2019 Wuhai Symposium on the Economic Operation of the Calcium Carbide Industry
The 2019 Symposium on the Economic Operation of China’s Calcium Carbide Industry was held in Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from April 25 to 26, 2019. The event was sponsored by China Calcium Carbide Industry Association and co-organized by Beijing Lapsen Energy & Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. and Ningxia Yongbo Lapsen Technology Co., Ltd. Zhang Yu, Honorary Chairman of China Calcium Carbide Industry Association, several vice chairmen, Zhong Haisheng, General Manager of Beijing Lapsen Energy & Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., as well as more than 160 representatives from domestic calcium carbide manufacturers and supporting related enterprises attended the symposium.
The symposium centered on three core topics: difficulties and challenges confronting the current economic performance of the calcium carbide industry, corresponding countermeasures, and joint efforts to advance the automated transformation and upgrading of the sector.
First, Jiang Shunping, Deputy Secretary-General of China Calcium Carbide Industry Association, delivered a summary report on the economic operation of China’s calcium carbide industry in 2018. Afterwards, representatives from various calcium carbide manufacturers shared their respective production and operation conditions in group discussions. The participants noted that the calcium carbide industry maintained generally stable economic performance, enterprises had continuously strengthened their competitiveness and achieved sound operating results. Meanwhile, the industry was undergoing in-depth transformation, upgrading and structural adjustment. On the one hand, stricter environmental protection and safety inspections kept production costs at a high level. On the other hand, renewed signs of redundant construction exacerbated the overcapacity problem. Driven by multiple factors, the calcium carbide industry would continue to face severe challenges, and the market would remain subject to the interplay of supply-demand balance, environmental regulations, safety supervision, raw material supply and other variables. Attendees also exchanged in-depth views on operational specifics including electricity prices, limestone quality and on-site production management, sharing technical bottlenecks, practical solutions and operational experience with lively on-site exchanges.
Subsequently, Zhong Haisheng, General Manager of Beijing Lapsen Energy & Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., gave a special presentation on one-stop robot-based production management services. Finally, Secretary-General Yang Chuanwei delivered the closing speech, summarizing policy trends concerning enterprise work safety and environmental governance.
After the meeting, the China Calcium Carbide Industry Association organized participants to visit and study at two benchmark enterprises in the industry: Ningxia Yongbo Lapsen Technology Co., Ltd. and Ordos Tongyuan Chemical Co., Ltd., to observe the on-site application of tapping robots for calcium carbide furnaces.
Inside the central control room roughly 100 meters away from the furnace platform, operators remotely controlled the robots via a human-machine interaction platform to complete a full range of operations, including automatic rodding, direct busbar connection, remote-controlled burning, automatic furnace hole tapping, automatic tap-hole plugging and furnace lip cleaning.
According to executives from Ordos Group, the 18 tapping robots currently in service are manufactured by Beijing Lapsen Energy & Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. After deploying the robot system, the staffing requirement for the tapping post of a single calcium carbide furnace has dropped from the original 7–8 workers to only 3–4 workers today.
All participating representatives spoke highly of the tapping robot system. They unanimously agreed that the equipment frees frontline workers from harsh working conditions featuring high temperatures, heavy labor intensity and severe safety risks around the furnace. The system fully meets production demands for furnace-front operations, cuts mechanical and material consumption and significantly boosts operational efficiency, realizing safe production alongside staff reduction and efficiency improvement.
The annual Symposium on the Economic Operation of the Calcium Carbide Industry came to a successful conclusion. All participants took group photos with fruitful gains.
2019 marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and constituted a pivotal year for securing a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the first of our Two Centenary Goals. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will adhere to the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, apply the new development philosophy, relentlessly push forward high-quality development, take supply-side structural reform as our main task, and further deepen market-oriented reforms. Through the concerted efforts of all practitioners in the calcium carbide industry, we will sustain steady and sound economic development of the sector, lay a decisive foundation for completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China with outstanding achievements.
