By Yao Xueqing, People’s Daily

“Tick!””Tick!”

At 9:30 a.m., in a workshop of Sanco New Energy Technology (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd in Liyang, east China’s Jiangsu province, a warehouse clerk scanned a digital receipt to sign for 10 boxes of circuit boards.

With a press of the “confirm” button, an automated guided vehicle (AGV) arrived, picked up the circuit boards, and rode a freight elevator to the materials area of the workshop, where a batch of separator plates and aluminum connectors were ready for delivery.

Thanks to these digital technologies, the company has experienced dramatic transformations, with a significant reduction in production costs and a rapid increase in orders. But how did these changes occur? Let’s take a closer look at how the company turns raw materials into finished products with “magical digits.”

The circuit boards, separator plates, and aluminum connectors are essential components of the cell contact system for electric vehicle battery packs.

“It is important to ensure high quality and efficient delivery of the system because some clients require a product traceability period of up to 15 years,” said Deng Gang, head of operations of the company.

In 2022, Sanco Connecting Technology Co., Ltd., the parent company of Sanco New Energy Technology, partnered with COSMOPlat, an industrial internet platform developed by China’s largest home appliance maker Haier Group, working onthe digital upgrading of its warehouse operations and production managementto enhance the quality and efficiency of manufacturing.

In the material section of the workshop, quality inspectors opened the boxes to check the appearance of the materials. Behind them, there is a warehouse covering an area of 3,000squaremeters, which was segmented into three zones with different colors for more efficient management – green, red and yellow zones.

Materials that have passed quality control will be automatically allocated to the green zone for storage; defective items will be directed to the red zone for return, while those needing further inspection will be placed in the yellow zone.

When it comes to the storage section, each item was assigned a location code. According to Wang Hejie, a manager with COSMOPlat, it used to take at least 30 minutes or even a few hours for workers to complete the paperwork before products were delivered. But now the whole process will be finished within only 15 minutes. The digital management has enabled precise supply and demand matching and improvedthe turnover of inventories, Wang added.

At 1:30 p.m., the materials were transported to the production line.

Operator He Yuming, following the real-time production orders, activated the warehouse management system with a single click. Once again, the materials were loaded onto AGVs and then arrived promptly at the automated production line.

After putting the black separator plates on the production line, He initiated the first procedure – installing aluminum connectors. Two robotic arms swiftly picked the aluminum connectors from the supply station and precisely placed them on the separator plates.Within just three minutes, 53 aluminum connectors were put in place. He can also check if there are any gaps or unfinished aspects during the installation on a visual screen.

Then, laser welding started. “This is the most challenging part, as the circuit boards and aluminum connectors are linked by a tiny nickel tab. This key component determines the performance of the whole system,” Deng noted.

These nickel tabs are as small as pinky nails, featuring six small clover-shaped spots, each with a diameter of less than 1.5 millimeters. Even skilled workers would find it hard to detect underwelding, overwelding or other defects.

However, with digital technology, standard parameters have been fed into machines, enabling real-time comparison with production data. If deviations exceeded one percent, the machine would automatically issue an alert, greatly enhancing the one-time acceptance rate of the products. There is also a visual dashboard on the machine, which can update the production progress and qualification rate every five minutes to facilitate production management.

After laser welding, the production of a cell contact system was completed followed by other procedures such as electrical performance testing, X-ray non-destructive testing, and manual inspections. Deng used a digital terminal to scan a finished product, revealing all information from raw materials to final products, even the suppliers and production batches of each product.

“Each cell contact system has a unique ‘code,’ which is similar to an ID card. This method allows for timely handling of potential quality issues,” Deng explained, adding thatall data can be saved in a cloud storage for 15 years.

How important is the digital transformation? Let the data tell the story.

“The one-time acceptance rate of our products has reached a staggering 98.8 percent, 3.8 percentage points higher than the average level of the industry. The digital production system can automatically create production schedules with 100 percent accuracy and punctuality. Besides, thanks to enhanced coordination efficiency, our production costs have declined by 7.5 percent compared to the industry average,” Deng said.

Since digital transformation was implemented in April 2023, Sanco New Energy Technology has gained four new major clients, experiencing a 20 percent monthly increase in orders. In 2024, the sales volume of the company has surpassed one billion yuan ($136.4 million), fostering even greater confidence in its future development, Deng added.