The Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center of Southwest Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center") is one of the important management platforms of Southwest Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Southwest Cement"), established in October 2012. At that time, less than a year had passed since the establishment of Southwest Cement, and the entire company was in a period of rapid development. With the rapid expansion of production capacity, management challenges from restructured enterprises continued to emerge. After its establishment, the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center not only had to undertake the important task of market integration in the Northern Sichuan region but also faced a more arduous task: comprehensively optimizing management of member enterprises in the region and improving economic efficiency.
  　 Faced with thorny management challenges, the newly established Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center creatively implemented China National Building Material Group's (CNBM) "Counselor System" and carried out distinctive and effective management integration, achieving comprehensive improvement in the overall level of enterprises in the region in a relatively short period.
   　Mechanism Innovation
   　A Comprehensive Counselor Work System
  　 According to Zhang Zibin, Vice President of Southwest Cement and General Manager of the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center, although the center was established not long ago, member enterprises had already practiced the "Counselor System" before its establishment.
　　"The 'Counselor System' is a tool for management integration at CNBM, and our sister companies have also conducted extensive exploration. However, how to implement it specifically must be explored step by step in light of our own work realities. We conducted a comprehensive survey of member enterprises and, based on preliminary pilot projects, formulated the work system for the 'Counselor System,' established a 'Counselor System' management committee and workstation, and made detailed provisions on the qualifications, promotion channels, incentive and constraint mechanisms for counselors. Now we have formed a highly operational and practical 'Counselor System' management system," said Zhang Zibin.
  　"Counselors are appointed annually. We select counselors according to CNBM's general criteria of 'management expert, market specialist, cost killer,' and have also formulated specific qualification requirements. Overall, counselors have rich management experience and professional technical knowledge, and more importantly, they must be familiar with CNBM's culture. Our counselors are divided into two categories: technical and managerial, each with intermediate and senior levels, and counselors must implement a promotion system." said Sun Zhuoxin, Manager of the Administration and Human Resources Department of the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center. "Any employee who meets the counselor qualifications can apply, and after level-by-level review, the counselor appointment committee will discuss and approve. The entire selection process is very strict, mainly to select counselors with truly outstanding abilities."
  　 In the first selection round, a total of 12 people from the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center were appointed as counselors, including 9 senior managerial counselors and 3 intermediate technical counselors. Currently, the selection of the second batch of counselors is under preparation. This batch will introduce intermediate managerial and senior technical counselors, and the two-category, two-level counselor system will be formally established.
   　After counselors are selected, they are "paired" with those being counseled, and both parties sign counseling agreements specifying rights and obligations, assessment methods, and rewards and penalties. The counselees can be enterprises or individuals; the counseling can be single-item, multi-item, or even comprehensive.
   　"We require counselors to fully understand and examine the counselees in their work, judge the counselees' business decisions based on special work situations, promptly point out problems, and provide guidance. In addition, counselors must have a high sense of responsibility and regard helping counselees accelerate growth (optimize indicators) as their own duty," said Sun Zhuoxin.
   　Guo Yihong, currently a counselor at Beichuan Zhonglian Cement Co., Ltd. (now a member enterprise of Southwest Cement), was formerly Assistant General Manager of the Production Technology Center of the former Sichuan Operations Management Region. Due to his outstanding technical performance, he was appointed as a counselor at Beichuan Zhonglian and concurrently Deputy General Manager of Production, mainly counseling Beichuan Zhonglian's production operations. He said, "The management committee requires us to tailor counseling plans for counselees, provide face-to-face counseling, conduct regular inspections, and fill in counseling record forms on time. Our counseling process is monitored throughout. For example, we must submit records regularly, report the number and content of counseling sessions to HR every three months, and submit a two-way evaluation form after counseling ends."
   　To ensure good implementation results, the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center conducts two-way evaluation of counseling effectiveness, assessing both the counselor and the counselee. The evaluation content mainly includes improvement in performance indicators and mutual satisfaction, and rewards and penalties for counselors are based on evaluation results.
    　Mechanism Innovation
  　A Comprehensive Counselor Work System
   　In March 2012, Sichuan Wangcang Lujiaba Cement Plant (later renamed Wangcang Southwest Cement Co., Ltd., and later a member enterprise of the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center) was reported to have caused pollution. According to the report, nearby villagers reported that since the cement plant went into operation, dust and noise pollution had been severe. At that time, the enterprise had just joined CNBM and undergone management integration, and many management indicators indeed urgently needed improvement.
   　In April 2012, Zhang Zibin, then General Manager of Chuanmei Cement Co., Ltd., immediately led relevant personnel to the company to investigate management improvement work, convened an on-site governance special meeting, and assigned Wu Jun, then Assistant General Manager of the Procurement Center of the Sichuan Operations Management Region (now Manager of the Materials Supply Department of the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center), as the company's counselor, responsible for on-site special governance.
   　Wu Jun joined a cement enterprise under CNBM immediately after graduating from university. In 2009, according to organizational arrangements, he was transferred to CNBM's Anxian Zhonglian in Sichuan. Over more than ten years, he gradually grew from the grassroots into a technical and management backbone, and has a deep understanding and high recognition of CNBM's corporate culture.
   　After being appointed as a counselor, Wu Jun immediately took office. He was to use three months to help the company comprehensively improve shortcomings in on-site management.
  　"According to work requirements, we drafted detailed rectification items and required rectification item by item," said Wu Jun.
  　　However, Wu Jun believed that rectification at the technical level was a minor matter, and rectification of concepts was the urgent task. Therefore, he adopted a "three-step" approach: first, establish concepts; second, build systems; third, ensure execution.
  　　Wu Jun started with employee training and learning, combining rectification with training. He said that to thoroughly improve the current situation, it was necessary to thoroughly change employees' traditional concepts. On the one hand, he served as a culture promotion officer, actively organizing cadres and employees to study CNBM's corporate culture and deeply implanting excellent culture into the newly joined enterprise. On the other hand, he organized personnel to conduct vocational skills and management method training for management personnel above team leader level, held special training series such as "On-site Management," "6S Management Method," and "Team Management Skills," and arranged middle-level management personnel and grassroots staff in batches to visit sister enterprises such as Zhonglian Cement and Southern Cement, as well as excellent peers such as Conch Cement, so that they could personally experience other enterprises' advanced management methods, management concepts, and beautiful working environments, triggering continuous enhancement of their awareness of on-site management work.
  　　On the other hand, Wu Jun vigorously established rules and regulations. He said that the enterprise had previously been backward in management, with incomplete systems and many accumulated abuses and numerous "long-standing difficult" problems. First, at the source, the management and maintenance of production equipment were inadequate, with phenomena of "running, emitting, dripping, and leaking." Wu Jun plunged into the production equipment management department, sorted out the "long-standing difficult" and "inherently deficient" problems, came up with one solution for each problem, thoroughly cured shortcomings and defects, and also cultivated maintenance personnel's diligent and normalized maintenance thinking. In the rectification process, a relatively complete equipment management operating mechanism was gradually formed. At the same time, he refined on-site management inspection standards and incorporated on-site management into the economic responsibility assessment, elevating on-site management from environmental rectification to comprehensive governance.
  　　Wu Jun said, "To strengthen execution, we often conduct surprise inspections of rectification work. These are true surprise inspections, conducted randomly without prior notice and without fixed time or place. But we do not inspect for the sake of inspection; rather, we regard inspection as part of our counseling, providing consultation and counseling during the inspection process, and whenever we inspect, we must put forward guiding opinions. In addition, after each inspection, we issue rectification notices based on the problems found, require rectification within a time limit, and summarize and sort out corresponding rectification measures, some of which are solidified into rules and regulations."
   　Three months later, Wu Jun delivered the following report card:
   　Unified design and standardization of corporate image. More than 140 CNBM visual identity signs and plant safety signs were produced in the factory area, implanting CNBM's "spirit" into the enterprise.
   　Unified maintenance and technical transformation of production equipment. A total of 6,700 square meters of steel trestle were derusted and painted, 3,600 square meters of steel ladders, and 9,500 meters of railings, increasing the load-bearing capacity and service life of production equipment; 2,356 meters of protective nets for belt conveyors and chain bucket machines were installed, enhancing equipment operation safety; 2,110 dust collection filter bags, 40 flap valves, 54 pulse valves, and more than 150 solenoid valves were replaced or repaired, making the design of discharge ports of conveying equipment and dust collection equipment more reasonable; 7,715 square meters of cement silo tops and cement mill systems were sealed, and a 390-square-meter slag shed was built, strengthening dust prevention and noise reduction effects in production workshops and thoroughly curing the dust and noise pollution problems reported by villagers.
  　 Unified cleaning and renovation of the environmental system. A tire washing pool was built, severely damaged roads and ditches were repaired, 33,416 square meters of exterior walls of cement system buildings were cleaned, 4,980 square meters of factory roads were hardened, and 13,894 square meters of green area were added, basically achieving the goal of "no dust in wind, no mud in rain" and enhancing the overall corporate image.
   　After rectification, the Wangcang Southwest factory area took on a completely new look: clean site, clean equipment, orderly production, and lush trees, as if located in a garden. This factory also drove improvement in environmental quality in surrounding areas. Villages along the way were clean and tidy, with flowers in front of every household, and the factory received high recognition from environmental protection departments at provincial, municipal, and county levels.
   　More importantly, through the counselors' counseling, these work experiences, standards, systems, and methods remained well in the enterprise. The work standards of managers and employees at all levels were raised, and overall quality improved accordingly. A high-quality workforce with combat effectiveness and cohesion is taking shape.
  　 Experience Promotion
   　Backward Enterprises "Transform Dramatically"
   　Starting with Wu Jun, the "Counselor System" was well applied in Wangcang Southwest. Counselors successively entered the company and solidly carried out management improvement. On the basis of on-site governance, they vigorously promoted lean management and technical transformation, reduced costs and increased efficiency, helping Wangcang Southwest quickly enter a benign development track, with all indicators comprehensively optimized.
   　According to statistics, through technical transformation, Wangcang Southwest's power generation per ton of clinker increased by 7-8 kWh; coal gangue was successfully used to replace part of sandstone in raw meal proportioning, reducing cement cost by 2.3 yuan per ton; peak-valley electricity management was strengthened, avoiding peaks and filling valleys, reducing electricity consumption costs. In the summer of 2013, the valley-period utilization rate of the grinding section was above 97%; the "five expenses" management system was improved, and office expenses, business entertainment expenses, and official vehicle expenses decreased by 50%, 14%, and 28% year-on-year, respectively.
   　Using the pilot as a template and driven by a comprehensive work mechanism, the "Counselor System" quickly spread throughout the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center:
   　When Sichuan Huaying Southwest Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huaying Southwest"), under the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center, first joined Southwest Cement in early 2012, it had 480 employees, including 36 middle-level cadres, seriously exceeding Southwest Cement's "three determinations" staffing quota. To thoroughly solve this problem, in June 2013, the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center selected Qi Yong, former General Manager of Beichuan Zhonglian, to serve as counselor and general manager at Huaying Southwest. In accordance with CNBM's principle of "streamlined organization and lean personnel," Qi Yong vigorously optimized the organizational structure. Through active implementation of position optimization, cadre diversion, and other measures, especially the position competition implemented in early 2014, Huaying Southwest achieved outstanding results in "three determinations" work, reducing staff by 127 people, including halving the number of middle-level cadres, successfully meeting Southwest Cement's "three determinations" requirements.
   　Sichuan Mianzhu Aodong Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Mianzhu Cement") was originally a private enterprise with unstable operations and poor production and operation indicators. After joining Southwest Cement in August 2012, the Northern Sichuan Regional Operations Center selected Wan Changjun, Deputy General Manager of Junlian Chuanmei Cement Co., Ltd., which practiced the "low-cost operation model," to serve as counselor and general manager at Mianzhu Aodong. At the same time, excellent management personnel in sales, finance, procurement, and other aspects were selected from other member enterprises as counselors to enter Mianzhu Aodong and form the management team. Through the unremitting efforts of the counselors at Mianzhu Aodong, its production and operations are now stable, and various indicators have been significantly optimized. By the end of 2013, Mianzhu Aodong's rotary kiln capacity utilization rate had increased by 26% compared with before the handover, clinker manufacturing cost had decreased by 40 yuan/ton, cement manufacturing cost had decreased by 57 yuan/ton, and the number of employees had decreased by 54, achieving a turnaround from loss to profit of more than 50 million yuan.