Empowering Workers with AI: Timeline Enables Technological Equity for Supply Chain Companies

Why do we focus on "AI Equity/Inclusivity"?

AI's impact on businesses goes far beyond process optimization; it's reshaping production models and employee well-being. In serving our clients, we've witnessed the vigorous growth of Industrial AI implementation, but also the anxiety and confusion businesses face when confronted with change—an impact more intense than any previous technological advancement.

Through collaborations with numerous companies, Shihlien has discovered that genuine transformation depends not only on the sophistication of the technology itself, but also on employees' understanding, acceptance, and willingness to adopt it. Especially in manufacturing, frontline employees often lag behind due to technical barriers. We firmly believe that AI's success must be accompanied by "technical equity"—allowing ordinary employees to use AI and use it effectively. This not only improves efficiency but is also a crucial aspect of employee development.

Against the backdrop of China's industrial upgrading and mature infrastructure, promoting "AI inclusivity and technology for people" is perfectly timed.

Shihlien Strategy: Driving Technology Implementation Starting with "People"

1.  Rooted in Deep Insights from the Front Lines For over two decades, Shihlien has consistently immersed itself within businesses, listening to the voices of managers and frontline employees. We've observed that during technological iterations, many frontline employees—especially women, older individuals, or those with less educational background—tend to develop apprehension due to a lack of support. Our AI projects are born to break this predicament.

2.  Preventing Technology from Creating New Divides If AI remains confined to technical teams and fails to benefit the broader workforce, it will not only limit the overall efficiency improvement of manufacturing but may also exacerbate multiple social disparities—including inequalities between technology users and non-users, elite groups and ordinary workers, and even different genders. This not only goes against the principle of equitable development but also restricts the construction of sustainable competitiveness for businesses.

3.  Empowering Employees to Participate in Change When employees are included in the technological change process, business performance, cohesion, and innovation will significantly improve. Therefore, Shihlien's AI projects focus on "people" from the outset:

·         Ensuring ordinary employees can understand AI

·         Ensuring employees are willing to use AI

·         Enabling employees to gain dignity and empowerment from it

Allowing older individuals, those with limited educational backgrounds, or those who have been marginalized for a long time to become participants rather than bystanders in the wave of intelligentization, and making technology a tool to empower the grassroots, bridge gaps, and stimulate engagement.

Timeline Advantages: Human Insight × Practical Verification × Technological Synergy

l   We understand "people": Although Timeline is not a technology company, AI itself is not mysterious. It is essentially an empowering tool. The key is not how advanced the tool is, but who is using it, how they are using it, and who it serves. Because we have focused on employee relations management for more than 20 years, we have developed a unique ability: we are good at asking questions, good at discovering overlooked problems, and even better at reaching real needs through continuous questioning. This "problem awareness" is precisely the prerequisite for the effective application of AI—it’s not about having the technology first and then looking for a scenario, but starting from the difficulties people face and allowing technology to appropriately respond to reality.

l   We deeply understand the pain points of front-line AI users: We have long been rooted in the front lines of enterprises, understand the operating rhythm of enterprises, understand employees' work habits, ways of thinking, and real concerns, and are especially familiar with the special circumstances of specific groups such as female employees, older employees, and employees with relatively weak educational backgrounds in technological changes. This insight into "people," combined with our professional experience in organizational communication, trust building, and motivation, enables us to effectively foresee and resolve interpersonal and psychological obstacles in technology implementation and improve the acceptance and willingness of employees at all levels to use it.

l   We ourselves are daily users and beneficiaries of AI: We have long integrated AI into our workflow in consulting, training, research, content generation, and other work. At the same time, we have established close cooperation with Tencent and received solid technical support.

Technology should not be the privilege of a few, but the driving force for progress for all. Timeline is willing to work with enterprises to jointly promote AI inclusion and technological equity, transform AI from a "high-cold tool" into an accessible "practical partner," so that every employee can share in the technological dividend, develop themselves, and jointly build a fairer, more efficient, and warmer intelligent workplace.

Many thanks to Tencent and the Guangdong Province Purchasing & Supply Chain Association for their strong support of our AI inclusion projects!