Intelligent measurements aid aluminum companies

At an aluminum factory in Zibo, Shandong province, workers are able to scan a QR code, weigh the aluminum products, load them and reweigh them in a process that takes only 20 minutes.

The automated process at a China Aluminum International Engineering Co facility is supported by a set of intelligent measurement systems.

Material measurement, referring to the measuring and calculating of the quantity and weight of goods, is one of the basic tasks of daily production at the enterprise. It ensures accurate, reliable quantity value and is critical for sci-tech innovation, industrial development and livelihood protection.

Traditional manual measurements and the copying of data by hand are relatively inefficient and error-prone, and can no longer meet current requirements, said Wang Zhi, general manager of the aluminum company.

The company uses QR code technology as a replacement for manual input, image recognition to ensure the safety of vehicle access and infrared technology to maintain measurement operation standards. Such technologies may not be cutting-edge, but they have proved to be an effective upgrade over traditional measurement methods.

The intelligent material measurement system was developed based on more than 6,800 survey participants from over 60 companies involved in the Aluminum Corporation of China nationwide.

The group has applied the intelligent system in these companies and customized improvement programs for them according to their unique characteristics of production and operation.

In Ningde, Fujian province, the China Copper Southeast Copper Co has combined the intelligent material measurement system with its port management system to achieve resource sharing.

Xinhua