Figure 1. A quick response meant Kinwong's operations were minimally impacted. Source: Kinwong

Founded in 1993, Kinwong.com (stock code: 603228) ranks 20th in the printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing industry internationally, with over 11,000 employees and localized FAE support teams worldwide. Kinwong is involved in research and development (R&D), production and sales of PCBs, as well as with high-end electronics. As with nearly every company worldwide, Kinwong had to respond to challenges presented by the COVID-19 virus.

On January 24, 2020 — one day after Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, was locked down — Kinwong established an epidemic prevention and control working group, headed by CEO Chairman Liu. This was followed by the release of the notice of epidemic prevention and control on January 26, and just four days later, on January 30, Kinwong moved to prioritize customers manufacturing emergency medical supplies.

Fast reaction brings quick return to work

The beginning of February brought the implementation of prevention and control measures by Kinwong, and before the end of the month, the vast majority of its production capacity was again available. All of this was done against the backdrop of the Chinese New Year festivities taking place during that time, meaning that there were already typical backlogs, plus increased demand from producers of PPE manufacturing equipment. To serve Inovance Group in particular — the most important mask making machine manufacturer in China — the Jiangxi facility set up a dedicated service team to promote timely production.

In order to ensure a safe return to production, Kinwong’s IT department developed a WeChat program to track employees’ health statuses, and increased use of videoconferencing from 500 to 8,000 active users. Those on personal and business trips were quarantined and monitored upon their return, and all those entering company facilities were tested for normal body temperatures.

Even through these challenges, the Zhuhai Kinwong HLC/SLP plant construction project continued as scheduled and completed within nine months on July 11, 2020. The HLC plant will conduct equipment installation and commissioning and full-process trial production in January 2021. The SLP plant will also undergo commissioning and trial production in May 2021.

Kinwong advantages

Kinwong’s high-density flexible circuit board manufacturing technology has been evaluated to perform at an advanced level by international standards. To this end, they have developed a series of core technological competencies, including flexible circuit boards for wireless charging, flexible circuit boards for fingerprint recognition and flexible printed circuit (FPC) technologies that are appropriate for emerging alternative energy vehicles.

Kinwong’s product line also includes an array of advanced thermal management solutions, which can be implemented in automotive, consumer electronics and other emerging and established fields. Different PCB technologies manufactured include multi-layer boards; thick copper boards; high-frequency, high-speed boards; metal-based circuit boards; double and multi-layer flexible circuit boards; high-density flexible circuit boards; rigid-flex boards; special material PCBs; and more.

With these capabilities, Kinwong can meet the most demanding PCB manufacturing tasks. As shown with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kinwong can be relied upon in normal circumstances, and in the most extreme situations as well.