Smart factory to be built at Guiyang's SOE headquarters

At the headquarters of State-owned Guizhou Phosphate Chemical (Group) Guiyang Kaiyang Phosphate Fertilizer Co in the city of Guiyang, pictures of the digital twin smart factory, which features factory patrol inspection, safety monitoring, production management and other contents, are displayed on an electronic screen.

"Digital twin" refers to the building of a digital clone on an information platform that is virtually identical to real life objects or scenes.

The digital clone makes virtual and real mapping, remote control, and intelligent monitoring of workshop production management, production planning, production process control, and production equipment inspection possible.

"The digital twin smart factory can enable and improve the efficiency of the factory in terms of intelligent transformation, production process optimization, intelligent management and intelligent manufacturing," said Zhou Huan, deputy director of the company's operation and maintenance department.

"The project was launched in April this year with a total investment of nearly 100 million yuan ($13.97 million). The first phase of the system has already imported some plant production data. Next, the remaining 24 sets of DCS data will be imported gradually," He added.

According to Zhou's calculations, the smart factory uses a mathematical model to find the root cause of excessive steam use, and is able to save energy and reduce consumption, saving about 3.67 million yuan annually.