The new facility boasts a production capacity of 300,000 units per year or about 1,000 units per day
Geely Group’s premium electric sub-brand ZEEKR may have been introduced rather unexpectedly, but the Chinese auto giant says its latest offshoot is more than ready to commence operation. The reason being that its new Intelligent Factory is now online and primed for the production of its first model, the 001.
The newfangled facility is located to the east of Geely’s headquarters and spreads over 330 acres of land. As befits its name, the Intelligent Factory boasts a digitalised design and construction from the layout stage, through to the laying of utilities such as water and gas, and the floor plans of each shop.
What’s intelligent about this factory is that the responsible teams have the ability to improve efficiency by decimals by tweaking seemingly insignificant areas of production using super-accurate simulations. This could range from slowing down the belt by a few meters per day on the final assembly to adjusting the movements of a soldering robot’s arm.
On top of that, many steps of the production process are 100% automated and set up to reduce energy usage wherever possible. Soldering, for instance, uses 323 robots, while the paint shop utilises a dry carton filter and mist removal process to allow for zero wastewater and reduce air conditioner energy by 60%. The buildings, meanwhile, are coated in a self-cleaning chemical film.
Geely claims the Intelligent Factory has a production capacity of 300,000 units per year, which equates to about 1,000 units per day. Although it is currently set up to produce only the SEA platform-based 001, the factory is future-proofed and compatible with multiple platforms and car models.
While on the subject of the 001, the automaker reveals that every unit scheduled for production this year has been taken up. Designed at the Geely Design studio in Gothenburg, the 001 comes with a pair of electric motors – one for each axle – that combine to produce a maximum output of 400 kW and 700 Nm. This allows the car to complete the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 3.8 seconds.
Another highlight of the Intelligent Factory is the implementation of 5G technology for cloud management functions such as making adjustments to vehicle configurations, overcoming errors and updating processes, as well as quality control. What’s more, customers can also check the progress of their order and get live updates via the smart app. In essence, they can actually monitor their cars being assembled and undergo various levels of testing.
