On October 8, the World Economic Forum (WEF) unveiled its latest list of "Lighthouse Factories", in which SANY Renewable Energy’s (SANY R.E.) blade factory in Shaoshan China made the list, becoming the world’s first wind power “Lighthouse Factory”.
“Lighthouse factory”, known as “the world’s most advanced factory”, is a WEF initiative co-founded with McKinsey, representing the highest level of intelligent manufacturing and digitalization in the global manufacturing sector.
Blade, the core component of wind turbines, directly impacts the wind turbine's power generation performance and the reliability of the whole life cycle. Blade costs account for 20% to 30% of the total cost of a wind turbine. Thus, the industry has a consensus that “whomever masters blade technology masters the wind power market”. However, digitalizing and automating blade manufacturing has long been a challenge for the industry. With the growing trend toward larger wind turbines, blade lengths now exceed 100 meters, making manufacturing and material selection even more complex. This shift has made the transition from traditional to “smart manufacturing” even more critical.
As the pioneer pursuing smart manufacturing and digitalization in China’s wind power industry, SANY R.E. established the first super blade factory in Shaoshan, Hunan province. This factory represents a disruptive innovation in the traditional manufacturing model, ensuring the safety and reliability of blades throughout their entire lifecycle from the source.
Advanced digitalization
SANY R.E.’s Shaoshan factory adopts the industry’s first Digital-Meta Platform, which acts as the intelligent brain of the factory. With only an iPad, managers can monitor real-time operations and production data of the whole factory. From the temperature and humidity of production units to key process parameters, including bolt torque control and blade grinding leveling coefficients, every factor affecting product quality is tracked digitally. The platform essentially acts as a “digital twin” of the factory, enabling 360-degree online monitoring and lean management throughout the production process.
Automation breakthroughs
Guarantee product quality from the source is the original intention of SANY R.E. to promote smart manufacturing. Traditional labor-intensive production is not only inefficient but also inconsistent in terms of quality. Thus, the Shaoshan Blade Lighthouse Factory utilizes robots and laser-guided technology, realizing unmanned processes including automatic blade surface grinding, automatic spray painting, and automatic outbound and distribution. These advancements significantly improve both production efficiency and quality control.
Taking blade infusion as an example, the factory employs the industry's first large-scale centralized perfusion technology, achieving high automation of resin material intake, storage, and usage. So that, the perfusion efficiency has been increased by 25%.
As the world's first "Lighthouse factory" in wind power industry, SANY R.E’s Shaoshan Factory not only represents China's top-tier wind power equipment manufacturing but also marks the successful transformation of "Made in China" to "Smart Manufacturing".
