Tai'an QingSong Meter Co., Ltd.was awarded the provincial-level green factory "full chain green" to unlock a new path in the intelligent instrument industry

Green is not a short-term transformation, but a norm integrated into the entire production process. From factory construction to product delivery, we are moving towards low-carbon and environmental protection at every step. Recently, Tai'an Easy Meter Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tai'an Easy Meter") successfully won the "Provincial Green Factory" award. The company's general manager Zhao Fanhui led reporters into the production park to share the green development path of this intelligent instrument enterprise.

As a national high-tech enterprise with more than 20 years of experience in the field of intelligent measuring instruments, Tai'an Easy Meter focuses on the research and development and production of "four civilian meters" such as IoT water meters, intelligent gas meters, heat meters, and electricity meters. It has built a sales network covering 34 provinces (regions, cities) across the country, serving more than 40000 enterprises and institutions in over 700 cities and more than 25 million households. The annual production capacity of intelligent water meters has reached 3 million units, ranking first in the domestic industry. This award as a provincial-level green factory marks its comprehensive capabilities in green production, environmental governance, resource utilization, and other aspects, reaching an advanced level in the industry.

Building a solid green foundation from architecture to equipment

Entering the Tai'an Easy Meter Production Park, the steel structure factory building is particularly eye-catching. Steel structure building materials have a high recycling rate, minimal construction waste during construction, and good insulation and ventilation performance during subsequent use, which can reduce energy consumption of air conditioning and heating. Zhao Fanhui introduced that low-carbon concepts have been integrated since the early stages of factory construction.

Details of green renovation can be seen everywhere in the workshop. The lighting system is 100% replaced with energy-saving lamps, and the brightness is fully adapted to production needs; General energy consuming equipment such as injection molding machines and welding equipment are all selected from high-efficiency and low consumption models in the industry, and old and high energy consuming equipment has been completely eliminated. The new equipment not only operates stably, but also significantly reduces energy consumption and pollutant emissions compared to the old equipment, and the working environment in the workshop has been significantly improved, "said Zhao Fanhui.

In order to accurately control energy consumption, the enterprise strictly follows the GB17167 standard and equips professional measuring instruments at key energy consumption nodes in the workshop. From the power consumption of a single device to the total energy consumption of the factory area, it can be monitored and accurately recorded in real time. Previously, energy consumption could only be evaluated based on monthly electricity bills, with data being vague and difficult to optimize. Now, with real-time data, it is easy to see which links waste energy and where there is energy-saving space at a glance. Based on this data, enterprises will dynamically adjust their production plans, such as prioritizing low-energy processes such as assembly during peak electricity consumption periods, to reduce energy waste.

In addition, some factory buildings in the factory area have installed photovoltaic panels on their roofs to convert solar energy into electricity, providing power for production and office use. In the future, we plan to expand the scale of photovoltaic facilities and further increase the proportion of clean energy, "said Zhao Fanhui.

Control and arrange cycles in parallel, adhere to the ecological bottom line

Environmental protection is the bottom line of enterprise development and must be implemented in every aspect. "In the environmental protection treatment area of Tai'an Easy Meter, Zhao Fanhui introduced that for the small amount of waste gas generated during welding and injection molding in production, the enterprise is equipped with an integrated treatment device of adsorption and filtration to ensure that the waste gas meets the emission standards; Every quarter, a third-party professional organization will be commissioned to conduct testing on indicators such as air quality and factory boundary noise in the factory area. All testing reports will be archived for future reference, and the data will be truthful and transparent.

Noise control is equally attentive. High noise equipment in the workshop has been equipped with shock absorbers and soundproof covers, and some areas with concentrated noise have also been equipped with soundproof barriers. In the past, the machines in the workshop were noisy, and working for a long time was easy to fatigue; now the environment is much quieter, and employees are more comfortable working without affecting the surrounding residents, "said Mr. Zhang, an operator who has worked in the workshop for many years.

The factory has built a stabilizing water tower and a water circulation treatment system. The experimental water and equipment cleaning water used in production can be reused for auxiliary processes such as equipment cooling and ground cleaning after being treated to meet standards, achieving hierarchical utilization. Previously, these waters were discharged once, which not only wasted resources but also increased environmental pressure. Now, recycling reduces the consumption of fresh water and the discharge of wastewater, "said Zhao Fanhui.

Not only that, the company also actively carries out product carbon footprint accounting, referring to international standards to sort out the carbon emissions of the entire life cycle of products from raw material procurement to waste disposal, "identifying the main carbon emission links and pointing out the direction for subsequent low-carbon improvement. Now customers also attach great importance to this' green certificate 'when purchasing.

Upgrading material systems drives green development

Long term green development cannot be achieved without technological innovation, "said Zhao Fanhui. As the enterprise technology center of Shandong Province, the company has a research and development team of more than 60 people, with over one-third of them holding senior professional titles. The company also has multiple provincial and municipal innovation platforms to provide support for green technology breakthroughs.

In terms of material innovation, the R&D team uses modified polymer materials such as ABS, PC, PA nylon, etc. to replace some traditional metal materials in the production of instrument casings and components. These materials are lightweight, have excellent performance, lower production energy consumption than metal processing, and have good recyclability. "Zhao Fanhui picked up a modified material water meter shell and introduced that the lightweight product also reduces transportation energy consumption. At the same time, the production of copper materials should prioritize the use of recycled waste copper materials to reduce dependence on primary copper mines.

The independently developed intelligent energy management system makes green management more efficient. The system can collect real-time data on water and electricity consumption, automatically analyze energy consumption anomalies, and issue warnings. Previously, relying on experience to save energy had limited effectiveness; now, relying on precise data to identify problems, such as discovering high standby energy consumption on a certain production line, can save a lot of electricity bills every month after adjustment, "Zhao Fanhui gave an example.

As of now, the company has obtained nearly 100 patents, led or participated in the development of 2 national standards and 5 group standards, and implemented multiple green technologies. In the future, we will continue to tackle energy-saving processes and environmentally friendly materials, allowing innovation to continue driving green development, "said Zhao Fanhui.

Green development has no end, we will take one step at a time, build better green factories, make better green products, and firmly move forward on the path of sustainable development, "said Zhao Fanhui. In the future, enterprises will continue to be guided by the concept of green manufacturing, and make continuous efforts in infrastructure optimization, environmental governance upgrading, technological innovation breakthroughs, and other aspects. They not only need to consolidate their green benchmark position in the smart instrument industry, but also drive the overall green transformation of the industry through experience sharing and technology output, and contribute "easy power" to promote the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry and build a resource-saving and environmentally friendly society.

Qilu Evening News · Qilu Yidian Correspondent Yu Longwang Shudong Zhongchong Yuan