21 May 2019, Hong Kong, China – Weiqiao Textile Company Limited (“Weiqiao Textile”, or “the Company”, together with its subsidiaries, collectively “the Group”, stock code: 2698) today announced that, based on the principle of industrial upgrading, increasing the proportion of mid-to-high-end products and achieving high-quality development, the Company is building a new fully-automated, smart spinning and weaving production line. This move is in parallel with the Company’s continuous effort to identify under-performing infrastructure, transform traditional manufacturing practices and improve productivity.

This new textile plant will integrate the spinning and weaving process on an intelligent production line. The plant will require an estimated investment of RMB 820 million to complete. The general equipment installation is scheduled for the end of July and will be in full operation by October 2019. Once in operation, the green plant will have an annual production capacity of 15,000 tons of high-quality compact yarns and 35 million yards of high-grade fabric.

The plant will be equipped with full access and control of the smart production line from automatic product inspection, robot application, automatic transportation tool application to energy-saving equipment. An intelligent track conveyor system covers 35 kilometers within the plant, so the yarn is automatically transported from roving, unloading to packaging stages. This full automation process is achieved without any manual labor. Remote management through terminal devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and computers, will be implemented throughout the plant. This allows real-time visual monitoring of each process and operation point to become a reality. In addition, the production line will feature advanced functions such as order progress warning, equipment status warning, quality standard warning, environmental standard warning, energy consumption warning, auto-generation of production quality reports, real-time monitoring of quality data, real-time tracking of orders, seamless integration of ERP etc.

All the equipment in this intelligent production line will be integrated into the data analysis system, thus benefiting manufacturing from a multiplier effect where operation meets information technology to improve production efficiency at all levels. For example, the cleaning and carding system will reduce the number of barrel changes by up to 10%; the strip and combing automatic system will allow automation of changing rollers, joint and lapping; the thick and thin smart automatic rail system will perform auto-doffing within 3 minutes; the success rate of doffing, empty tube replacement, and the head is close to 100%; the spinning machine is a 1824-spindle super long spinning machine; the AGV barrel conveying system realizes automatic feeding of the cans and precise positioning; the Rieter automatic quality monitoring system equipped with the drawing process will significantly improve any unevenness of weight and the level of the stem; the looming machine will perform at a latitude of 2,565 beats per minute. These data represent the top performance levels of industry data, reflecting new industry standards generated by the technological advances of Weiqiao Textile.

After the intelligent textile integration project is set up, the number of workers required in the new plant will be up to 90% lower compared to the number of workers in a normal production line of the same capacity. Besides producing better quality products, the benefits of this smart plant will see the decline of labor-intensity and reduce labor costs. This new level of technology brings a heightened level of control and oversight that will allow the Company to stay ahead of its competition, achieving higher levels of development and industrial upgrading.

Over the past two decades of the company’s development, Weiqiao Textile has focused on innovation as a formidable driving force and has placed innovation at the core of its enterprise development strategy. Weiqiao Textile continues to lead the manufacturing landscape with a collaborative system that embraces planning, supply chain logistics, manufacturing technologies and a unique model of enterprise management. At present, Weiqiao indicates its production consumption to be amongst the lowest in the Chinese textile industry. Performing at the top of its game, the Company maintains its low-cost, high-quality operation advantages and forward-thinking plans. Moving ahead, the Company will continue to make bold initiatives to improve construction of its facilities, and jointly promote the development of the textile industry towards low carbon, digital green technology and intelligent engineering. The Company strives to make new contributions to manufacturing systems that will harness the full array of new and emerging technologies for the Chinese and global markets.