Chongqing- “We have resumed production on February 10 while ensuring the epidemic prevention and control measures have been in place, and production lines and digital workshops are running normally.” On February 17, Executive Zhao Gongming of Sapa Chalco Aluminum Products Co., Ltd. (SCAP) was working out a scheduling plan for intelligent production lines without rest.
Smart-manufacturing production line of Sapa Chalco Aluminum Products Co., Ltd.
Zhao introduced that, though the business production has been affected by COVID-19, the current situation is improving as upstream enterprises of the industrial chain gradually resume production. He said, “Thanks to intelligent production, the impact of the outbreak on enterprises is under control. The traditional way of production would pose much risk to workers’ safety because it cannot avoid gathering.”
In addition, the Twins Feed Co., Ltd. in Jiulong Industrial Park, Jiulongpo District, also adopts intelligent production. The company arranges intelligent robots to carry and stack products, saving half of the workforce, and the daily output can reach nearly 400 tons.
In recent years, as Jiulongpo District promotes intelligent transformation and upgrading among industrial enterprises, workers responsible for the production lines have been reduced, and the automated production and output efficiency has increased. In terms of enterprises that have resume work and production, this district has a significant advantage.
Key fields of intelligent manufacturing become major forces of work resumption
An employee of Sapa Chalco Aluminum Products is operating the digital production lines.
Located in Xipeng Aluminum Industry Park of Chongqing, SCAP mainly provides aluminum products for the rail transit market and offers supporting facilities to subway trains and automobile lightweight projects in Western China.
By integrating foreign imports and domestic manufacturing, SCAP has built the world-leading 12,000-ton aluminum alloy extrusion line and the world’s largest production line of friction, stir and welding that is exceptionally long and realizes double-sided welding. The company’s 40MN intelligent extrusion line has been put into use, which is a high-end thin-wall extrusion and intelligent manufacturing project of aluminum alloy material.
In the workshop, workers don’t need to walk among the running machinery equipment like before, but to give orders for production by operating the production management software system. “Without the intelligent system, each device required a worker previously. Thanks to the automated production, the entire workshop only needs five workers for operation, who can complete the workload of nearly 100 people before.” The related person in charge of SCAP introduced that, since the Spring Festival, the company has been sticking to production while doing an excellent job in epidemic prevention and control. It can basically meet the order demand at present.
As Section Chief of the Planning and Investment Division, Economic and Information Technology Commission of Jiulongpo District, Xu Hui introduced that the district has led enterprises to, through automated and intelligent transformation, build a batch of digital production lines, digital workshops and intelligent plants that are capable of information depth self-perception, intelligent optimization self-decision-making, and accurate control self-execution.
“Those highly intelligent industries have emerged as important forces of the first round of production resumption in Jiulongpo District.” Xu Hui said that Jiulongpo District had developed three municipal intelligent plants, including the Dicastal Jieli Automobile Alloy Wheel Wheel Manufacturing Plant. Among them, Loncin General is one of the first batches of municipal intelligent plants. It has also developed 16 municipal digital workshops, including SCAP Wide-width Thin-wall Aluminum Extrusion and Deep Processing Digital Workshop. A total of 12 enterprises, including Chongqing Tiema Industries Group Co., Ltd., and Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai, were rated as pilot enterprises of integration of informatization and industrialization of national and municipal standards, the number of which is leading in Chongqing.
Smart technology helps to reduce the impact of COVID-19
It takes an intelligent robot 3-4 seconds to carry and stack a bag of feed of 40kg. A few days ago, the reporter saw in the workshop of the Twins Feed Co., Ltd. that an intelligent robot was stacking feed automatically, the labor intensity of which is the highest in the workshop.
“A robot saves about half as much time as manual work. With the more standard operation, it can replace at least eight workers with the task of stacking nearly 400 tons of feed.” Hu Yuncai, a person in charge of the company, said that the introduction of intelligent industrial robots has not only reduced the cost of production but also greatly improved production efficiency.
Affected by the epidemic, there has been a shortage of feed in all districts in the city. As an enterprise that guarantees supply, the company resumed work from January 31. Thanks to intelligent devices, only about 20 employees are needed for production, which facilitates production resumption under epidemic prevention and control.
Moreover, every employee must take a temperature check, report people they have been in contact with, conduct thorough disinfection, wash hands, wear a mask and fill in the registration form before entering the workshop. We have tried our best to serve the needs of the market while striving for epidemic prevention and control.
The humble near-infrared analyzer in the workshop was imported from Denmark, selling for RMB more than 500,000. It only takes the analyzer one minute to quantify more than 200 indicators, including water, protein, fiber, and fat in raw materials and feed products.
Hu Yuncai said that the company has been improving work efficiency with intelligent means for years, which unexpectedly plays a crucial role in the special period. The company’s annual production capacity has reached 150,000 tons, and monthly sales exceeded 14,000 tons. Last year, it achieved sales of about RMB 500 million.