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21 Oct 2023On September 27, the annual quality model project observation meeting organized by the housing and urban-rural development department of Sanshui District, Foshan was held at the Phase I Project of Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd..
As a key program in Foshan City and Guangdong Province, this project has passed the initial assessment and reassessment of the Civilized Demonstration Site of Foshan City, as well as the initial assessment of High-Quality Construction Engineering of Guangdong Province and Foshan City. Since the project started, it has been awarded by the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of Sanshui District for integrity.
According to its plan, the Phase I Project of Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing will cover an area of 100,000 square meters with a floor area of 108,500 square meters, including four production workshops and three living buildings. The Phase 1 Project mainly aims to provide comprehensive manufacturing and delivery of key components for product divisions of KEDA Ceramic Machinery.
Build a Green Digital Factory Through Precise Planning
According to the project plan, in the production workshops, each production process and facility will be arranged based on the "one-piece flow" method, the value stream analysis and optimization will be applied to the manufacturing process of key parts, and production will be driven by order demand, likely reducing the manufacturing cycle of large structural parts by 40%. This is due to the practice of determining the process, equipment and logistics layout before building plants, which will also greatly improve the utilization of plant space and the operational efficiency of logistics.
In terms of equipment and facilities, the company plans to introduce over 100 sets, including the automatic cutting machine with conveying system for plates and profiles, automatic and semi-automatic welding lines, annealing furnaces for heat treatment, CNC double column machining center cluster, power; free and shuttled coating lines, smart warehouse and logistics equipment (3D warehouse, AGV, and electric remote trackless flat wagons), laser sheeting cutting and storage lines, CNC press brake equipment, intelligent joint-controlled gas supply and waste heat recycling systems for the compressed air station, automatic vertical logistics equipment such as suspended platforms and cargo elevators, and digitally controlled cranes.
Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing has implemented the following strategies with the aim of "building a green factory to realize low-carbon production; creating a digital factory to realize intelligent operation".
(1) This project uses self-investment to build a photovoltaic power generation system, with an installed capacity of 7.2MW and an estimated annual power generation of approximately 6.8 million kWh. At the same time, it also plans to purchase power storage equipment which will be installed after the project commences, which will significantly reduce the operational energy cost.
(2) The compressed air station adopts IoT technology for intelligent management which will control the startup and shutdown, working hours, and output pressure of each air compressor through AI algorithms, ensuring power consumption remains at an optimum level. It will save electricity by over 10% annually. Additionally, a heat recovery system as well as a hot and cold water exchange system will be introduced to the compressed air station, and the hot water generated by the waste heat will be utilized in dormitories, canteens or production lines. The annual benefit is expected to reach hundreds of thousands of RMB.
(3) The project entails building an energy management system and centralizing the control of water, electricity and gas. By installing smart water meters in the water pipeline, digital flow meters and remote switching valves in the gas pipeline, and smart meters in the electricity circuits, the system will analyze real-time statistics on energy consumption and send early warnings of anomalies, so as to give timely solutions. For instance, the system is capable of analyzing and calculating the fluctuations in electricity prices, enabling different power supply modes (utility power, photovoltaic power, stored power, etc.) during different periods, and maintaining overall energy consumption at an optimal level through comprehensive system control.
(4) The production equipment and facilities will be connected by IoT to show their operation status in real-time; algorithm-based cameras will be allocated to enhance the early warning and treatment of dangerous behaviors and sources of danger. The whole workshop will be covered with production WIFI as well as 5G indoor distribution system signals, enabling work progress reports to be submitted by scanning codes via mobile devices, warehouse management of stock in and out, control of AGV operations, wireless data collection, OEE analysis, etc. Transparency will be incorporated into the management of production progress, production cost, production efficiency and personnel management of each workstation to realize scientific decision-making and efficient management.
The various initiatives involved in Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing's plans for the digital plant are being implemented concurrently. After communicating with relevant departments in Sanshui District, Foshan City many times, the company has received guidance and support from these departments and is actively preparing for future advancements.
Strictly Control Key Points to Progress the Construction in an Organized Manner
The Phase 1 Project of the Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing was started in early December 2022, and was planned to complete the relocation of the equipment and personnel in the old plant and the construction of the new plant and put it into production before Spring Festival 2024. Despite challenges such as the building's large size of 108,000 square meters—including various structures like steel and concrete warehouses with considerable heights—and the current year's significant storms affecting the northern part of Sanshui District, Foshan City, the construction team has taken all these factors into consideration. Consequently, they have developed a detailed and comprehensive construction strategy to effectively manage the construction progress affected by various influential factors. The prime contractor has taken measures such as building an underground drainage system, and fortifying construction roads and material storage yards in advance to ensure the project progresses as planned despite excessive rainfall this year.
As the project has a large number of new equipment, processes, and production lines, most of which have been restructured, there is no precedent in the industry, which means there is not much experience to draw from. The installation and commissioning are difficult, and there is substantial pressure to initiate operations on time. After taking all factors into account, the management team of Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing has developed corresponding solutions. First, the company has requested equipment manufacturers to conduct pre-trial runs of the equipment at their manufacturing sites, and sent its own technicians to the equipment manufacturers' sites to familiarize themselves with the equipment and trial-produce workpieces to ensure the completeness and effectiveness of the equipment's functions and performance as well as optimize the process plan for future trial production to deal with difficulties that can be foreseen before it is put into operation. Second, the company has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the infrastructure construction progress of each workshop and the production progress of equipment and facilities to schedule the points of time for each (set of) equipment or facility to enter workshops and complete the installation and commissioning, so that all involving units are clear about their own tasks at specific times to ensure that the equipment can be put into production on time.
The confluence of the relocation of old equipment, personnel transfer, and the production peak at year's end has significantly increased the pressure on the on-time delivery of the project. The management team of Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing will, as always, perform operation control and management of the project, make plans to schedule the commissioning, trial production and other links, and ensure orderly construction in the middle and later stages of the project when there will be a lot of cross operation to progress construction as planned.
(Foshan KEDA Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd.)
