Mesnac exec touts 'smart manufacturing'

(Crain News Service photo)
Jiao Qingguo

By Jane Ho, Crain News Service

GUANGZHOU, China (April 22, 2015) —  The tire factory of the future needs to incorporate “smart manufacturing” techniques, a top executive with China's Mesnac Co. Ltd. told attendees at the recent 2015 China Rubber Conference in Guangzhou.

“Smart manufacturing means a high degree of co-ordination,” said Jiao Qingguo, general manager of Mesnac's information logistics system division. “Before you set up a factory, you want to make sure your facilities won't be outdated in a couple of years and can be integrated into future systems.”

Mr. Jiao said Mesnac's vision for future tire factories covers concepts ranging from plant design and automatic storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) to machine networking and RFID.

For instance, he said, not all internal mixers have built-in network ports, and adding such ports afterwards can cost $1,500 or more for each machine.

Mr. Jiao told conference delegates AS/RS could quadruple the volume of normal one-story warehouses. Mesnac, he said, has built an AS/RS that stands 97-feet high and can handle 70,000 tires a day.

Another technology trend is the rise of RFID technology.

“Tire barcodes only show a tire's parameters before it leaves the factory,” Mr. Jiao said, “but RFID codes can track real time information, such as its mileage. Barcodes will be completely replaced by RFID codes within the next decade.”

In terms of information technology, Mr. Jiao pointed out that energy management system, though rarely used by Chinese companies today, will become indispensable.

“It can keep count of power consumption in the production of a particular part, allowing factories to make high power consumption parts during time slots with low electricity prices, saving up to $15,000 a year,” he said.

MESNAC is a Qingdao, China-based supplier of rubber and tire processing equipment, with six equipment assembly and/or R&D centers in China, plus facilities in Dubnica, Slovak Republic; Dudley, England; Greenback, Tenn.; and Akron.

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Jane Ho is a China correspondent for European Rubber Journal, a U.K.-based sister publication of Tire Business.

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