The 300,000th medium-voltage circuit breaker was successfully rolled off the assembly line! Eaton's Changzhou factory deduces the "acceleration" of intelligent manufacturing

On the afternoon of March 4, 2022, with the end of the test of one Eaton medium-voltage circuit breaker, the 300,000th medium-voltage circuit breaker of Eaton Power Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Eaton Changzhou Plant) officially rolled off the production line. Leaders of Eaton's Asia Pacific Power Distribution Systems & Services Division, all employees of Eaton's Changzhou plant, and customers and partners from various industries attended the ceremony to witness this historic moment.

The 300,000th medium-voltage circuit breaker was successfully rolled off the assembly line! Eaton's Changzhou factory deduces the "acceleration" of intelligent manufacturing

In the 15 years since 2007, Eaton has manufactured 300,000 medium-voltage circuit breakers in more than 20,000 substations, supporting the safe and reliable operation of power distribution systems in various industries with excellent product quality and full life cycle technical services.

At the ceremony, Xiao Liangzhi, Sales Director of Eaton's Asia Pacific Distribution Systems & Services Division, said in his congratulatory speech: "The successful launch of the 300,000th medium-voltage circuit breaker fully demonstrates the market position and customer recognition of Eaton's medium-voltage circuit breakers, and is another milestone in the development history of Eaton's medium-voltage circuit breakers. At the same time, I would like to pay sincere tribute to all the employees who have worked hard in the medium voltage circuit breaker production line for many years!"

Embark on a new future and go to the future of electricity with innovation

Eaton's Changzhou plant is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eaton Asia Pacific Electric Group, and after years of development, it has become the core manufacturing base of Eaton's medium and low voltage complete sets of products and medium voltage components, providing customers with efficient, intelligent and reliable power distribution equipment and solutions.

Eaton's Changzhou factory specializes in manufacturing medium and low voltage power distribution equipment according to the latest GB/IEC standards, with voltage levels ranging from 3.6kV to 40.5kV systems, and its products have won many honors such as "National Key New Product", "Jiangsu Famous Brand Product", "Provincial Excellent New Product (Golden Bull Award)", etc.

At present, the company's annual production capacity of circuit breakers is about 25,000 units, 10,000 sets of medium and low voltage units, and 4,000 ring main units, with the world's high-level safety and product quality, it is widely used in the State Grid, data center, semiconductor, rail transit, new energy, high-end commercial, industrial and many other fields, and sells well in 175 countries around the world, strongly supporting Eaton's new global ecology.

Lean first, to the lighthouse factory to promote the full force

Eaton's Changzhou plant is a model of Eaton's Industry 4.0 philosophy and an excellent example of Eaton's "knowledge and action" on the road to digital transformation.

Eaton's Changzhou plant keeps pace with the times, and adopts digital and automated production systems in automated production lines, sheet metal workshops, finished product handling and other operational processes to improve product quality, factory capacity and production efficiency.

● Automatic production line of medium voltage circuit breaker: realize MPS digital intelligent scheduling, MES intelligent manufacturing system, and implement Eaton's full quality management system.

● Complete set of cabinet automatic production line: MPS digital intelligent scheduling, man-machine efficient collaboration, significantly optimize the production efficiency of the whole process.

● High-precision sheet metal robot: realize automatic bending, higher yield, reduce raw material loss, and avoid manual high-risk operations.

● AGV automatic tractor: Replace manual handling with LMF lean material management, and improve the efficiency of internal logistics through smart logistics.

● Automatic loading and unloading system of punch press: the motion control and automatic positioning of the system ensure accurate feeding, and the unmanned operation improves the loading and unloading efficiency.

Digital management, production and intelligent manufacturing are highly integrated

Under the wave and trend of digitalization, Eaton's Changzhou factory actively explores digital transformation, from product design to manufacturing process, digital information system continuously improves processes and optimizes operations, and reshapes the core competitiveness of enterprises with intelligent manufacturing. With the "EPR and MES management system" as the core of the flexible production technology platform, the factory can quickly allocate resources, efficient scheduling, and the full implementation of Eaton's EQMS quality management system ensures that products can meet Eaton's global quality standards.

The SAP system highly customizes the production process management, so that the internal supply chain is linked at high speed, and the production and marketing collaboration accelerates the project delivery cycle. The MES management system eliminates planning and production information silos, manages all production processes, makes the production and manufacturing system highly intelligent, and comprehensively helps Eaton's Changzhou factory move towards intelligent manufacturing.

Eaton adheres to customer-centricity and "service experience" as the main line, builds a fully digital service management system, accelerates the integration of online and offline channels, uses digital means to optimize service processes, and meets customers' integrated and personalized needs in a more convenient way.

This year, Eaton's Changzhou plant will be connected to the State Grid Electrical Equipment Intelligent Internet of Things (EIP) platform to ensure the production quality of power equipment with intelligent supervision. The interconnection and information sharing with the State Grid has injected new impetus into Eaton's efforts to build a "transparent factory" and further improve the level of intelligent manufacturing, laying a solid foundation for the safe operation of the power grid.

Professional services, in-depth understanding of the whole life cycle

Professional services are becoming an integral part of power distribution solutions. Eaton's Changzhou factory has built a complete after-sales service system throughout China, and has a professional electrical system and service team to achieve 1-hour response and 48-hour on-site support in China, and also realize the efficient service of 1-hour response and 24-hour technical solutions around the world. Whether it is professional services such as arc flash analysis, or daily equipment maintenance and intelligent upgrades, Eaton's service business will run through the entire life cycle of users' equipment.

At the same time, Eaton's Changzhou plant innovates the digital factory acceptance test method, relying on digital and virtual reality technology, remote FAT equipment and video control system, customers can personally participate in all acceptance links such as product parameters and performance.

In the process of accelerating digital transformation, Eaton's Changzhou plant actively responds to the "dual carbon" strategy, and the photovoltaic power generation project under construction combined with Eaton's energy management system will promote the factory to make full use of energy and evolve to "green and intelligent manufacturing" to achieve industrial efficiency and sustainable development, so as to meet the challenge of carbon neutrality.

After a long period of tempering, it will be a great achievement. With strong independent R&D capabilities and more than 100 years of experience in power supply and distribution, Eaton's Changzhou plant believes that the 300,000th medium-voltage circuit breaker will be a new starting point for the plant to reach a higher level. In the future, we will continue to explore factory automation and informatization, integrate digitalization into the entire factory value chain, and create greater value for customers around the world through high-quality innovative products.