Shanghai September 15th, 2020-September 14th, the World Economic Forum released a new round of "lighthouse factories" in the global manufacturing sector. Unilever Hefei Industrial Park successfully made the list with its highly automated, intelligent, flexible and sustainable management and operation. This is Unilever’s second “lighthouse factory” in the world after the Dubai factory was awarded at the beginning of this year. It is a sign that Unilever continues to increase its digital empowerment supply chain and realize its development from “manufacturing” to “sustainable smart manufacturing” Important milestones.
Unilever Hefei Industrial Park was listed on the "Lighthouse Factory" list released by the World Economic Forum.
The "Lighthouse Factory" network is one of the most influential selections in the global advanced manufacturing field. It is jointly organized by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company. It aims to select advanced manufacturing bases in the global manufacturing industry that apply the cutting-edge technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and make the experience of these leaders a beacon for other companies, thereby promoting the optimization of the production system of the global manufacturing industry and creating A new business model that disrupts the potential and generates new economic value.
Unilever Hefei Industrial Park is mainly responsible for the production of beauty and personal care products, home care products and tea. Since its establishment in 2002, it has developed into Unilever's largest production base in the world. Its products are not only supplied to the Chinese market, but also exported to 14 overseas markets. At present, the intelligent level of the industrial park has reached 90%, and it is an industry-leading "sustainable intelligent manufacturing" production base.
In recent years, with the rapid development of digital commerce, the supply chain has been continuously optimized and upgraded. Unilever Hefei Industrial Park has continuously introduced various innovative technologies and smart devices, opened up the entire ecological chain from upstream suppliers to customers, achieved end-to-end value enhancement, and better served consumers. At present, real "one platform" high-efficiency management can be achieved in Hefei Industrial Park. Through a digital management platform covering all links of the supply chain, real-time follow-up online consumer feedback, production status, facility status, logistics and transportation information, etc., and make immediate responses and decisions to make the supply chain more effective in the enterprise Great value.
In the production process, Unilever Hefei Industrial Park also uses a variety of digital intelligent systems to improve work efficiency and product quality, and achieve flexible production. For example, the intelligent material replenishment system combines autonomous navigation forklift (AGV) and sensors installed in the production line to work together, changing the traditional manual working mode. Similarly, AGV will deliver the required materials to the corresponding production line in a timely and accurate manner according to the production schedule. It is worth mentioning that through this set of intelligent operation, the original transportation cartons will no longer be needed during the production process, but the automatic shipment can be completed through the continuous recycling of large bags. This measure alone can help save 600,000 packaging cartons each year, which is equivalent to 20,000 trees.
Unilever Hefei Industrial Park also has a leading "universal" flexible production technology, using one-button visual recognition robots and zero-conversion linear follow-up filling machines to maximize light-off production. "Our filling and packaging workshop is the world's first black light factory. Thanks to the advanced technologies of the fourth industrial revolution such as flexible production, predictive maintenance, and 3D printing, our response speed has been greatly improved. The order takes 2 to 3 days to arrange production, and now it only takes 2 hours to complete the conversion. Here, I would like to thank all the employees of Hefei Industrial Park for their hard work and unremitting efforts." Added Ma Yongmei, Unilever China Supply Chain Director . Han Junfang, vice president of supply chain for Unilever North Asia, said: “We are very proud to be recognized in many factories around the world and be selected as the'Lighthouse Factory'. Hefei Industrial Park has a history of more than 20 years, not counting.' The “young” industrial base has realized end-to-end digitization step by step, forming flexible manufacturing, intelligent manufacturing and other advantages. These fully demonstrate our belief: we must continue to optimize the supply chain and assist Unilever to become a responsive, cost-effective A fully digital company delivers long-term and outstanding value." In the future, Unilever will continue to tap new value from the digital supply chain and set a model for "sustainable smart manufacturing". At the same time, it will unite more "lighthouse factories". Work together to help global industries get on the right track smoothly at the crossroads of transformation.
