Discover automated production of liquid herbal formula in SW China's Chongqing

Photo shows the real-time footage of planting bases of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs displayed at a traceability platform of the Chongqing Taiji Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. (Taiji Group), a subsidiary of Sinopharm. (People's Daily Online/Li Meiyu)

At the Fuling high-tech zone in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, staff members can grasp the situations of more than 20 planting bases of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs across the country, including real-time footage and information such as temperature, humidity, and wind direction at these bases, through a pharmaceutical company’s traceability platform.

The company, Chongqing Taiji Industry (Group) Co., Ltd. (Taiji Group), a subsidiary of Sinopharm, has focused on building a modern intelligent traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) manufacturing center with the Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory as the core, said Yu Zongbin, deputy general manager of Taiji Group.

The Taiji Group has established nearly 300,000 mu (20,000 hectares) of standardized traditional Chinese medicinal herb planting bases, including those that are the main ingredients for Huoxiang Zhengqi Ye, a liquid herbal formula used in TCM to induce diaphoresis and clear away summer heat.

The Longqiao TCM extraction workshop of the Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory is equipped with 100 TCM extraction tanks for the production of Huoxiang Zhengqi Ye.

He Bo, deputy director of the Longqiao TCM extraction workshop of the Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, checks the equipment in the workshop. (People's Daily Online/Wu Chengliang)

"In the past, the TCM extraction workshop was manually operated. When summer came, we would be drenched in sweat after working here for just a short while," said He Bo, deputy director of the TCM extraction workshop.

In recent years, the Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory has introduced intelligent production equipment, achieving automatic collection and the precise control of temperature, pressure, and liquid level. All its workshops have achieved the automated control of the extraction and concentration processes, significantly improving efficiency while ensuring product quality.

“Now, the production process only requires one or two operators for inspection," said He.

The extract from the TCM extraction workshop is then transported to the digitalized workshop, which is equipped with robots, intelligent chips, digital devices, and data acquisition and control systems, for the production of Huoxiang Zhengqi Ye.

As a leading TCM enterprise in Chongqing, the Taiji Group has made significant strides in recent years through intelligent and digital transformation. It now possesses three intelligent factories recognized by Chongqing and five digitalized workshops, with an annual production capacity of 3 billion units of oral solutions.

Photo shows the Longqiao TCM extraction workshop of the Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (People's Daily Online/Liu Yi)

Staff members work at the central control center of the digitalized workshop for the production of Huoxiang Zhengqi Ye, a liquid herbal formula used in TCM, of Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (People's Daily Online/Li Meiyu)

Photo shows a production line of the digitalized workshop to make Huoxiang Zhengqi Ye, a liquid herbal formula used in TCM, of Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling pharmaceutical factory in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (People's Daily Online/Li Meiyu)