The early summer hears the machines roaring in the general assembly plant of Guizhou Changjiang Automobile Co., Ltd. and sees the workers working with the AI operation system. The entire process of making a new energy vehicle (EV), from plugging wire harness, installing chassis, to alignment and testing, takes less than two hours.
The astonishing speed is ascribed to the development of intelligent technology. In another plant nearby, some workers are busy welding car bodies. In May, the company inaugurated its welding process line, which could complete 66 assembly welding, including flooring, side walls, front wall, rear wall, and doors, in less than three days.
Four intelligent production lines, namely pressing, welding, coating, and assembly, have been put into operation, enabling the company to present electric city buses and ambulances. The company has made its first delivery of electric light trucks and is working on the second.
The intelligent production system plus IoT-based production facilities allow the company to produce multiple vehicle types on its high-precision production lines. "We use IT-based management systems such as PDM and ERP ( Product Data Management/ Enterprise Resource Planning.) In addition, we have a powertrain lab, chassis dynamometer lab, battery pack/module charging/discharging lab, and more labs for independent whole vehicles, key systems, and key parts test and verification. We also apply intelligent manufacturing technologies to the production lines, such as robotics, IoT, cloud computing, and intelligent testing equipment." According to Chairwoman Zhou Hong, the company remains committed to the idea of "digital + intelligent + IoT technologies", with a practical use of digital technology to streamline its intelligent management and intelligent production processes toward high-quality development.
The company spans an area of 120 hectares with an annual output designed at 210,000 EVs. As the new trend of high-quality development, "digital economy + real economy" implies new development opportunities for new energy commercial vehicle manufacturers. Zhou Hong said her company would grasp the new opportunities brought by digital economy development and apply digital technology to its practical conditions to promote product iteration, refine intelligent manufacturing, create innovative business modes, and generate new powers for industrial development.
Gui'an New District is unveiling a new energy vehicle industry cluster. Chery (Guizhou) has concluded the pressing, welding, coating, assembly, battery-motor-control, trial plants, and public facilities for its electric truck and special-purpose vehicle production lines, with a potential production of 50,000 vehicles per year. Meanwhile, BYD has put into pilot operation its 10GWh power battery project, as evidenced by the batteries flowing on the full-automatic conveyer belt. CATL Guizhou Power and Energy Storage Battery Manufacturing Base are also under construction.
The Gui'an New District will stay devoted to developing the Suzhou-Gui'an and Shenzhen-Gui'an industrial parks centering on electronic information and manufacturing, advanced equipment manufacturing, new energy vehicle, and new materials industries (the key industries) to promote cooperation with parks in the Yangtze Delta Economic Zone and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.