From "Manufacturing" to "Intelligent Manufacturing": Guizhou Manufacturing Industry Ushers in a New Era of Industrial Development

GUIYANG, China, July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report by Huanqiu.com: 

One battery cell per second! Entering the production workshop of the CATL Guizhou Factory, blue battery cells continuously roll off the production line. This showcases the speed and capability of extreme intelligent manufacturing at the World Lighthouse Factory. However, the World Lighthouse Factory is not just about fast production; it is a comprehensive facility capable of high-end, intelligent, and green manufacturing, hence the title "World Lighthouse." There are only three such top-tier factories in the global lithium battery industry, and the CATL Guizhou Factory is one of them.

"Currently, our production lines are operating at full capacity, with an increase in orders compared to last year," said a supervisor at the Battery Cell Manufacturing and Assembly Workshop, pointing to the agile robotic arms on the assembly lines.

At present, the automation rate at the CATL Guizhou Factory has reached 95%. From material input to finished product output, the factory can produce one battery cell per second and one battery pack every 2.5 minutes. The project plans to build a Power and Energy Storage Battery Production Base with an annual capacity of 60GWh and supporting industrial projects, accommodating both Lithium Iron Phosphate and Ternary Cathode products.

"To achieve digital operations, we have established a Cloud-based Virtual Factory using Big Data, transforming the factory in an evolving AI life form. This transparency drives production efficiency with data, enhancing both capacity and quality, reducing production costs by 42%, and shortening production cycles by 50%," explained a spokesperson in charge at the CATL Ningde Base.

CATL Guizhou Factory is just one of the many smart factories mushrooming in Guizhou and the total output value of the new energy battery and material industry above a designated size in Guizhou has grown from 12 billion yuan in Year 2020 to 69.5 billion yuan in Year 2023, becoming a new growth pillar supporting the rapid development of the province's industrial economy.

Meanwhile, at the Geely Auto Guiyang Manufacturing Base located in the Modern Industrial Park in Guanshanhu District, Guiyang City, rows of robotic arms precisely are welding car bodies in the production workshop. SPS Automated Transport Vehicles shuttle back and forth, transporting materials, and the overhead conveyor platform ensures the smooth operation of each process. With digital support, the car production factory before us has become highly efficient and intelligent.

"The entire factory is preparing for the global pre-sale of the Geely Galaxy E5," stated Liu Tiejiang, General Manager of Geely Auto Guiyang Manufacturing Base.

Liu Tiejiang, introduced that, as the first pure electric vehicle produced at this base, the Galaxy E5 is Geely's first mass-produced car built on the GEA Global Smart New Energy Architecture. It features Geely's self-developed new generation GEEA 3.0 electronic and electrical architecture, adopting the "Central Brain + Regional Servitization" design.

For such complex and precise manufacturing, greater emphasis is placed on the intelligent production of the manufacturing base. Liu Tiejiang said: "We integrate big data with the manufacturing process, combining industrial robots, intelligent equipment, and information systems. The base is laid out according to world-class Smart Factory standards. It aims to create a Smart Factory that integrates intelligence, digitization, and informatization, capable of producing five types of vehicles simultaneously on mixed lines."

"The Guiyang Base has an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, with a daily average of 822 vehicles. The base has scheduled the production for Galaxy E5. It has been in production since May, ensuring immediate delivery upon market launch," Liu Tiejiang said that the mass production of the Galaxy E5 in Guiyang will further drive the high-quality development of the Guizhou automotive industry towards globalization, strengthening the Guizhou automotive industry chain.

The digital transformation and upgrading of automobile manufacturing exemplify the ongoing efforts across Guizhou to promote the development of the digital economy and the integration of digital technology with the real economy. In recent years, Guizhou province, as the China Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone, has fully leveraged its first-mover advantage in big data, promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, expanding the scale of digital industry, and accelerating digital industrialization and industrial digitalization in all aspects. In Year 2023, Guizhou's digital economy is thriving, with the value of digital economy accounting for about 42% of the province's GDP.