actively practicing the commitment to sustainable development of Western Digital's factories.

In addition, Western Digital has long valued the growth and development of its employees and is committed to creating a diverse work environment. To further promote innovation among employees, the company has also established a 4IR Innovation Studio locally, deploying innovative equipment such as 3D printing, robotics, computer vision, sensors, and AR/VR kits, encouraging factory workers and R&D teams to explore together and inspire each other. Cultivating innovative thinking among employees has profound significance for enhancing the vitality, creativity, team trust, and personal achievement within the factory.

It is precisely because of such investment that Western Digital's Shanghai Shengdi Semiconductor Co., Ltd. has won two honors.

The significance behind the two honors

From the introduction by Ms. Zhang Xiaona, Director of Excellent Operation of Shanghai Shengdi Semiconductor Co., Ltd., we learned that Western Digital's Shanghai factory has recently won two honors from the World Economic Forum, namely "Lighthouse Factory" and "Sustainable Development Lighthouse Factory". The former recognized Western Digital's Shanghai factory's leading achievements in industrial 4.0 technology innovation and large-scale application; the latter, based on the former, recognized the company's breakthrough achievements in the field of sustainable development.

Ms. Zhang Xiaona, Director of Excellent Operation of Shanghai Shengdi Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

Data shows that in 2018, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company jointly established the Lighthouse Factory Network and selected companies globally that meet the requirements to be awarded the "Lighthouse Factory" title. In 2021, in response to the global focus on sustainable development, the World Economic Forum established the "Sustainable Development Lighthouse Factory" title and awarded it to companies with outstanding performance in sustainable development.

It is understood that the selection of Lighthouse Factories is extremely strict. First, Lighthouse Factories must have successful advanced industrial 4.0 technology landing in multiple areas and create value; second, the factory must not only have advanced technology but also have a high end-to-end digital transformation coverage rate and significant value creation; at the same time, Lighthouse Factories must fully apply digital transformation in the entire production process and lead the construction of the ecosystem. In other words, only companies that have reached an advanced level in all areas can obtain the World Economic Forum's global Lighthouse Factory certification. This is also why, to date, there are only 114 global Lighthouse Factories, and there are only 10 sustainable development Lighthouse Factories.

"It is worth mentioning that Western Digital's Shanghai factory is the first company in China to be awarded the title of "Sustainable Development Lighthouse Factory". This is an exciting piece of news for us and a strong testament to Western Digital's long-term deep cultivation in China and active practice of sustainable development," Ms. Zhang Xiaona emphasized.

CK Chin also added: "Being selected into the global Lighthouse Factory network and awarded the "Sustainable Development Lighthouse Factory" is not only an affirmation and certification of the company's high-end intelligent development level, but also an important manifestation of actively practicing Western Digital's core values of sustainable development, and it is also a brand-new milestone in the development history of Western Digital's Shanghai factory."The Western Digital Shanghai factory, in response to the annual business growth demand of about 250%, the continuously shortened cycle of technological updates and upgrades, and the challenges of the labor market, has adopted a variety of advanced industrial 4.0 technologies. Leveraging artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and big data analysis, and other Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, it has massively improved efficiency and competitiveness, transformed production models to promote business growth, and protected the environment. Since 2017, we have successfully reduced the time to market for products by about 40%, reduced production costs by about 62%, and increased production efficiency by about 221%, said CK Chin as an example.

He further pointed out that after obtaining the title of a sustainable lighthouse factory, Western Digital will take on its responsibilities to humanity, society, and the environment with a highly responsible attitude. While ensuring the gradual improvement of the factory's digital applications, it will also ensure significant environmental sustainability benefits. Through the intelligent and digital layout of the factory, it will drive higher quality, more balanced, greener, and more innovative development.

"In the future, we will also actively practice the core values of sustainable development of the enterprise, and continuously bring strong and rich data storage solutions to global users. We will help our customers and partners achieve sustainable growth and transformation, and welcome the digital future together!" CK Chin told the reporter.