Meishan City's Qingshen County Xilong Paper Mill was established in 1979 and commenced production in 1981. In 2005, the mill was fully acquired by Huanlong Group and underwent a technological transformation. Building on this foundation, Sichuan Huanlong New Materials Co., Ltd. was established in 2011 and has since evolved into an eco-technology enterprise focused on the R&D, production, and sales of bamboo fiber-based bio-materials. The company has now secured a place among China's Top 500 Agricultural Enterprises, boasting a cumulative portfolio of over 59 invention patents. Its "Bamboo" brand pioneered a new category of unbleached bamboo fiber household paper products in China and was recently listed on the "2025 Hurun Future Unicorns: Global Gazelle Enterprises List."
On January 23rd, stepping into the smart factory of Sichuan Huanlong New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huanlong New Materials"), a high, winding "track" immediately captures attention, resembling a silent roller coaster. "This is our raw material conveying line," explained Wu Peng, the company's Electrical Automation Manager, noting that qualified fermented bamboo chips from the raw material yard enter the fully automated cooking process via this route. Within this facility, automation ensures that bamboo chips remain "invisible" from the moment they enter the factory until the final paper products roll off the line. Behind this seamless operation, a "smart brain" diligently monitors the process, supported by countless "intelligent joints" that perform the physical tasks.
After cooking, the bamboo chips undergo rigorous washing and screening in the cleaning and selection section, transforming into pulp that enters storage towers, marking the first phase of conversion from raw material to finished product. From this point, the product diverges into two destinations: one stream heads to the pulp board workshop to be made into pulp boards for打包 and external sale, while the other proceeds to the finished product workshop to become various "Bamboo" brand paper goods.
The journey from bamboo chips entering the factory to finished paper products involves more than 15 major processes, including screening, washing, cooking, selection, oxidation, forming, and drying. "Now, once bamboo chips enter the conveying line, people essentially 'lose sight' of them; they flow automatically through pipes and tanks until they emerge as large paper rolls," stated Liu Weizhe, the company's Production and Operations General Manager, emphasizing that manual intervention is minimized to an extreme degree.
Although the process is largely "invisible," one location provides perfect clarity. Inside the company's digital control center, several large screens display real-time data streams from the entire production workflow, alongside live surveillance feeds from the shop floor. This hub serves as Huanlong New Materials' "smart brain"—a central control platform built upon multiple DCS (Distributed Control Systems). "Production used to rely on three things: lab technicians taking samples for testing, experienced masters making adjustments based on intuition, and workers manually operating equipment on-site," recalled Liu Weizhe, reflecting on the old factory days. Today, critical parameters like concentration, flow rate, temperature, and pH value are monitored online and adjusted automatically.
Equipped with over 500 cameras factory-wide, the central control screens display real-time site conditions. Should production data exceed predefined limits, the system triggers automatic alarms and executes predetermined responses based on the alert level. Personnel in the control center primarily assume roles as "guardians" and "strategic adjusters." "The work is no longer about repetitive physical labor or manual recording; it's about monitoring the overall situation via screens and intervening only when process optimization is needed or during critical equipment blockages," added Wu Peng, noting that information on production, quality, safety, and environmental compliance converges here for coordinated team resolution.
The factory possesses not only an "all-seeing" smart brain but also precisely executing "intelligent joints." Decisions from the smart brain are transmitted in real-time via a comprehensive industrial network, driving the efficient and coordinated operation of these "intelligent joints" scattered throughout the plant, thereby keeping manual intervention to an absolute minimum.
"From the very moment raw bamboo chips are weighed upon entering the factory, they enter a 'digital track.' Data such as moisture content and weight are automatically captured, and document flow is fully electronic, directly linked to the financial system," Liu Weizhe explained. The company's self-developed Warehouse Management System and Raw Material System went live in 2024 and 2025 respectively, "achieving precise coordination and data sharing from raw material intake and consumption to finished product output, significantly boosting management efficiency."
At the end of the production line, the results of intelligent transformation are particularly evident. Wu Peng stopped before a finished product packaging line, stating, "This line is equipped with domestically advanced automated machinery, achieving full-process automation from large-scale rotation, conveying, and automatic packaging to robotic arm palletizing." He indicated that through this automation upgrade, the tasks for personnel on this single line have shifted primarily to quality sampling inspections and equipment oversight, while the line's production capacity has increased by approximately 40%.
Through equipment interconnection, system interoperability, and data sharing, the factory's equipment networking rate has surged from 45% to 80%, with a 100% numerical control rate for key processes. The system now enables real-time identification of paper defects and has improved inventory turnover by 20%. Liu Weizhe emphasized that enabling data to flow freely and making equipment smarter naturally translates into tangible benefits.
Currently, Huanlong New Materials continues to ramp up investment in its "Intelligent Transformation and Digital Transition" initiatives. "The application of artificial intelligence must extend to both the front and back ends, forming a closed loop," Liu Weizhe stated. This year, the company plans to equip all raw material transport vehicles with GPS tracking, upgrade the Supply Chain Management system, and achieve full-process tracking from raw materials to finished products, alongside comprehensive supplier lifecycle management. Furthermore, they will optimize the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, integrating sales data with user profiles to continuously enhance customer service response times. The ultimate goal is to evolve the "smart brain" from merely overseeing production into a genuine "digital engine" that drives decision-making across the entire value chain.
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