The state-of-the-art facility is the world's first Lighthouse Factory in the PV industry. It integrates more than 30 digital use cases and sets a new benchmark for high-quality development and intelligent manufacturing in the photovoltaic sector.
Vice President Haimeng Zhang highlighted the primary reasons for setting up the Lighthouse Factory: to meet the changing and diverse needs of customers and to ensure consistency in production processes across different sites.
Ensuring global production consistency through the use of fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies
As module manufacturing scales globally, it is critical to maintain consistency across different distributed production sites. LONGi's Lighthouse Factory addresses this challenge by using advanced technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (iIoT), big data, artificial intelligence and digital twins. This approach has been recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which has included the Jiaxing Lighthouse Factory in its latest "Lighthouse Factory" list.
Expansion of the Lighthouse project to other production sites
LONGi has also introduced the "Lighthouse Project", which aims to transfer the agile intelligent manufacturing model of the Jiaxing Lighthouse Factory to other production sites. "The LONGi Jiaxing Lighthouse Factory is just the beginning," explained Haimeng Zhang. "Our goal is to develop it into a state-of-the-art production facility that can be replicated in the future."
See our interview with LONGi: “The PV industry is navigating a complex competitive landscape”
Improving research and development while ensuring highly efficient, digitalized manufacturing processes
LONGi has always prioritized technological research and development to increase productivity through innovation, Zhang said. The company's progress has resulted in record-breaking performances, including a conversion efficiency of 27.30% for heterojunction back contact (HBC) crystalline silicon solar cells and an efficiency of 33.9% for perovskite tandem crystalline silicon solar cells.
Video: How AI and automation are driving LONGi's production base in Jiaxing
The PV industry is increasingly driven by customer needs, requiring the production of modules that meet specific requirements. LONGi recognized that improving R&D is important, but it is not the only solution. Efficient manufacturing processes are essential to meet diverse customer requirements, ensure flexible production for different applications and speed up product delivery.
New Hi-MO X6 Max series is produced in the Lighthouse Factory
The Lighthouse Factory in Jiaxing will serve as the production base for the Hi-MO X6 high power back contact module and will also be the production site for LONGi's newly launched Hi-MO X6 Max module series. These modules are characterized by the innovative TaiRay Inside silicon wafer technology and Hybrid Passivated Back Contact Cells (HPBC) and feature the rectangular silicon wafer size M11 as well as a standard size of 2382×1134 mm. According to the company, the series offers improved stability, reliability and power generation efficiency.
Also see: LONGi presents enhanced back contact PV modules
Employees benefit significantly from training measures and a modern working environment
The Lighthouse Factory has significantly improved the working environment for employees, allowing them to master digital tools, improve their skills and become high-quality employees. "This is also the biggest advantage of Lighthouse Factory," Haimeng Zhang remarked. (hcn)
