Peng'an at the forefront of upgrading

Multiple enterprises in county of Sichuan province speeding up their transition to automated production

Peng'an county of Southwest China's Sichuan province is fostering a host of new quality productive forces as its businesses undergo innovation and upgrades.

Several enterprises in Peng'an Industrial Park have transformed from traditional manufacturing to automated production. A shining example is Sichuan Bosa, an automotive parts company, where enhancing quality and efficiency has become the inevitable path for development. To achieve this, the company continues to make heavy annual investments in technological upgrades, creating a modular and automated production chain that significantly enhances product quality and profit margins.

The company said it has installed a series of large machine tools and robotic arms and deployed an automated production line where a piece of steel is transferred by robotic arms and then undergoes stamping by a 1,300-metric-ton machine tool. In just nine seconds, it is transformed into an automotive component.

"The advantages of this automated production line are threefold," said Tian Xudong, Party secretary of the company. "It saves on labor costs, increases production speed, and ensures product consistency. In an eight-hour workday, it can produce 5,000 components."

Peng'an Jintan, founded in 2003, is a manufacturing enterprise specializing in the smelting of ferroalloys. With China's increased emphasis on environmental protection, the company's outdated production processes had the long-standing enterprise on the brink of closure, necessitating technological upgrades. Jintan's subsequent relocation, expansion and capacity enhancement project was initiated in a timely fashion. Phase one commenced construction in July 2020, began operations in June 2022, and achieved an output value of 650 million yuan ($91.17 million) in the same year.

"Our vertical furnace adopts advanced domestic treatment processes, enabling the collection of coal gas and pre-drying treatment of raw materials. This reduces electricity consumption, increases product recovery rates, and saves the company more than 15 million yuan in costs annually," said Tang Qihua, chairman of Jintan.

The company has implemented a waste gas power generation project, water recycling for production, and utilization of waste slag for road construction and brick-making. This effectively achieves comprehensive recycling and utilization of waste gas, wastewater and slag, saving energy and production costs while realizing green and sustainable development.

Chia Meei Food Indl. Corp, which has been in Peng'an for 16 years, cumulatively investing a total of 400 million yuan in implementing five phases of technological transformation and capacity expansion, is continuously carrying out product research and development and technological upgrades. Its annual processing capacity has reached 300,000 tons, and in 2023, the company's total tax contribution ranked first among all agricultural product processing enterprises in Nanchong.

This year, Chia Meei plans to invest 100 million yuan to expand 6.67 hectares and build 13 new production lines, achieving full processing of more than 10 varieties of fruit and carrying out full-process production. The goal is to create a complete industry chain park that integrates raw material bases, product R&D, production and processing, cold chain logistics and sales services.

In recent years, Peng'an county has launched the "industrial leapfrog" campaign, promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. The county has applied for technical renovation funds and policy support from the provincial and municipal levels, and encourages businesses to expand and upgrade their capacity through technological renovation. As a result, the county has continuously improved the quality and efficiency of enterprise development.

In a production project of Sichuan Zhiqi Precious Metals, a series of broad application scenarios and market prospects for silver-based electrical contact materials demonstrate the company's technological innovation.

"Electrical contact tips are a set of conductive elements made of electrical contact materials widely used in switch fields such as wall switches and button switches," said Teng Yi, chairman of Zhiqi. "The company has been deeply involved in the electrical contact tip sector for 15 years, and has achieved impressive results. We have seven core technologies and more than 20 products that are exported to overseas markets. As well, the company has successfully applied for a national high-tech enterprise status and been recognized as a specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprise that produces novel and unique products."

Over the years, Peng'an has focused on the development needs of modern industries, accelerated the pace of technological innovation, actively cooperated with universities and research institutes for innovation, and established a collaborative innovation platform for government, industry, academia, research and application. These actions help promote the transformation of scientific research achievements into practical applications, and the construction of production facilities in Peng'an.

High-tech company Zhongzhaoyongye, which is engaged in integrated circuit and semiconductor development, has deployed intelligent production lines in its production workshop, and workers are able to fully understand the production situation through smart screens. Currently, the company's phase two project is progressing rapidly.

Meanwhile, electric vehicle manufacturer Ruihu has expedited orders for electric tricycles. It has acquired top qualifications, certifications and patents with a new hybrid fuel vehicle model exported to Southeast Asia.

Moving forward, the county will continue to prioritize component manufacturing, intelligent terminals and 5G and 6G communication industries while accelerating the construction of the electronic information industrial park. It will support technology businesses to increase production capacity, expand output, and advance the production of Zhongzhaoyongye's phase one while expediting phase two construction. The goal is to attract over 25 electronic information enterprises and strive for the county's electronic information industry output value to exceed 10 billion yuan by 2026.

In addition to equipment upgrades and technological innovation, businesses in the park are focused on talent-driven development.

Nanchong-based YM Panel Display Technology in Peng'an Industrial Park has adopted automated production. "Our products are mainly applied in fields such as intelligent communication, intelligent transportation, intelligent retail, intelligent healthcare, smart home, and other related areas," said Wang Liang, general manager of the company.

As a key enterprise attracted to Peng'an county, YM has invested 200 million yuan to build four new production lines. Once it reaches full production, the company expects to achieve an annual output value of over 300 million yuan, said Wang. He added, "Equipment upgrades can improve production efficiency while talent is vital for an enterprise's survival and the development of new quality productive forces."

He Chuanlong, head of technology R&D at YM, recently led his team's application for a new technology patent. "We attach great importance to talent cultivation, regularly organizing employee training to enhance their skills. We also have plans to introduce outstanding talents with rich experience and high education. We allocate over 2 million yuan annually for talent development," He said.

In recent years, Peng'an county has prioritized talent revitalization by organizing training programs and fostering talents in enterprise management and innovation. Industry and education have been integrated, collaborative platforms established, and partnerships with universities set up.

As well, the county has issued policies and documents to address talent needs, built talent apartments and appointed enterprise talents to key representative roles. "Pengzhou talent green cards" have been issued to resolve practical issues like children's enrollment. All these efforts are aimed at attracting, retaining and supporting talents through a comprehensive approach involving training, infrastructure, and policy implementation.