Smart manufacturing gives Xiaogan rice wine a modern twist

The sweet aroma of fermented glutinous rice still fills the air at a factory in Xiaogan, Hubei province, but much of the work around it now looks distinctly modern.

Inside the 5G-connected plant of Chinese rice wine producer Mipopo, machine-vision systems inspect products, automated guided vehicles move loads between production and storage, and robotic arms handle packaging and palletizing.

The technology is being applied to a product with deep local roots. Xiaogan rice wine, made from glutinous rice and fermentation starter through a series of carefully controlled steps, has long been one of the city's best-known specialties, alongside Xiaogan sesame candy.

For Mipopo, founded in 2004, modernizing production is part of a broader effort to give the traditional food new places in everyday consumption.

The company now makes more than 30 products and sells to over 20 countries and regions. Its fermented rice is being used not only as a breakfast food, but also in fruit tea, coffee, and other drinks.

One example is its supply of fermented rice ingredients for a lychee drink sold by Chinese tea chain Grandpa Doesn't Make Tea. Mipopo has also opened its own drinks outlet in Wuhan.

Much of that experimentation has been driven by a better understanding of consumers.

"When we sold offline through distributors, we didn't know who bought our products or whether they enjoyed them," said Chen Jianghua, who oversees the company's e-commerce business.

Online reviews and consumer data changed that. Consumers aged 20 to 35 accounted for more than 40 percent of its buyers on e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, helping guide investment in new products.

Meeting changing demand also requires greater consistency inside the factory.

Fermentation is one of the most sensitive stages of rice wine production. Too much can make the product sour, while too little leaves its flavor underdeveloped. Traditionally, the process depended heavily on the experience of skilled workers.

"Rice wine is a labor-intensive industry, with relatively high labor costs and skilled workers are becoming harder to find," said Wang Pengfei, Mipopo's deputy general manager in charge of production.

The company began investing in a "5G plus" smart factory in 2019. According to Wang, the changes have reduced energy consumption by about 20 percent and increased production efficiency by more than 30 percent.

Machine vision now replaces some manual inspection. An AI-enabled image-processing system identifies defective products, improving inspection accuracy by about 35 percent.

Automated guided vehicles can transport about 1.5 metric tons of rice wine every three minutes with positioning accuracy of within 5 millimeters. Wang said the system saves the company more than 1.8 million yuan in labor costs a year.

Innovation is also moving upstream.

In 2023, Mipopo established a glutinous rice seed company to develop varieties better suited to fermentation. Its purple glutinous rice products are one example, with breeding and processing designed to produce more stable color and flavor.

Mipopo's expansion is part of a broader push in Xiaogan to develop its traditional food industries.

The city has identified sesame candy and rice wine as priority specialty industries and aims to build a cluster worth more than 10 billion yuan. Local authorities say the combined brand value of the two products has exceeded 27 billion yuan.

Products are now exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.

For an industry rooted in traditional fermentation, the changes are showing how an old local flavor can be produced more consistently, adapted to new consumption habits, and carried into new markets.

liukun@chinadaily.com.cn