Company Transfers Critical Skills to Local Employees Overseas

A Chinese technician (first right) of CREC4 briefs Indonesian trainees on box girder construction drawings for the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway. [YU YUE/FOR CHINA DAILY]

Employees of state-owned China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd, known as CREC4, credit the company's success in doing business overseas to its clear vision of making sure its work is top quality and passing along new skills to local employees.

The company, now with over 23,000 employees, has moved into the international arena since its founding in 1950, building projects in nearly 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas, while continuing its domestic operations, said Song Heng, a CREC4 publicity official.

Chen Yi learned of the company's vision when he arrived in Indonesia to serve as chief economist of CREC4's management department for the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway Project.

CREC4 builders are aiming for excellence for China's first high-speed rail project overseas, a joint project that fully began construction in June 2018. CREC4 builders want it to be an undertaking of excellent quality when put into operation. Test runs are planned this year, with full operation not long afterward.

The 142.3-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung HSR, of which CREC4 is building a part, is expected to reduce travel time from the current three hours to 40 minutes, said Han Xinliang, publicity chief of CREC4 First Engineering Co Ltd.

Guided by the principle of mutual consultation, construction and sharing, CREC4 builders made sure to share their experience in high-speed railways with Indonesian workers, Han said.

The HSR is being built by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, a consortium involving Indonesia's State-owned companies and China's central State-owned enterprises.

CREC4 builders have helped to train nearly 2,000 Indonesian high-speed railway construction technicians.

"At CREC4, I have access to advanced Chinese engineering techniques," said CREC4 Indonesian employee Aldy Raynaldo, adding, "With the Jakarta-Bandung HSR, I believe that Indonesia's infrastructure will be further elevated."

Chen and other Chinese managers offered Indonesian workers face-to-face assistance at work during the day. At night, training was given to them on technical and labor management, data preparation, work acceptance, pricing and document collection.

They helped five local employees earn promotions and had 19 others take up engineering and technical positions in Chen's Project Management Department.

In Mongolia, a former herdsman in Ulan Bator named Sukhbaatar joined CREC4's construction team in 2016, when more than 200 local workers were hired for projects ranging from highways to hospitals. Many Mongolians such as Sukhbaatar use only one name.