A new textile plant that integrates the spinning and weaving process on an intelligent production line means Weiqiao Textile Company will need 90% fewer workers to produce the same capacity. Weiqiao will increase the proportion of its mid- to high-end products, while the new smart plant will reduce both labor intensity and costs.
The integration will take an RMB 820 million (approximate US$119 million) investment, with the plant operational should be operational by October 2019. The green plant will have an annual production capacity of 15,000 tons of high-quality compact yarns and 35 million yards of high-grade fabric.
The plant will be equipped with full access and control of the smart production line from automatic product inspection, robot application, automatic transportation tool application to energy-saving equipment. An intelligent track conveyor system covers 35 kilometers within the plant, so the yarn is automatically transported from roving, unloading to packaging stages. This full automation process is achieved without any manual labor.
Remote management through terminal devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and computers, will be implemented throughout the plant. This allows real-time visual monitoring of each process and operation point. The production line will feature advanced functions such as order progress warning, equipment status warning, quality standard warning, environmental standard warning, energy consumption warning, auto-generation of production quality reports, real-time monitoring of quality data, real-time tracking of orders, and seamless integration of ERP.
All the equipment in this intelligent production line will be integrated into the data analysis system to enable production efficiency. Benefits anticipated include:
- the cleaning and carding system will reduce the number of barrel changes by up to 10%;
- the strip and combing automatic system will allow automation of changing rollers, joint and lapping; the thick and thin smart automatic rail system will perform auto-doffing within 3 minutes;
- the success rate of doffing, empty tube replacement, and the head is close to 100%;
- the spinning machine is a 1824-spindle super long spinning machine;
- the AGV barrel conveying system realizes automatic feeding of the cans and precise positioning;
- the Rieter automatic quality monitoring system equipped with the drawing process will significantly improve any unevenness of weight and the level of the stem;
- the looming machine will perform at a latitude of 2,565 beats per minute.
Weiqiao’s production consumption is among the lowest in the Chinese textile industry, and the company intends to continue to lead with low carbon, digital green technology and intelligent engineering.
Source: Weiqiao Textile Company
