Zoomlion gets smart
31 January 2019Zoomlion has opened a new ‘smart’ tower crane factory in Changde, China, which is, the company says, the world’s largest. At the launch of the factory the company also announced three new tower cranes.
The facility is the result of a CNY780m (€100m) investment programme started in 2016, and has been designed in line with the Industry 4.0 approach, promoted by German manufacturers. It includes 12 automated production lines, more than 10,000 sensors, over 100 industrial robots, 35 unmanned vehicles, and 16 CNC processing centres integrated with a manufacturing execution system [MES] control system.
The smart factory concept aims to make the most of data from the production line, using this as the basis for manufacturing analysis. The three new cranes—flattops designated T6515, T6250 and T752—take a similar approach, using remote diagnostics, smartphone apps and remote alarms to improve management of operations.
