PRESS RELEASE: Gaolan smart manufacturing demonstration factory of Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai is the largest 5.5G native “lights-out” factory in the world, which locates on the beach of the Gaolan Port, far from downtown Zhuhai City. In the Gaolan factory, the annual output of split air conditioners is more than 12 million. However, the production efficiency is increased by 86% compared with traditional factory, with only a few employees in charge of equipment maintenance, quality control and inspection etc.

There is no logistics on the ground of the plant area, and the transportation line is simple and clear. Scheduling instructions of flexible production are directly sent to the work station, with more timely market response than before. Quality inspection and backtracking are performed in an intelligent and automatic way, with improved product qualification rate… “This project has a total investment of 15 billion yuan, with all the smart manufacturing production equipment developed by Gree itself. Gaolan ‘lights-out’ factory has achieved flexible, intelligent and green manufacturing through the upgrade of technology, process, management and industry ecosystem, empowered by the 5.5G native private network of China Unicom Guangdong.” remarked Zhenghua Chen, general manager of Gree’s Gaolan factory. The factory is also recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China as a national smart manufacturing demonstration factory.

At the control center of Gaolan “lights-out” factory, staffs are kept an eye on the scrolling data of energy consumption and emission from the big screen, while watching out for alarm notifications on their mobile phones, ready for actions. “The photovoltaic power generation today is 29,242 kWh, and the photovoltaic power consumption is 29,242 kWh. The energy storage is 5300 kWh and the discharge is 3600 kWh. The reduction of carbon emission in the campus is 17 tons. This system not only provides real-time information of the energy system operation, but also supports the design and optimization of the smart energy solution with relevant data.” said Bi Zhan from the Process Equipment Department of Gaolan Factory.

5.5G Native “Lights-out” Factory
Gree is a leading global industrial group in electrical appliances, serving more than 600 million consumers in more than 190 countries and regions around the world. Through years of 5G digital transformation, Gree deeply feels the importance of penetrating into the core production areas. With the coexistence of 5G and tradition network, the performance is not good and the cost is unbearable, since two sets of system and personnel have to be invested and maintained. It is necessary and urgent for Gree to break information silos in the core production areas thoroughly and realize flexible, intelligent and green manufacturing, in order to adapt to the changing market, avoid homogeneous competition, and better serve users. As a result, a modern 5.5G native “lights-out” factory is born.

2024 is footnoted by the beginning of large-scale commercial use of 5.5G, and the integration of AI into mobile devices. In industry, 5.5G is about 10 times higher than 5G in terms of peak throughput, connection density, and positioning accuracy, meeting the network requirements of the core industrial production. Therefore, at the very beginning of the 5.5G native private network solution design, China Unicom Guangdong decided to focus on the production, quality inspection, and logistics of Gaolan factory. At the same time, experts pay special attention to the integration of AI large models, to analyze the massive data collected with 5.5G and generate new applications.

Today, the 5.5G native private network has been implemented in Gree’s Gaolan “lights-out” factory, and significantly improved user experience. With the commercial use of industrial base stations, simplified and flexible networking instead of cumbersome cabling has been realized, which makes the production changeover time reduced from 5 hours to 10 minutes every day, and the import time for new production lines reduced from 2-3 months to less than a week. Cloud quality inspection based on “mmWave + Large Model” has covered 12 production lines in the “lights-out” factory, which not only unifies inspection standards, but also enables rapid switching according to flexible production requirements. The enhancement of coordination capabilities in production, quality inspection, and logistics makes the order-based intelligent production scheduling possible, with the delivery speed increased by 19% and inventory cycle time decreased by 30%. Now, the maintenance team of Gree can complete operations in the air-conditioned control room, instead of running among dozens of cabinets on the industrial site, which greatly reduces the labor intensity of workers. Gree also enhances skills of workers with the HMI of the knowledge mapping expert system.

Making Better Electric Appliances
While promoting green manufacturing, Gree is also working hard on the research and development of low-carbon air conditioners. Research shows that air conditioners consume most of the power in household appliances. The energy consumption of refrigeration industry accounts for 15% of the total energy consumption of society, and the load of air conditioners accounts for 30% to 50% of the peak load of buildings. Consequently, reduction of air conditioning power consumption is the key to achieve building energy saving. In Gree, the exploration of energy saving and carbon reduction started many years ago. The 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou is a formal “review” of Gree’s green energy-saving technology achievements in more than 10 years. Gree has provided multiple high-efficiency and energy-saving solutions and products for the venues, campuses, and substations of the Asian Games.

Quality is the most important factor in making good air conditioners. In pursuit of product “0” defects, Gree gradually realized that product quality can only be guaranteed if the core parts manufacturing technologies are mastered. Compressor is the heart of air conditioning. Not only the high-end compressors, but also the manufacturing equipment to produce them are designed and made by Gree itself. New technologies and products are always used first in Gree, in order to ensure the quality and availability, just like that of the industrial equipment in the Gaolan “lights-out” factory. Currently, there are more than one thousand scenarios in Gree where self-made equipment is used to accumulate experience for R&D and manufacturing teams. Currently, Gree can provide intelligent equipment products in more than 10 industrial sectors, including industrial robots, CNC machine tools, intelligent logistics warehousing, industrial automation etc. Gree is always leading in the technology innovation and product development. Gree, made in China, loved by the world.

The research and development of large central air-conditioning equipment is difficult. Up till now, Gree’s central air conditioning has served more than 100,000 projects worldwide, including many large airports, large railway hubs, subway lines, and large data centers. The magnetic suspension centrifuge unit is a cutting-edge part of the central air-conditioning equipment. Compared with traditional centrifuges, it does not require speed-up gears and lubrication, and does not produce structural vibration, saving energy and maintenance costs stably. “Set another world record! 1300 cold tons are equivalent to the refrigeration capacity of 1300 sets of 1.5HP household air conditioners. The weight of the suspended shaft is about 200-300KG. It is very difficult not only to make it float, but also to make it rotate steadily,” introduced Bin Chen from the Electrical and Motor Systems Research Institute of Gree. Currently, Gree is the only manufacturer to provide commercial products of magnetic suspension compressors from 50 to 1300 cold tons in the world.

Gree understands that users’ pain points and industry difficulties are often opportunities for technological progress. It is very humid and sultry in the traditional mine, as the cooling and dehumidification effect of refrigeration equipment is poor. Gree spent 170 million yuan in R&D and succeeded in developing a new set of refrigeration equipment for the harsh environment of deep mine, which can reduce the temperature of working face by 10°C and humidity by 30%. This not only brings cool breeze to the workers in the mine, but also brings considerable economic benefits to Gree.

Strong collaboration in 5.5G private network
China Unicom Guangdong operates the world’s largest provincial level, shared 5G standalone (5G SA) network and possesses 5G C-band spectrum of 300MHz, creating an exceptional environment for the 5G application innovation. Since the implementation of “U-Joy Cities” projects, China Unicom Guangdong has fully unleashing the value of 5G for smart life and smart industries. In 2023, China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei’s 5G Digital Fishing project won GSMA’s “5G Productivity Challenge” Award. In 2024, China Unicom Guangdong and Huawei won the GSMA GLOMO “Best Mobile Operator Service for Connected Consumers” Award. In the context of the 5.5G and AI era, China Unicom Guangdong will focus more on vertical segment applications such as manufacturing, Massive IoT, marine, low-altitude etc., with the commitment to developing tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of different sectors. 

China Unicom Guangdong and Gree are both outstanding companies in the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area, which is the only region in the world with both electromechanical and artificial intelligence technology advantages. They have cooperated to conduct innovation in 5G IoT since 2019. The two parties jointly built the first 5G industrial private network with end-to-end hard slicing in 2021 and the first 5G industrial private network with 5G LAN and RedCap in 2023. These 5G innovation projects were also recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and National Development and Reform Commission of China. The world’s largest next-generation “lights-out” factory empowered with the 5.5G native private network solution is another milestone in cooperation between China Unicom Guangdong and Gree.

Epilogue
In recent years, flexible manufacturing industry has shown rapid growth, with an average annual growth rate of 18%, and the figure is expected to grow to US$800 billion by 2030. At the same time, it has become a major issue for the manufacturing industry to achieve “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality”, since the total carbon emissions in the industrial sector account for 70% of the total emissions.

The 5.5G native private network solution combines 5.5G with AI to make breakthroughs in core scenarios such as production, quality inspection, and logistics. The leap from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing not only greatly improve the production efficiency, but also empower enterprises with the stronger adaptive ability than before. Up to now, this solution has been replicated in Gree’s 15 production bases and helped 1000+ enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industry chain. In the future, the solution will be widely used in 50+ industry segments of the Greater Bay Area, including automotive, new materials, electronics and equipment manufacturing. It will have greater opportunities in supporting “lights-out” factories to achieve flexible, intelligent, and green production, benefiting more enterprises in China and around the world.

Under the framework of “U-Joy Cities” program, the two parties wish to cooperate with industry partners to achieve more innovative breakthroughs in the core areas of smart manufacturing. For more information, please visit us online at www.ujoycities.com