Steel Cord Complex of Whole-process Intelligent Manufacturing inaugurated in Huai’an

2024-05-27 20:24:00

What does it look like in a whole-process intelligent manufacturing factory? What critical roles do intelligent manufacturing play in a company's digital transformation?

The questions can be answered at the forum on advancing new quality productivity forces that is held in Huai’an on May 27.

On the same day, Zenith Steel Group inaugurated its first phase of the steel cord base during the event.

Dong Caiping, Chairman, President, and Secretary of the CPC Committee of Zenith Steel, announced that the Huai’an base represents a total investment of over 20 billion yuan. The project aspires to set a benchmark for intelligent and digital transformation in the steel cord sector. This initiative will also contribute to Huai’an’s vision of becoming the “world capital of steel cord.”

Once completed, the base will have the capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of steel cord and 300,000 tonnes of tire bead wire annually.

Steel cord, a primary structural material extensively used in radial tires for automobiles, trucks, and engineering vehicles, is one of the most challenging products to manufacture, requiring steel with high purity, strength, and durability standards.

Zenith Steel Group (Huai’an) New Material Co., Ltd. has leveraged global expertise in intelligent manufacturing to design a comprehensive lean production solution. Once operational, the facility will integrate 25,000 production devices, over 300 industrial robots, more than 900 AGVs, and over 3,000 handheld terminals, all connected via a private 5G network, to support production and operational decisions.

This complete automation, from raw materials to finished products, will make Zenith Steel the first in the industry to implement whole-process intelligent manufacturing. It will cut 420,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emission each year. Currently, Zenith is pioneering to build a management platform to monitor energy consumption and carbon emission, which can automatically generate carbon footprint reports complying with international standards.