After the raw materials entered the factory, the robot cut the packaging wire and used a robotic arm to lift 250 kilograms of wood pulp raw materials and put them into the pulping machine. After the production line is started, a personalized order customized according to customer needs begins production. The entire process of pulping, copying, cutting, packaging, and paper production is unmanned, and each operation is converted into data, which is updated in real-time on the intelligent control center screen. Once an abnormality occurs in a certain link, even if the temperature and humidity change, the model algorithm will issue an alert.

This is a scene seen by reporters on April 7th in the digital production workshop of Mudanjiang Hengfeng Paper Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hengfeng Paper Industry). Hengfeng Paper Industry is located in Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province, producing ten series of products including thin printing paper, household paper, food packaging paper, etc. Its comprehensive market share in China reaches one-third, and it has more than 200 customers worldwide, covering five continents.

Intelligent factory empowers enterprises to accelerate track change

Packaging robots, unmanned forklifts, intelligent three-dimensional warehouses, barcode tracing... With automation equipment everywhere and few operators, Hengfeng Paper's digital production workshop showcases the charm of intelligence.

Hengfeng Paper Industry has the world's most advanced production lines and intelligent control systems, and was selected as a pilot enterprise for digital transformation by the State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council this year. How did this old state-owned enterprise with over 70 years of history develop from a small paper mill into an invisible champion in the specialty paper manufacturing industry?

In 2001, Hengfeng Paper Industry began its informationization construction and has been continuously promoting the deep integration of manufacturing technology and information technology for more than 20 years. Through the application of new generation information technologies such as big data, Internet of Things, robots, visual inspection, AI artificial intelligence algorithms, and digital twins, the production capacity has increased nearly five times compared to the beginning of informationization construction, while personnel have decreased by a quarter. ”Xu Lu, the digital director of Hengfeng Paper, has revealed the answer to the mystery.

The PM16 production line is the pioneer machine for implementing intelligent transformation and digital transformation in the entire smart factory. Through the enterprise's self-developed intelligent placement project for finished products, the production line can automatically package, transport, and connect with the strapping machine to achieve automatic strapping. In the temporary storage area, unmanned forklifts can utilize three-dimensional space intelligence for storage and transportation planning, achieving two-layer stacking. With the help of a quality management system, the production line can be inspected in real-time online, achieving full traceability of quality in both forward and reverse directions.

It is reported that in the past, when the raw materials arrived, workers had to open the packaging and manually put the wood pulp board into the pulper. Now Hengfeng Paper Industry has achieved intelligence throughout the entire lifecycle of personnel, machinery, materials, methods, and environment. Automated and intelligent devices have replaced manual labor, freeing people from heavy workloads. With the gradual advancement of digitization, people have shifted from looking at machines to looking at data.

The reporter walked into the "Data Viewing" intelligent control center, which was like the "brain" of an enterprise. In the workshop, the status of 21 production lines is displayed in digital form on a large screen, with real-time updates on pre production preparation, whether energy meets startup requirements, the latest roll data, and the current number of machines in stock.

On top of the infrastructure network layer, Hengfeng Paper Industry utilizes new technologies such as artificial intelligence, flow processing, digital twin, image recognition, and MR to achieve collaboration and flexible automation between processes. It can conduct business trend analysis and prediction, and help management make comprehensive analysis and decisions on the value chain and production system.

The healthy and stable operation of equipment is crucial for improving production efficiency and cost control in enterprises. In smart factories, monitoring personnel do not need to conduct real-time inspections because fault prediction and health management systems can use sensors to collect and process critical data such as equipment vibration and temperature, achieving real-time monitoring and early warning of equipment and ensuring timely maintenance.

MR (mixed reality) technology can also assist in monitoring. I saw the operator wearing MR glasses next to the paper machine and operating in space by staring at the point with their fingers to obtain real-time data, equipment status, and other information about the device. More comprehensive and intuitive information assistance allows operators to perceive more equipment process control status, making operations safer, more efficient, and accurate.

Wang Jianying, Director of the Industry and Information Technology Bureau of Mudanjiang City, introduced that Hengfeng Paper Industry passed the evaluation and certification of intelligent factories in Heilongjiang Province in 2022 and was selected as a demonstration enterprise for the integration of new generation information technology and manufacturing in the direction of "digital navigation" in 2023. Currently, only two enterprises in Heilongjiang Province have been selected, and Hengfeng Paper Industry is leading the digital transformation of traditional industries in Mudanjiang City.

At present, the intelligent factory of Hengfeng Paper Industry has fully realized the data integration of all elements and manufacturing processes, including planning and scheduling, production operations, automation control, equipment data integration, warehousing and distribution, quality control, logistics tracking, etc., achieving efficient collaboration between upstream and downstream enterprises in the supply chain and seamless connection of information in all internal links of Hengfeng Paper Industry.

Digital intelligence empowers the intelligent upgrading of the entire industry chain

In 2023, Hengfeng Paper's operating revenue exceeded 2.6 billion yuan, with a total profit increase of 11% compared to the same period. Hengfeng's profits are mainly due to the establishment of an integrated production and operation control platform (hereinafter referred to as the integrated platform). In the past, decision-makers needed to rely on experience to make judgments, but now they rely on data to speak and make accurate decisions in advance, "said Xu Lu.

Hengfeng Paper's foreign orders come from more than 200 customers around the world. Whether or not to accept these orders that have crossed the ocean can be calculated by decision-makers through an integrated platform.

We go through the cost process of accepting an order in advance through an integrated platform, "Xu Lu explained. The integrated platform can refine the cost to every link, and the costs of labor, materials, machinery, etc. are clear at a glance. Through AI technology, the system can provide detailed analysis reports to guide how much profit this order can make, and decision-makers can infer whether this order can be accepted.

Yang Yunfeng, Director of the Science and Technology Bureau of Mudanjiang City, introduced: "The research and development of the Hengfeng Paper Industry Integrated Platform has been listed as a joint project between the Science and Technology Department of Heilongjiang Province and Mudanjiang City. With the support of policy, funding, and technology collaboration, the Hengfeng Paper Industry Integrated Platform has achieved four major functions: panoramic perception, automatic warning, self driving control, and evaluation portrait. It can provide decision-makers with the best parameter selection and production task execution warning, and has completed the intelligent transformation and upgrading of the entire business field from procurement to sales

Facing the diverse needs of customers, Hengfeng Paper Industry has developed a set of standards for each order through an integrated platform, supporting customized needs for multiple varieties and small batches, and achieving flexible adaptation and production of diversified and high-quality products. At present, the main varieties and customer dimension standards have reached over 10000 sets.

We have independently developed an order value single marginal profit control platform, which can control the entire process of product cost, various consumption, and marginal profit. The efficiency of order cost accounting from prediction to execution will not differ by 5%, truly achieving refined and lean production, "said Xu Lu.

Nowadays, Hengfeng has not only completed the intelligent transportation of conventional materials within the factory area, but also achieved efficient upstream and downstream ecological coordination from product shipment to customer receipt outside the factory area.

We interact with upstream and downstream demand plans, products and quantities, as well as product batch codes and logistics information at the time of shipment, to achieve real-time docking, scheduling, and supervision. For example, through platform construction, we realize loading reservation, park navigation, and advance stocking, greatly improving the efficiency of logistics loading and transportation information query. At the same time, the upgrade of intelligent warehousing also achieves product traceability through digital platforms, avoiding human errors and promoting more standardized inventory management, "said Xu Lu.

Innovation never stops. Hengfeng Paper Industry is planning to confirm data assets, create a symbiotic value chain ecosystem, and drive collaborative innovation and common development among upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain.