Baogang Group’s industrial robots are mainly used in dangerous, harsh environments and production lines with repetitious work. [Photo/Baotou Daily]

In 2020, Baogang Group -- the biggest iron and steel manufacturer based in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region -- plans to invest 300 million yuan ($42.3 million) to develop intelligent manufacturing, according to a report in the Baotou Daily newspaper.

Company executives said it will focus on the introduction of 15 industrial robot application projects in hazardous, harsh environments and production areas featuring repetitive labor.

They said that through digital transformation, network collaboration and intelligent upgrades, the introduction of industrial robots on the production line is expected to improve the core competitiveness of businesses.

Elsewhere, executives at Baogang Group’s steel pipe company said intelligent manufacturing was the way to go forward.

They said that their company operated in a very exacting industry which demanded high levels of quality. Previously, if there was a quality problem with pipe threads, it could cause major disruptions to their industrial customers.

After the introduction of industrial robots, they added that the pass rate of their products had increased by three to five percentage points, reaching quality levels of 98-99 percent.

Company executives said that in the current year, the steel pipe company was set to  build a set of digital intelligent production lines, with annual output expected to hit 1 million units. They said the company will also continue to promote the application of intelligent manufacturing technologies in areas such as automatic welding and automatic grinding.

Consensus is that the introduction of the intelligent manufacturing projects has played a key role in reducing labor, reducing labor intensity, standardizing and unifying operations, improving work efficiency and meeting production needs.

According to officials from Baogang Group’s Equipment Engineering Department, the results achieved are obvious. Taking its new unmanned crane as an example, not only has the crane utilization rate increased by nearly 50 percent or more, the operating rate has been increased by more than 20 percent, while labor costs have been reduced.

A spokesman said the total investment on the crane was more than 10.5 million yuan but the costs would be recovered within one year.

Last year, Baogang Group invested 150 million yuan to complete 25 intelligent manufacturing projects which achieved strong results.

According to Baogang’s Intelligent Manufacturing Plan 2019-2021, the company is committed to developing more industrial robot application projects and will create a number of “exemplary” projects in the fields of manufacturing, logistics equipment, equipment operations and maintenance.