Continuous innovation injects growth momentum to Chinese enterprises

In a busy, dimly lit production workshop on the second floor of a building of a Chinese pharmaceutical company in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province, no workers were found, except a staff member overseeing the high-speed production line for packaging of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

"If we didn't have visitors, we wouldn't even need these few lights on. The robots work 'silently' here," said an executive of the company, namely Guangzhou Baiyunshan Zhongyi Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a subsidiary of China's leading TCM manufacturer Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (GPHL).

The workshop is a digital workshop, according to the executive, who noted that operations such as pill packaging, sealing, inspection, and boxing are basically handled by intelligent control technologies and advanced sensor detectors.

Photo shows an intelligent production line of Guangzhou Baiyunshan Zhongyi Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a subsidiary of China's leading TCM manufacturer Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (GPHL). [Photo from Guangzhou Baiyunshan Zhongyi Pharmaceutical Company Limited]

The digital workshop does more than just save energy. Compared to traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing methods, the digital production line has increased productivity by 148 percent, reduced labor costs by 74 percent, and improved per capita efficiency by 289 percent.

By empowering development with digital and intelligent technologies and building smart factories for TCM production, the time-honored TCM brand is sprouting new buds in its transformation and upgrading.

As the world's first TCM company to enter the Fortune Global 500 list, GPHL has turned to digitalization and intelligentization for breakthroughs in injecting new vitality into TCM, a treasure of ancient Chinese science, as well as the production of TCM decoction pieces and Chinese patent medicine, a part of traditional manufacturing.

The group has explored digital traceability for medicinal herbs, pioneered smart TCM pharmacies, and built benchmark digital factories.

Through a series of reform measures for innovation, the group has empowered over 30 types of its products with digital and intelligent technologies, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the TCM industry while giving a powerful boost to the modernization and internationalization of TCM.

The experience of GPHL has shown that by seizing the initiative in transformation and upgrading, companies, regardless of their industry, can enhance their competitiveness and gain a market edge.

In fact, more companies in the country have experienced the effectiveness of intelligent and digital transformation in addressing various common problems.

In particular, many companies have carried out transformation based on their products and specific situations, finally standing out in competition by leveraging digital technologies in a targeted manner to address their weaknesses.

An intelligent production line of a tech company based in southwest China's Chongqing municipality runs at full capacity to manufacture auto parts in a digital workshop. [People's Daily Online/Li Hui]

For example, a dairy company in Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou province, has integrated data chains across milk sources, factories, and marketing to determine production based on sales and breeding based on production, achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

A manufacturing company in Mianyang, southwest China's Sichuan province, has reduced its product defect rate by 5 percent and annual production costs by over 10 million yuan through technological means including intelligent sensing and visual inspection.

By focusing on development needs, addressing key challenges, and adopting targeted means, companies have avoided detours and carried out effective transformation and upgrading, gaining fresh momentum for high-quality development.

Believing that an innovation and quality-oriented path is the inevitable choice for driving high-quality development, companies are marching forward toward bigger ambitions.

"Only by constantly striving for progress can we move forward," said the above-mentioned executive of Guangzhou Baiyunshan Zhongyi Pharmaceutical Company Limited.

Many Chinese enterprises are promoting technological innovation and industrial progress based on their actual situations, continuously unleashing innovative and creative vitality to help cultivate new quality productive forces.

The concept of "progress coming from the desire to advance" has also served as a method for the development of various companies, fields, and industries across the country.

Maintaining a consistent pursuit of high-quality development, China has been tirelessly expanding and extending the breadth and depth of development, overcoming difficulties, and innovating boldly to write new chapters and reach new heights in its growth.