In Chen Village, Shunde, a new Soontrue Smart Park built by Foshan Soontrue Machinery Equipment Co., Ltd. is putting into use (hereinafter referred to as "Soontrue Machinery"). At the entrance, the traffic is very crowded. Big trucks from different regions across the country run in and out, carrying the industry's latest packaging equipment across the country.

​

This busy scene is somewhat similar to the beginning of last year. At the beginning of last year, the COVID-19 epidemic broke out suddenly. Soontrue Machinery was the "hidden champion" enterprise of food packaging equipment, but it quickly entered the field of mask packaging and became a hit overnight. The sales of pillow packaging machines represented by mask packaging machines have reached 8,000 units, ranking the world's first throughout the year.

Behind Soontrue Machinery is an industrial cluster with high-quality development and technological innovation. In recent years, Foshan's high-tech enterprises have become powerful forces in transforming the economic development model and promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, and Soontrue Machinery is one of the representative enterprises. As a benchmark high-tech enterprise in Foshan City assessed by the Foshan Science and Technology Bureau in 2020, Soontrue Machinery's annual R&D investment has remained above 3.5% of its revenue.

Soontrue Machinery is "copying" its successful experience in food packaging machines and mask packaging machines. At present, Soontrue Machinery has stepped up its efforts to extend its efforts to more industries such as medical treatment, strengthened the research and development of intelligent packaging equipment through the application of robotic arms, and promoted the digital transformation of the factory itself, providing a new sample for the transformation and upgrading of Foshan's "hidden champion" enterprises.

1. Efficient R&D

The shipments of pillow packaging machines reached the world's first

An epidemic has made the "hidden champion" enterprise, Soontrue Machinery no longer "hidden".

At the beginning of last year, masks were hard to buy globally, and mask packaging machines were also in short supply. Some customers and government units who know Soontrue Machinery first contacted us, hoping that the company could supply it. In this situation, although Soontrue Machinery is very experienced in producing mask packaging machines, the demand was too small to focus on the development of this field. In the face of demands, Soontrue Machinery urgently summoned personnel to resume work, and the company's chairman Huang Song led a team to carry out technical research on the mass production of mask packaging machines. After several days and nights of overtime work, the original delivery period (20 days) was shortened to 5 days.

Due to stable and reliable output and quality, the Soontrue mask packaging machine quickly became popular. Last year, its total sales of mask packaging machines reached more than 3,000 units. Among the company's more than 600 million yuan in revenue, the income of the subsidiary's main business of mask packaging machines reached 350 million yuan. The total shipment of its pillow packaging machines reached 8,000 units, which is the world's largest production capacity.

Soontrue Machinery Production Workshop

More importantly, its rapid R&D and response capabilities have been tested in the epidemic and recognized by the market. More customers know Soontrue Machinery, and Soontrue Machinery is more confident in "copying" its influence in the food packaging industry.

The demand for mask packaging machines has returned to normal this year, and other businesses of Soontrue Machinery have continued the popularity of mask packaging machines. According to Peng Zhi, head of electrical design of Soontrue Machinery, Soontrue Machinery's packaging machines for the medical industry, commercial dumpling packaging machines, toilet paper folding machines, and other products have also been unveiled recently. Among them, it took only half a year for the folding machine aimed at the toilet paper packaging industry to set the project approval to put into use the first product. And, with the positive feedback from customers, we are about to expand the scale of production.

2. Digital transformation

Independent research and development of robotic arms lead its industry

Nowadays, Foshan is trying to promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. With this background, Soontrue Machinery is accelerating digitalization from its products to the factory.

In terms of product digitalization, Soontrue Machinery has added IoT and digital modules to the equipment. What's more, more equipment uses robotic arms developed independently and in cooperation with external parties.

Packaging is the last process in the production of a product. Placing the product to be packaged to facilitate the packaging process is the key to packaging efficiency. Traditionally, in terms of food packaging, manual operation is needed for material handling. Soontrue Machinery has independently developed a two-axis robotic arm and has taken the lead in large-scale applications in dumpling packaging machines and other industries since last year. In terms of more advanced three-axis robotic arms, Soontrue Machinery has independently developed palletizing robotic arms and cooperated with external suppliers to research robotic arms for material handling since this year.

Compared with the digitalization of products, the digitalization of Soontrue Machinery's factories is also advancing rapidly. Huang Song originally planned to reach the goal of producing 8,000 pillow packaging machines per year within three years starting from last year, but it took only one year to complete the goal under the stimulus of last year's epidemic. Especially in the second half of last year, the two important processes of grinding and welding, which were difficult to be automated in the industry, were also automated. Soontrue Machinery has also introduced several advanced CNC equipments. At present, more than 60% of the procedures of Soontrue Machinery have been automated, laying a good foundation for comprehensive digitalization.

"Because of the characteristics of the industry, lots of digitalization work, from products to factories, are done by us." Soontrue Machinery Finance Director Xu Xiewang said, "And in the future, our company will increase digital investment, improve the level of intelligence, and accelerate the pace of product iteration and technological innovation."