To accelerate the formation of new quality production forces with a focus on digitization, Nantong Cellulose Fibers Co Ltd has established a production and manufacturing application cluster centered around a plant information system, thereby achieving effective digital management.

"Through the PI system, we can collect and store real-time data from approximately 100,000 points across various production control systems, with data collection frequency reaching up to thereaching as fast as up to the second," said Shen Lin, the director of the process technology department at the company.

As the first domestically established acetate fiber production company in China in 1987, Nantong Cellulose Fibers in Chongchuan district, Nantong, Jiangsu province, has embarked on a path of independent innovation.

The company's flagship product, filament yarn, is utilized as a food-grade precision filtration material. Through technological innovation, the company produces filament yarn that is only half the thickness of a human hair.

The company also houses Asia's only acetate filament engineering technology center and has established a national-level postdoctoral research station, serving as the "talent Silicon Valley" of the acetate fiber industry. The company generates an economic benefit of over 600 million yuan ($82.92 million) annually through innovation.

Currently, the annual production capacity of filament yarn at Nantong Cellulose Fibers has reached 105,000 metric tons, ensuring the supply of over one-third of all domestic filament yarn and meeting 80 percent of the industry's special specification filament yarn demand.

The company also focuses on developing green technologies. It broke through a series of core technological bottlenecks, stabilizing the sulfur dioxide emission concentration in flue gas to consistently below 10 milligram per cubic meter. This achievement was honored with the First Prize in Science and Technology by Jiangsu province.

A worker examines the production facilities at Nantong Cellulose Fibers Co Ltd. [Photo/Nantong Daily]