In the grand narrative of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s “Excellent Factory” initiative, Zhejiang’s practices outline the common trajectory of Chinese manufacturing moving towards high-end development. Zhongce Rubber Group Co., Ltd.’s smart factory, however, injects a unique footnote into this trajectory within the rubber tire industry. As one of the world’s leading tire companies, Zhongce Rubber has taken the lead in the tire manufacturing field by obtaining the “Excellent Smart Factory” certification, representing a high level of intelligent manufacturing in China. This is not only an upgrade of a single factory but also foreshadows a possible paradigm shift in the entire industry’s production.
The establishment of Zhongce Rubber’s intelligent and digital transformation direction stems from multiple key supports and judgments. Regarding top-level strategic guidance, Chairman Shen Jinrong, the current core leader, proposed the “Five Best Strategies” around 2010. Since then, the company has continuously explored the application of advanced technologies across the entire chain.
In 2015, in partnership with Alibaba Cloud, we launched the industry’s first digitalization project, the “Zhongce-ET Industrial Brain Project,” deepening our transformation. Building upon our solid foundation, since 2004, we have systematically deployed ERP, MES, WMS, and other information systems, creating a “1 + 5 + x” industrial internet platform, accumulating rich experience, talent reserves, and a highly efficient team. Favorable external conditions, such as my country’s economic shift towards high-quality development, the national promotion of the digital economy and “new infrastructure” construction, and advancements in digital technology providing technical support for transformation, coupled with a clear understanding of digital transformation within the company’s management team, have collectively established a comprehensive transformation direction. The core value of building a “smart factory” lies in using digital technology and collaborative manufacturing as dual engines to drive the industrial chain towards digitalization and intelligence, addressing current efficiency and cost issues while focusing on building future core competitiveness. Currently, through digital technology, the application of simulation and AR technologies in R&D has reduced product development cycles by 50%, improving production efficiency, controlling costs, and optimizing product quality. In the long term, it provides a platform for enterprises to plan for future new manufacturing, cultivate new quality productivity, and build core competitive advantages.
The key to driving the success of this transformation lies in three core implementation capabilities: transforming high-level understanding into company-wide consensus; integrating goals with the entire chain to form digital application scenarios; and quickly solving problems when encountering setbacks. Although many difficulties were faced during the transformation, such as the collaboration issues when cooperating with Alibaba Cloud in the early stages, the management team solved the problems by optimizing personnel allocation. During the transformation process, the growth of talent and the breakthroughs in corporate capabilities are gratifying. The company has cultivated its own IT team, employees have been recognized as “digital craftsmen,” and can also output value externally.
The data-driven intelligent transformation has yielded significant results. Through intelligent construction, the factory has reduced costs and increased efficiency in all aspects, shortened the tire product development cycle by 50%, increased production efficiency by 50%, reduced the product defect rate from 1.2% to 0.5%, reduced overall energy consumption by 10%, and reduced the number of employees by 50%.
The “Excellent” certification is not the end. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Zhongce will build a digital twin virtual factory in R&D and design; establish a global collaborative supply chain network in supply chain and globalization; and create a zero-carbon factory and launch a tire-as-a-service model in sustainable development. In the next three years, it will deepen the construction of smart factories, explore the value of data assets, and focus on the application of AI technology. In terms of innovative development, it will promote cybersecurity construction and iteratively optimize digital models; in terms of high-quality development, it will optimize organizational structure and improve data management. The urgent motivation for traditional manufacturing enterprises to embrace intelligent transformation stems from a combination of endogenous drivers and policy guidance. Zhongce’s practice provides three core lessons: clarifying internal causes and top-level strategic thinking; effectively combining elements and tailoring solutions; and scientifically and orderly promoting transformation. Zhongce hopes to provide support for the industry through its own practices, helping more enterprises achieve intelligent upgrades, driving a collective breakthrough in the entire industry chain from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing,” and contributing to the implementation of the national “manufacturing powerhouse” strategy. Zhongce Rubber’s “factory of excellence” serves as a vivid example of how traditional manufacturing proactively seeks change and reshapes its core, offering insights for Chinese manufacturing to climb to the top of the value chain in the new round of industrial transformation.
