A team of Shandong port engineers tackling the ultimate safety production challenge using DingTalk and Qwen

At 8:55 a.m. on May 19, 2025, Li Haiqing, an employee of the Third Fixed Machinery Team at Qingdao Port Dongguan Company, stood beside a conveyor belt, took out his mobile phone, opened DingTalk, and initiated a fire operation safety workflow. He filled in the details such as the operating unit, task description, and risk identification, then photographed and uploaded time-stamped images showing personnel status, fire permits, lockout-tagout procedures on switches, and other critical control measures. After clicking "Submit," the operation officially entered its digital management timeline.

At 8:56 a.m., the fire operation approver Feng Wenfeng reviewed each photo submitted by Li Haiqing. Upon confirming accuracy, he clicked “Approve” and simultaneously copied relevant managers. At 3:24 p.m., Li Haiqing completed his routine inspection and uploaded photos from the site. At 4:14 p.m. and 4:28 p.m., he completed post-operation acceptance checks, confirmed all personnel had safely evacuated, and conducted a second round of inspections after work completion. At 6:16 p.m. and 6:18 p.m., quality supervisor Liu Hao and Deputy Captain Feng Chengwei signed off online sequentially, with special notes emphasizing: “Secondary inspection timing must be standardized.”

By this point, every step, action, and responsible individual involved in this fire operation had been fully linked into a clear digital chain.

ZhiSun System: Securing Safety Procedures Like Nails Driven Into Wood

This digital chain is precisely the “ZhiSun Safety Risk Control System” developed by Shandong Port Technology Group. Every day, high-risk operations across user units—including hot work, working at heights, ship loading/unloading, high/low voltage electrical work, and equipment maintenance—are systematically transformed into visual data sets integrated into the platform. If anyone fails to follow procedures, the system automatically blocks the next step, ensuring compliance.

The prototype of this system originated in 2019, first created by Li Zhengjun—then Vice General Manager of Rizhao Port Lanshan Company—within a conveyor belt team, initially named the “DingTalk Photo Documentation Method.” Built on DingTalk, it symbolizes that safety management must be as solid and reliable as nails driven firmly into wood.

After six years of practical refinement, both theory and application have matured. Shandong Port Group decided to promote the ZhiSun Safety Risk Control System as a core brand across the entire organization, forming a co-creation model integrating “experience, technology, and organization.” Frontline employees use technological empowerment to break down regulations into executable data workflows, deeply embedding them into on-site port safety management systems.

From June 1, 2019, to December 5, 2025, the ZhiSun system has supported over 2.07 million operations for Shandong Port Group, transforming previously experience-dependent high-risk processes into traceable, independent yet interconnected online nodes. In November 2025 alone, the group monitored 170,000 risk-related operations monthly.

Technology Innovation Rooted in Frontline Pain Points

At its core, the ZhiSun system solves the challenge of how enterprise frontline safety管理制度 can be accurately implemented during high-risk operations. It pushes DingTalk beyond traditional, shallow OA functions like attendance tracking and leave requests, penetrating deeply into the most critical and hazardous frontlines of real economy production. Anchoring itself in the foundational role of safe production within national governance, it uses new technologies to solve long-standing problems.

Today, the system further integrates Alibaba’s Qwen large model, enabling AI-powered image recognition to assist in identifying potential risks—an intelligent pair of eyes offering an extra layer of scrutiny for safety management.

The Creator's Reflection: From One Photo to a Series of Processes

On December 5, 2025, we met Li Zhengjun—the founder of the ZhiSun system—in Qingdao. A chief expert at Shandong Port Technology Group and senior professor-level engineer, he explained the system’s principles using a projector screen in his office, making complex technical knowledge accessible and easy to understand, much like a vivid science article.

With nearly three decades of frontline experience in ports, Li Zhengjun has personally witnessed the warnings brought by multiple safety incidents. As an equipment management expert, he often emphasized “ensuring institutional implementation” during training sessions but knew well how difficult it was to truly bridge the last-mile gap in execution.

A turning point came when he observed班组 WeChat groups: some outstanding team leaders required staff to take and upload photos of power-off, tagging, and locking steps before maintenance, ensuring key procedures were properly executed. This inspired him: Why not expand a single photo into a “series of photos,” strung together like candied haws, covering the entire operation process?

However, WeChat groups lacked event aggregation capabilities; photos were scattered throughout chat logs and couldn’t be reviewed later. He realized what was needed was a structured workflow combining “timeline + event line.”

At the time, Lanshan Company used only the free version of DingTalk sporadically for reimbursements and leave applications. Collaborating with young technicians, Li Zhengjun built a three-step process based on DingTalk’s OA system: mutual on-site photo-taking (to confirm personnel and PPE), photographing circuit breaker isolation and lockout (for controlling key risk points), and final mutual photos upon departure (to ensure full evacuation). This became known as the “Zero Process.”

Although there was initial resistance, team leaders quickly discovered that with this process, who showed up, whether helmets were worn, and if power was cut—all became clearly visible. Based on feedback, he continuously added nodes such as qualification verification, tool inspection, coordination with central control rooms, and included responsible individuals from various positions into the same workflow chain, achieving full-process traceability and closed-loop accountability.

From Internal Innovation to Mandatory Group-wide Rollout

The “Zero Process” rapidly spread among multiple operational teams at Rizhao Port, drawing visits from sister units eager to learn. The method gradually expanded to cover more than ten companies under Rizhao Port and was formally incorporated into official documents by Shandong Port Group’s safety department.

In early 2024, the Group Party Committee made a decisive decision: mandate rollout across its 120 subsidiaries within two years. The ZhiSun system entered a springtime of comprehensive development.

In 2024, the system infrastructure was completed across the four major port groups: Qingdao, Rizhao, Yantai, and Bohai Bay.

In 2025, projects successfully concluded across eight non-port industrial sectors: harbor construction, equipment manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and others.

Driving Platform Evolution from the Ground Up

As the ZhiSun system exceeded DingTalk’s OA template limit of 2,000, it caught the attention of DingTalk headquarters in Hangzhou. Why would one port need so many workflows?

The DingTalk team proactively contacted Li Zhengjun, increasing the template quota to 2,500. To improve approval experience, the “Reject” button was moved to a secondary menu, while “Return for Revision” was optimized to a more convenient location.

In August 2025, DingTalk assisted in integrating Alibaba’s Qwen large model, enabling AI pre-review: automatically comparing images with form data, flagging logical inconsistencies, generating red alerts, and assisting human approvers.

AI not only improved efficiency but also eased interpersonal friction. When deviations occurred, AI acted as a neutral arbiter, guiding all parties to focus on the issue rather than blaming each other.

AI Review Alert

Expanding Beyond Ports: The First External Major Breakthrough

The commercialization journey of the ZhiSun system didn’t begin with grand ambitions, but with a quiet visit.

In early 2024, Li Zhengjun approached a large steel plant near Qingdao. Initially skeptical, the client believed their own management system was already robust and considered risks far higher than those in ports, doubting cross-industry applicability.

Li Zhengjun offered no lengthy explanations—instead proposing a free pilot program focused on the plant’s highest-risk and most complex unit: the iron-making facility. Leading his team onsite, he re-learned new scenarios such as blast furnace hot work, confined space entry in gas zones, and slag channel lifting, breaking down the entire hot work permit into standardized workflow nodes.

They solved a longstanding problem: the practice of proxy signing. Regulations required deputy plant managers to confirm on-site presence, but in reality, others often signed on their behalf. The ZhiSun system tied “on-site confirmation” directly into the workflow—if no photo of the deputy manager on site was uploaded, the process could not proceed, completely eliminating formalism.

Despite initial resistance, after running for some time, management found risk controllability significantly enhanced, with responsibilities no longer floating in the air. At project closeout, the general manager, having observed the process firsthand, immediately declared: “Roll out company-wide across all ten plants—complete within deadline.”

In August 2025, the steel company gave high praise: “The ‘DingTalk Photo Documentation Method’ has truly enabled us to achieve full control over high-risk operations—it’s exactly the safety goal we’ve been pursuing.”

One enterprise reported: Previously, safety inspectors always found violations during audits; now, using ZhiSun, no violations can be detected anymore.

The real challenge in promotion lies not in technology, but in breaking habits. Li Zhengjun adopted a “local leverage for overall transformation” strategy—starting with a pilot in the iron-making plant, then expanding gradually after success.

Faced with customer questions about integration with existing OA systems, Li Zhengjun’s team evaluated and responded clearly: Existing systems lack core capabilities such as watermarking, process control, and mobile support. Only DingTalk Professional Edition could meet requirements. For this steel company, purchasing DingTalk was primarily to run the ZhiSun system.

This marked the first true commercial order the ZhiSun system secured after stepping beyond ports.

Cross-Industry Replication: More Cases Validating Value

Following service to a large steel enterprise, a port and shipping company in Anhui became another key case.

Though they already had an OA system and hadn’t used DingTalk, assessment showed switching to DingTalk Professional Edition was necessary to support ZhiSun. Ultimately, the company calculated the cost worthwhile: achieving full controllability and traceability for high-risk operations justified the investment.

When promoting the system, Li Zhengjun typically condensed his presentation to six to ten minutes—from accident lessons to process redesign, from one photo to institutional implementation—ending always on one fact: In the past six years, every enterprise that genuinely implemented the ZhiSun system achieved zero accidents and zero injuries.

When asked “by how much did accident rates drop?” his answer remained consistent: “The best outcome for a safety tool is only one—zero. We cannot calculate how many casualties we’ve prevented, but we know this: every company that adopted it remains at zero.”

A client commented: “ZhiSun is widely welcomed. Grassroots users embrace it voluntarily because it genuinely addresses the substance of safety control. It breaks through the superficiality of traditional digital transformation, deeply integrating industry norms, safety standards, and intelligent technology to reconstruct the underlying logic of operations.”

In the first half of 2025, DingTalk and Shandong Port Technology Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement, with ZhiSun project development as a core component.

Li Zhengjun likens it: “DingTalk is the foundation—we are the builders helping clients construct their ‘safety building’ on top.”

Co-Creation Model: Experience × Tools × Organization

This collaboration embodies a triangular co-creation model of “Experience–Tools–Organization”:

On one end are technical experts like Li Zhengjun, leveraging three decades of frontline experience to precisely define problem boundaries;

On another end is a universal digital platform represented by DingTalk, providing modular capabilities such as workflow engines, mobile access, and AI;

On the third end are activated frontline engineers and team leaders who decompose experience into nodes, conditions, and images, embedding tools into real organizational workflows.

Moving Toward a Broader Future

As of December 5, 2025, the list of potential ZhiSun clients continues to grow, including port, steel, and energy enterprises in Hubei and Zhejiang provinces, and even inquiries from ports in East Asia and South America.

This “DingTalk Photo Documentation Method,” born beside a conveyor belt at a Shandong port, is evolving from an internal safety secret into a replicable and iterative business methodology across industries—poised to deliver greater social and economic value through market forces.

“Our team’s responsibility and mission is to help more enterprises see, hear, and believe in this methodology. The earlier it’s adopted, the sooner an accident might be prevented,” said Li Zhengjun confidently.

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