Digitalization empowers Geely Auto's intelligent upgrade

Machines operate on a production line of Geely Auto Group in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, in May 2022. The Chinese automaker is actively deploying digital technologies to meet higher production targets. [TAN YUNFENG/FOR CHINA DAILY]

GUIYANG — At a production base of Chinese automaker Geely Auto Group in the southwestern city of Guiyang, Guizhou province, rows of robotic arms are welding body parts, while driverless cars shuttle back and forth carrying materials.

Digital technologies used in the factories at the base have made car manufacturing more efficient and smarter.

"In the welding workshop of the body factory, the chassis production line is fully automated and production efficiency is very high," said Yang Jiansu, director of the auto body factory at the base, adding that the use of robots effectively reduces the rate of error in the welding process.

At the final assembly factory, equipment controlled by digital systems provides the accurate and orderly assembly of parts prepared in advance.

"With the help of intelligent systems, the parts information needed for automobile assembly will be sent to the corresponding equipment suppliers, and they will prepare the required parts in advance," said Yang Mi, director of the assembly factory.

Every car that requires final assembly has an identification system to ensure that the parts needed will not be mismatched, thus realizing lean production, according to Yang.

Thanks to intelligent manufacturing, compared with traditional production lines, the labor input of the workshops using digital technologies is reduced by 20 percent, with electricity consumption down by 15 percent. This year, the base plans to reach a production target of more than 200,000 vehicles.

In recent years, China has been actively promoting digital technologies to empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries, among which the automobile industry has become the epitome.

Often dubbed China's big data hub, the mountainous province of Guizhou is China's first national big data comprehensive pilot zone.

Guizhou takes the big data industry as a pillar industry for high-quality development, and an increasing number of big data and other technological projects have boosted its digital economy.

According to a development report on China's digital economy released in 2022, the value-added output of the digital economy in Guizhou increased by 20.6 percent year-on-year in 2021, and the growth rate was 4.4 percentage points higher than the national average, ranking first in the country for seven consecutive years.

The application of digital technologies has greatly boosted the production efficiency of the workshops. These digital technologies have upgraded the original single quality control means to a more intelligent quality control method and product quality is now more guaranteed, said Gu Jiangang, deputy general manager of Guizhou Geely Auto Manufacturing Co Ltd.