The Effectiveness of Digital Transformation in Home Appliance Manufacturing Enterprises

Abstract

This study takes Gree Electric Appliances as the research object, focusing on its digital transformation process from 2013 to 2023. By adopting the case study method and quantitative analysis, and constructing a multi-dimensional framework combining financial and non-financial indicators, it explores the effectiveness of digital transformation in home appliance manufacturing enterprises. The research shows that Gree's transformation has gone through three stages: the initial phase of informatization construction, the improvement of production intelligence, and the construction of a digital ecosystem. At the operational level, the introduction of intelligent equipment and the industrial internet has achieved improvements in production efficiency, optimization of defect rates, and enhancement of inventory turnover. At the financial level, there is a significant positive linear correlation between the degree of digital transformation and total operating revenue; however, in the short term, there is a significant negative correlation with return on equity (ROE), which reflects the "transformation pains" caused by investment in the early stage of transformation. This study enriches the theory of effectiveness evaluation for digital transformation in the manufacturing industry and provides experience for the transformation of home appliance and similar manufacturing enterprises. In the future, the home appliance manufacturing industry needs to deepen the integration of technology and business, and enhance global competitiveness through full-chain digital integration.