In the intelligent brewing workshop with a strong aroma of wine, 5 red robots wave their arms to rhythmically and accurately spread the fermented rice into the retort pot; In front of the large screen of the real-time updated "Shihua Hui Brewing Cloud" platform, Liu Zhongjun, who has 30 years of experience in brewing, keeps an eye on various data and infrared imaging images to supervise the robot to "lightly spread evenly".
On April 8, Hubei Shihua Liquor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shihua Liquor"), located in Shihua Town, Gucheng County, revealed that the company's self-developed "Shihua Hui Brewing Cloud" platform has been put into operation, fully enabling automatic grain steaming, three-dimensional constant temperature fermentation, robot retort and other systems, officially opening "digital brewing".
The predecessor of Shihua Liquor can be traced back to the "Shihua Street Huang Gongshun Tavern" founded in 1870, which has a history of 155 years. In 2020, the traditional brewing technique of Shihua Liquor was recognized as a provincial intangible cultural heritage. In February 2024, "Shihua Liquor" was awarded the "China Time-honored Brand" for its century-old history and excellent quality.
"The need for production capacity, the pursuit of quality, and the pressure of labor costs make 'intelligent transformation and digital transformation' a must-answer question." Cao Lubo, chairman of Shihua Liquor, introduced that in November 2024, the company invested 500 million yuan to build the first fragrant liquor 3.0 intelligent brewing center in China, independently developed the "Shihua Hui Brewing Cloud" platform, and made every effort to build a digital liquor demonstration factory.
Walking into the intelligent brewing center of Shihua Liquor, the traditional liquor aroma and digital animation are blended here: through the "Shihua Hui Brewing Cloud" data model, the company converts the 15 processes, 57 links and 198 processes of traditional brewing techniques into accurate data, which is updated in real time on the monitoring screen; The intelligent production line in the workshop is running at full speed, and the intelligent robot automatically completes the processes such as feeding, cooking, fermentation, and distillation, and there are only 18 skilled workers who inspect back and forth.
"In the past, the experience of the brewing master was relied on, but now it is all based on data." Liu Zhongjun, the sixth-generation inheritor of the traditional brewing skills of Shihua Liquor, introduced that the traditional artificial retort pays attention to the air pressure and whether the fermented paste is sprinkled well depends on the level of craftsmanship. Today, robotic brewing relies on technologies such as infrared imaging and thermal sensing. "Once there is an abnormal fluctuation in the data, the system will automatically warn and give accurate adjustment suggestions, and the stability of the wine quality is higher."
Liu Zhongjun said that in the past, it took at least 8 years to train a master master, which was labor-intensive and difficult to operate. The workload of these five robots at full capacity is equivalent to the work of 45 skilled brewers at the same time, and the quality rate of raw sake has also been greatly improved.
Digital transformation has brought tangible benefits: the R&D center has won 37 national invention patents, and another 24 are being declared; The three-dimensional constant temperature fermentation tank replaces nearly 10,000 ground tanks, and the land use efficiency is increased by 8 times; The per capita annual output of raw liquor in the brewing base has jumped from 12.5 tons to 100 tons, and the annual production capacity of 10,000 tons of raw liquor and 20,000 tons of raw liquor energy storage can be added, saving energy and reducing emissions by more than 30%.
Tu Shiping, secretary of the Gucheng County Party Committee and county magistrate, said that the county will actively connect with and use provincial and municipal policies, superimpose a number of incentives to support the high-quality development of the industrial economy, guide enterprises to invest more funds in equipment renewal and technology research and development, and fully support the digital transformation of local enterprises.