LONGi Lighthouse Factory Leads Smart, Sustainable Manufacturing

LONGi, the world’s largest solar PV manufacturer, recently announced that its China-based Jiaxing production facility has been recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a Global Lighthouse Factory.

This facility is considered the world’s first solar module manufacturing base that is now part of WEF's Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) – a WEF initiative co-founded with McKinsey & Company, and governed by an advisory board of industry leaders working to influence the future of global manufacturing.

As of December 2023, a total of 153 "Lighthouse Factories" have been selected internationally. China ranks No. 1 in the world with 62 such factories, making up 40% of the worldwide total.

“Empowered by a number of intelligent technologies, LONGi’s Jiaxing Production Base has developed and implemented more than 30 digital technologies to promote intelligent manufacturing, many of which are industry-first, independent, patented technologies, reducing unit manufacturing costs by 28% within one year and reducing yield loss,” said the WEF.

Establishing a digital transformation in production is the main objective of the Global Lighthouse Factory. Its function is to have a strategic capability of building an intelligent manufacturing system. To improve resource demand, planning management, flexible production, logistics transportation, customer service and other full value chain systems for lean management, it is necessary to apply digital technologies such as automation, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), big data analysis, and 5G, among others, said LONGi.

One of LONGi’s main missions is its commitment to becoming an advocate, practitioner and leader of sustainable development in the global clean energy field. Through continuous technology R&D and innovation iteration, the company can improve the conversion efficiency of solar cells, reduce the cost of photovoltaic power generation, achieve cost reduction and increased efficiency, and help achieve global energy transformation and carbon neutrality goals, the company said.

LONGi Jiaxing Production Base was selected as a Global Lighthouse Factory due to world-class technologies it applies in its processes. These include:

• Flexible automation enabled by artificial intelligence and machine vision

By optimizing processes and supplier collaboration, combined with visual AI positioning and other technologies, LONGi Jiaxing Production Base solves seven photovoltaic module industry automation problems, including lamination and assembly processes.

• AI-powered full-process visual inspection, precise traceability, root causes and action recommendations

LONGi Jiaxing Production Base completes full coverage of 20 processes, and deploys a total of 784 cameras, aimed at collecting tens of thousands of data points. The AI-powered process can display abnormal change trends and yield change trends of processes in real time, with the objective of assisting decision-makers. Another function is that it can analyze the causes of various types of hidden cracks and welding defects, and recommend the best solutions to rapidly deal with anomalies.

In addition, the AI-powered process can accurately identify 1,000-plus image features on the cell string, and through feature similarity calculation, complete the source machine information identification of 12 strings of cells every 18 seconds, replacing the original virtual code traceability.

• Intelligent management of order production delivery cycle

LONGi Jiaxing Production Base introduced 20-plus digital sub-use cases along the production, warehousing and logistics value chain, reconstructing the end-to-end business process, improved the efficiency of warehousing and logistics, achieved full traceability of logistics links and shortened the order cycle, as well as ensured on-time delivery and improved customer satisfaction.

• AI-powered solar cells resource matching and dynamic correction

LONGi Jiaxing Production Base deployed the industry's first self-developed AI smart solar cell production plan calculation system. This process aims to calculate the optimal production plan to achieve accurate module power delivery and reduce power loss to meet customer needs. LONGi believes that accurate delivery of module power is of great significance to cost control. Better allocation of each efficiency cell sheet using AI produces module power that meets the needs of customers, thus reducing power waste and cell cost.

“Innovation is the core competitiveness of enterprises and the inexhaustible driving force for their sustainable development. In the photovoltaic industry, technological innovation ability is particularly important,” said LONGi Chairman Zhong Baoshen.

About LONGi

Founded in 2000, LONGi is committed to being the world’s leading solar technology company, focusing on customer-driven value creation for full scenario energy transformation.

Under its mission of 'making the best of solar energy to build a green world', LONGi has dedicated itself to technology innovation and established five business sectors, covering mono silicon wafers cells and modules, commercial & industrial distributed solar solutions, green energy solutions and hydrogen equipment. The company has honed its capabilities to provide green energy and has more recently, also embraced green hydrogen products and solutions to support global zero carbon development. www.longi.com