On September 16, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced its latest "Global Manufacturing Lighthouse Factory" list, with Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory successfully selected for this certification, known in the industry as the "Manufacturing Oscar." The Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd. smart factory is Yunnan Province's first Lighthouse Factory and simultaneously the world's first Lighthouse Factory in the traditional Chinese medicine health products sector.
The Global Lighthouse Factory selection, launched in 2018, has consistently maintained rigorous standards. As of January 2025, only 189 factories worldwide have received "Lighthouse Factory" certification, with the certification approval rate remaining below 10% long-term. The selection of Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory marks international recognition of domestic toothpaste industry practices in digital manufacturing and intelligent management, while laying the foundation for traditional Chinese medicine health products manufacturing transformation and upgrading, and enabling domestic national brands to participate in global competition.
**Technical Innovation Addresses Industry Pain Points, Building Comprehensive Digital Production System**
Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory achieved breakthroughs through technical innovation, deploying over 7,500 sensors and constructing a digital management system covering the entire "R&D, production, supply, sales" process. The system enables real-time monitoring of every stage from raw material traceability to finished product delivery, achieving intelligent production scheduling.
Addressing market demands for multi-category production, the factory decomposed production processes into 56 minimum functional units, implementing "one-click switching" through graphical parameter configuration to meet production line changes for 42 paste formulas and 558 SKUs. Production parameter adjustment time was compressed from 20 minutes to 1 minute, effectively solving efficiency bottlenecks in multi-category production.
In quality control, the factory innovatively adopted a "digitally-driven full-chain quality traceability model," introducing AI intelligent auditing and machine learning technologies, reducing product batch release audit time by 55%. Breakthrough application of online near-infrared spectroscopy detection technology compressed toothpaste active ingredient testing time from 710 minutes to 2 minutes, improving detection efficiency 355-fold, driving quality inspection transformation from "batch sampling" to "real-time intelligent control."
**Collaborative Mechanisms Enhance Efficiency and Accelerate Technology Implementation and Experience Transfer**
To ensure efficient operation of the intelligent manufacturing system, Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory explored and developed distinctive cross-departmental collaborative mechanisms. Guided by the core principle of "manufacturing with dedication, creating with excellence," the factory innovatively implemented the "221" working method, forming Party member pioneer teams to tackle core technical challenges including 5G applications and AI quality inspection, establishing a "Lighthouse War Room" with weekly cross-departmental coordination meetings to connect production, technology, quality, and other full-chain nodes.
Technical workers adopted a tiered training model of "1 Party member + 2 backbone staff + 3 new employees," efficiently achieving relay inheritance of intelligent manufacturing technology. The smart factory's comprehensive collaborative model effectively promoted product quality improvement, concentrated efforts to overcome technical difficulties, continuously optimized production processes, and enabled precise quality control at every stage of intelligent manufacturing.
**Industrial Chain Collaboration Extension: From "Factory Intelligence" to "Ecosystem Breakthrough"**
Beyond factory boundaries, Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s intelligent practices extend to the entire industrial chain. By constructing a "agriculture-industry-market" digital closed loop, full traceability from traditional Chinese medicine cultivation to consumers was achieved. This full-ecosystem collaboration provides a replicable digital transformation path for the traditional Chinese medicine industry.
In upstream traditional Chinese medicine segments, an "end-to-end supplier key quality characteristics digital management system" was established. Through satellite remote sensing monitoring of traditional Chinese medicine cultivation and AI technology for yield prediction and precise procurement, raw material defect rates decreased by 40%, ensuring product quality from the source while providing digital guidance for cultivation, promoting upstream industry standardization.
In midstream production, through high coordination between intelligent logistics and flexible production lines, the system meets both large-scale order demands and quickly responds to small-batch, personalized orders, reducing inventory backlog and improving industrial chain operational efficiency.
In downstream markets, a comprehensive quality traceability platform was constructed, enabling consumers to scan codes to query product raw material sources, production processes, testing results, and other information. This both strengthens market trust and creates a "market-production-R&D" positive cycle through consumer feedback supporting R&D and production.
**Intelligent Manufacturing Practices Radiate Deeply into Industrial Sectors, Opening New Paths for National Brand Transformation and Upgrading**
Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s transformation from a traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing enterprise to now possessing advanced intelligent manufacturing systems and international certification represents the epitome of national brand upgrading from "traditional manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing."
The World Economic Forum defines "Lighthouse Factory" as "demonstrators of digital manufacturing and Industry 4.0." The selection of Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory indicates that its practices in digital technology application and management models have reached the forefront of global manufacturing intelligent development.
Future plans for Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory include further deepening digital transformation: firstly, planning to replicate and apply the "intelligent manufacturing" model to traditional Chinese medicine health products, health foods, and other product lines, promoting full industrial chain efficiency improvement; secondly, organizing intelligent manufacturing solutions to output technical experience in multi-category production switching, full-chain quality traceability, and other areas to the industry, helping more manufacturing enterprises reduce transformation costs and overcome technical bottlenecks.
As a practical case responding to the "Made in China 2025" strategy and implementing the "14th Five-Year Plan" intelligent manufacturing development plan, the exploration of Yunnan Baiyao Group Co.,Ltd.'s smart factory not only provides a referenceable model for industry intelligent upgrading but also offers innovative approaches in specialized sectors for enhancing Chinese manufacturing competitiveness in the global value chain.
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