Thirty years of tremendous changes: from manual to intelligent, and innovation in tradition ~ Recording the historical transformation of Huike Paint from a traditional manual workshop to an intelligent manufacturing factory

In October 2022, a 100-ton production line for real stone paint was operating at full capacity at the Huike Paint factory in the Longping High-Tech Park in Furong District, Changsha. In November 2022, the main building of the intelligent manufacturing plant of Huike Chuangneng New Materials Co., Ltd. was completed on Nanshan Road in the Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone. This marked a significant step for Huike Paint from mechanization to intelligent manufacturing, marking its full entry into the intelligent manufacturing stage.

Over the past 30 years, to adapt to the changing times and market, Huike Paint has undergone two historic innovations.

These two transformations have enabled Huike Paint to successfully evolve from traditional manual, machine-based manufacturing to a modern intelligent manufacturing enterprise, leaving a significant mark in the industry's 30-year history of change.

Breaking through adversity and rising (1992-2008)

In 1992, led by a young man who started from scratch, Huike Paint (formerly Wantong Chemical) was officially established at 37 Mawangdui Middle Road, with a few houses, a few desks, a handful of workers, and a few old traditional machines.

At the time, the paint industry had low standards, limited selection, and few functional requirements for products.

The production of latex paint for exterior wall decoration was simple: simply mixing various raw materials according to a formula yielded the finished product. There were no strict standards or requirements for product quality, functionality, packaging, or storage. Workers produced the finished products based on order quantities and then transported them to stores and construction sites via traditional rickshaws across the bumpy dirt roads of old Changsha.

At the time, due to incomplete paint industry standards and low market entry barriers, competitors continued to enter the market, and workshops of all sizes proliferated. This led to uneven product quality in the paint market, and the industry was once trapped in a vicious competition where low prices were the primary means of gaining market share. Under the pressure of survival and development, Hou Wanli, the founder of Huike Paint, implemented key production reforms: improving production technology and formulas, enhancing product performance, improving after-sales service, and fostering brand awareness. He led the company through a transformative transformation and upgrade, advancing the process of industry standards and shaping the brand's image. Through this transformation, Huike Paint broke the paint price war, opened up a new market, and quickly became a renowned brand in Changsha.

Reflecting on this transformation, Chairman Hou Wanli lamented: "Market competition cannot rely solely on price wars. We must focus on the product itself and prioritize service quality to create a positive market competitive environment."

[Huike Innovation 1.0] Innovation and Seizing the Trend (2009-2020)

As the trend of industry competition intensifies, the latex paint market is close to saturation, and the paint industry is facing challenges again.

Hou Wanli, chairman of Huike Paint, knows that only innovation can break the deadlock of low-level competition, only innovation can continuously enhance the brand image, only innovation can continuously open up new situations, and only innovation can continuously reach new heights.

In 2009, to promote industry development, expand market share, and accelerate independent innovation, Huike Paint relocated to the Longping High-Tech Park, ushering in an era of rapid technological and production capacity development. By establishing a research team, enhancing technical expertise, expanding production, standardizing corporate management, and implementing independent innovation and research, Huike Paint achieved significant breakthroughs and mastered numerous patented technologies for exterior wall coating production and application. The company has developed and produced products such as stone paint, fluorocarbon paint, textured paint, and granite paint, enriching its exterior wall material offerings and increasing the selection of building decoration materials. By improving product formulas and optimizing construction systems, the company has transformed exterior wall coatings from decorative to functional products, achieving product upgrades that combine both decorative and functional features.

With the gradual implementation of the national energy conservation and emission reduction policies, the concept of health and environmental protection has been deeply rooted in people's hearts. In order to respond to national policies and adapt to social development, Huike Paint has developed and promoted a number of energy-saving and environmentally friendly products such as reflective thermal insulation coatings and inorganic coatings. At the same time, it has innovated and optimized the original products to increase their environmental protection properties. So far, Huike Paint has achieved upgrades and optimizations for its entire product line.

Huike Paint has also enhanced its core competitiveness through intellectual property rights, earning recognition as a national high-tech enterprise through its technological innovation patents. This provides strong support for the exterior wall paint industry's transition from traditional manual manufacturing to a technology-based manufacturing industry.

[Huike Innovation 2.0] Intelligently Seizing Future Opportunities (2021~)

On the fully automated production line at the Huike Paint putty powder production plant, technical staff are conducting equipment inspections. "The control system of the equipment we are testing is custom-designed based on our technical and product requirements. It operates smoothly, performs well, has extremely high production capacity, excellent quality stability, and a clean, dust-free workshop," explained He Dahai, a technical engineer at Huike. Prior to the introduction of this production line, putty powder was produced using traditional machines, which had low production capacity, high energy consumption, and product stability that relied entirely on the workers' skills and experience. With the rapid expansion of Huike Paint's putty powder market share, a fully automated putty production line was introduced in 2021 to meet market demand. This system utilizes an integrated control center to precisely deliver raw materials, accurately control production processes, a fully enclosed pipeline conveying system, pneumatic dust removal and recycling, and weight-based packaging and palletizing. This has achieved iterative upgrades to automated and intelligent control, resulting in stable putty powder quality and an annual output of over 200,000 tons.

At the same time, Huike focused on equipment upgrades, completing a series of independent control system upgrades. It also built a smart manufacturing plant, expanding production, promoting technological innovation, improving its service system, and gradually gaining technological independence. Through another technological transformation, the company introduced multiple smart production lines and constructed a new smart manufacturing facility, fully entering the era of automation and intelligence.

From a traditional handmade workshop to a smart manufacturing plant, Huike Paint has consistently survived through change and thrived through innovation. After three decades of hard work, Huike firmly believes that only by harnessing the power of technology, daring to innovate, and venturing into uncharted territory can one achieve a "first-mover advantage." Innovation isn't limited to specialized areas; it also lies in strategic leadership and breakthroughs in development direction. Huike Paint is undergoing a comprehensive, multi-dimensional upgrade encompassing mechanization, automation, and information technology. This upgrade is enabling the manufacturing industry to achieve leapfrog development and contributing to China's transformation from a "manufacturing powerhouse" to a "smart manufacturing powerhouse."