The smart factory of COFCO Eastocean Oils & Grains Industries (Zhangjiagang) Co Ltd in Zhangjiagang, East China's Jiangsu province, has recently won municipal recognition, local media reported on Oct 14.

At the factory, automatic samplers for soybean and automatic quality control systems for bean pulp, both of which were independently developed by COFCO Eastocean, control each procedure in the soya bean oil pressing process. The refined oil will then be conveyed to filling machines to be packaged. 

The mechanical arms help put packaged oil into boxes in COFCO Eastocean's smart factory in Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Due to the factory's digital transformation, four hours can be saved in each shift during the unloading process and an additional 1,200 tons of soybeans can be unloaded, according to Li Wanping, deputy general manager of COFCO Eastocean. 

In terms of quality inspection, COFCO Eastocean adopts a visual identification system to analyze bottled soybean oil and the system is capable of identifying almost every faulty product.

In addition, the company has applied smart transformation in its firefighting system, as well as food safety, logistics, and sales processes.

Currently, COFCO Eastocean generates 51 million yuan ($7.93 million) in economic benefits per year from its independent technological innovation.