Walking into the production workshop of Lanzhou LS Group Co Ltd, large electronic screens refresh data in real-time, displaying a comprehensive view of every dimension of production, including equipment operating status, material consumption, production scheduling, and product quality traceability.
In recent years, the company has actively seized the opportunity of "intelligent transformation, digital upgrade, and network connectivity," embedding digital transformation across the entire chain of production, management, and supply. This has created a unified digital control system for production operations and resource allocation, equipping traditional industrial manufacturing with a "digital brain."
While deepening its own digital innovation to achieve higher efficiency and quality, the company has also leveraged its leading position in digital transformation to help over 200 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) complete digital upgrades, build smart production scenarios, and migrate core business processes to the cloud. By nurturing the real economy with digital solutions, it is injecting powerful new momentum into the high-quality development of regional industry.
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Inside the company's heavy pressure vessel welding digital workshop, automated welding equipment operates at high speed, completing precise welding tasks for various pressure vessels. "In the past, equipment was dedicated to a single task, and one worker could only manage one machine, leading to high labor costs and intense physical demands. Now, with the implementation of the complete digital system, labor intensity has dropped significantly, and production efficiency has increased by nearly 30%," said Xu Wenkui, Deputy Manager of the Production and Manufacturing Department at the company's refining and chemical branch. He added that thanks to the digital transformation, workers can now monitor multiple workstations simultaneously, without needing to watch the entire conventional welding process. From process plan creation and production task assignment to welding data collection and statistics, the entire workflow is now managed with intelligent, digital closed-loop control.
The newly installed intelligent production line for heavy pressure vessel components is an upgraded version of a smart production line, featuring even higher levels of automation. All process parameters can be precisely transmitted directly to the production equipment. From the automatic assembly of parts to the automatic welding of flanges and nozzles, all processes are completed by the equipment autonomously, with production steps essentially becoming unmanned. "Previously, if we weren't careful during welding, quality issues like porosity could occur, making product stability difficult to guarantee. Now, the one-time welding pass rate is close to 100%, and quality stability has greatly improved," Xu Wenkui noted. The workshop has built a comprehensive welding process database, so workers don't need to program and debug each step. They only need to input basic parameters like the material and thickness of the workpiece, and the system automatically matches the optimal production plan. This not only simplifies the process and boosts efficiency but also firmly maintains product quality standards.
For years, the company has continuously invested in digital technology R&D and capability building, gradually filling gaps in digital services for the industrial sector and creating a one-stop, full-cycle, professional smart manufacturing service ecosystem. On the technical R&D front, the company has independently developed over 100 types of industrial software, obtained nearly 100 software copyrights and multiple invention patents, firmly holding the core technological initiative for industrial digital transformation. Furthermore, the company established Lanzhou LS Art Industrial Internet Technology Co., Ltd. This entity not only provides comprehensive support for the smart manufacturing, digital transformation, and "three modernizations" (informatization, automation, and intelligence) of the group and its subsidiaries but also possesses the system integration capability to serve the smart manufacturing and digital transformation needs of other industrial enterprises inside and outside the province. It has been recognized as one of the first batch of smart manufacturing service support institutions in Gansu Province.
Moreover, the company has taken the lead in formulating several national and industry standards and has spearheaded the "One Map, Four Lists" pilot project for digital transformation in the energy equipment industry (pressure vessels), establishing a robust "standard cluster" for smart manufacturing. Simultaneously, the company has built five major digital business segments, capable of handling everything from the intelligent upgrade of large factories to assisting SMEs with lightweight digital transformation. This makes it a core service provider for the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry in Gansu Province.
Building a Unified Management Platform
Entering the company's digital command center, a large electronic screen displays real-time operational footage from the group's headquarters, its refining and chemical branch, and various production workshops, dynamically presenting production conditions across the entire plant. "The screen can intuitively display information from all dimensions, including sales, design, process, quality inspection, and production. It clearly shows the entire chain from order acquisition, raw material procurement, and process processing to finished product output, truly achieving digital integration across the entire production and operation lifecycle," Xu Wenkui explained. This is the "digital twin workshop" project, which uses digital modeling technology to create a 1:1 true digital reflection of the plant, workshops, and equipment. It enables real-time data collection, intelligent analysis, and simulation prediction within the park, allowing the physical factory to have a precise digital virtual counterpart for intelligent and refined management.
"At our weekly business analysis meetings, we just log into the system to check indicators like collection progress, production delivery, quality losses, and safety hazards. Abnormal data can be automatically highlighted in red for early warning, making everything clear and efficient," said Xie Yun, Deputy Chief Engineer of the group and Chairman of LS Art Company. He stated that the digital command center, serving as the command hub for production information management, has significantly improved the group's ability to dynamically control production and make rapid decisions. "In the past, data reported by different departments could have discrepancies. Now, the entire organization uses the same system and the same data source, so the data is unified, true, and clear for review," said Gao Feng, Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of the group. He noted that the traditional management model previously meant the information systems of different subsidiaries were incompatible, leading to fragmented data and information silos, which severely hindered overall coordination and scientific decision-making.
In a production workshop of Lanzhou Lanshi Heavy Equipment Co., Ltd., He Xinliang, the squad leader of the surfacing welding team in the specialized welding workshop, noticed a misplacement of argon gas cylinders. He immediately took a photo with his phone and uploaded it to the system. The system responded instantly, automatically identifying the hazard type, determining the risk level, dispatching a corrective action work order, and specifying the deadline and acceptance criteria. Once the responsible person completed the rectification and uploaded supporting documents, the system automatically verified and closed the loop. The entire process can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. This dual-prevention intelligent digital management platform, built on the company's safety production AI model, has completely revolutionized the traditional, inefficient safety management model.
In recent years, the company has integrated digital transformation across the entire chain of production, management, and supply. It has coordinated the construction of an integrated supply chain, an ERP system, and a visual operations dashboard. By unifying data standards and opening data channels between subsidiaries and business units, it has significantly improved business process efficiency and optimized resource allocation.
Providing Systematic Solutions
Empowering SMEs is another highlight of the company's digital transformation services. Many small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in Gansu have a strong desire for digital transformation but commonly face practical challenges such as "dare not transform, do not know how to transform, and lack of funds," making their transformation journey difficult. To address these struggling SMEs, the company has introduced a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) deployment model. The company provides the complete application, and client enterprises can access and use it directly. This "small, fast, lightweight, and precise" digital product is low-cost, easy to deploy, and quick to learn, offering SMEs a flexible and efficient path to lightweight transformation while also building a technical foundation for an industry-level industrial internet empowerment platform.
At the group's remote operations and maintenance center, a large screen monitors the operational status of hundreds of pieces of equipment across the country in real time, enabling cross-regional remote intelligent maintenance. Previously, when a drilling rig in Xinjiang experienced an operational anomaly, the system immediately displayed a fault code and pushed a solution. The maintenance engineer, using the remote system, quickly guided on-site personnel to resolve the issue, efficiently handling the production risk.
In addition to this, the company provides comprehensive full-chain transformation services. It offers specialized guidance on business process optimization, transformation path planning, digital talent cultivation, and pro-business policy interpretation. This helps enterprises avoid common pitfalls in transformation and provides each with a tailored, highly adaptable, low-cost, and implementable digital transformation plan. The company is also continuously enriching its service offerings to cover digital transformation scenarios at all levels. Leveraging its self-developed LS Cloud Industrial Internet platform, it provides comprehensive cloud services for equipment, business, and data, deploys cloud-based management systems, breaks down internal data silos for enterprises, and significantly reduces operational costs. For medium-to-large manufacturing enterprises, the focus is on upgrading production links, promoting the construction of digital workshops, smart factories, and digital twin production lines, and driving the integrated transformation of digital manufacturing, digital operations, and smart supply chains to fully revamp production management models. Furthermore, by utilizing its dual-prevention intelligent platform, powered by its self-developed safety production AI model, the company helps other businesses innovate their safety management models and strengthen their safety production defenses.
To date, the company has exported mature digital transformation solutions to markets inside and outside Gansu Province, helping over 200 enterprises complete their digital upgrades. Its services cover key industries such as equipment manufacturing, energy and chemicals, non-ferrous metals and metallurgy, mining, and urban heating, driving the overall quality improvement and upgrade of the regional industrial sector through digital services.
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