With digitization, greening, and integration, Beijing's printing companies are transforming into something you no longer recognize.
The machines rotate, without the strong smell of ink or the noisy clatter one might imagine. The workshop, full of a 'futuristic' feel, vividly showcases the digital intelligence, greenness, and integration of printing enterprises. This left the deepest impression on the reporter during recent visits to multiple printing companies in Beijing.
Beijing's printing industry, guided by the highest standards, driven by a digital intelligence engine for innovation, and built on a green foundation, is moving from efficient support to innovation leadership, continuously contributing an indispensable 'printing power' to the capital's development and cultural prosperity.
"Zero mistakes" is no longer just a dream.
The Artron showroom is stunningly beautiful. Photo by Wang Xiaoning.
Stepping into Artron Art Printing Co., Ltd., it feels like a museum of book art, exquisitely arranged printed works narrating the company's repeated breakthroughs and various innovations.
Artron displays all kinds of exquisite books. Photo by Wang Xiaoning
Among the many exhibits, there are invitations and party programs received by guests from many countries in a number of state events and theatrical evenings this year, which are printed by Artron. "Every major guarantee service is a verification of the comprehensive ability of the enterprise, in terms of technology, we must show off unique skills, such as experienced hot stamping technicians, who can hear whether the hot stamping process is in place in the roar of the machine." Cheng Cheng, general manager of Beijing Artron Art Printing Co., Ltd., told reporters that the stamping process on invitations and program lists should consider the accuracy of multiple sets of ironing, as well as the impact of temperature and pressure on the color change of paper and hot stamping materials. If the pressure is slightly higher, the paper will break; If the temperature is slightly higher, the golden color will become mushy. The slight difference is a thousand miles away. In the past 30 years, Beijing Artron Art Printing Co., Ltd. has successfully completed many major projects in many countries with this pursuit of zero mistakes and extreme rigor.
When it comes to the profound tradition of the red gene, it is none other than Beijing Xinhua Printing Co., Ltd., which was established in 1931 in the midst of the war, and has undertaken the task of printing materials for the National Two Sessions for more than 50 consecutive years since 1972. When the reporter visited Beijing Xinhua Printing Co., Ltd., Chairman Zhang Jin proudly said, "Our characteristics can be said to be that we have served the party and the country for the longest time and the best inheritance of red genes." According to him, the company has printed more than 10 billion books and periodicals, including "The Complete Works of Marx and Engels", "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", "Xi Jinping on Governing the Country", "Selected Readings of Xi Jinping's Works", as well as many important books and periodicals such as "Yearbook of the People's Republic of China" and "Fuxing Library".
In fact, since 2019, the core function guarantee system of Beijing's publication printing service capital has been officially put into operation. Beijing has identified and released a list of more than 20 "guarantee enterprises", and organizes evaluations every year, re-identifies guarantee enterprises the following year, establishes a performance evaluation mechanism, implements dynamic management, and achieves "superiority and inferiority retreat". In the incentive mechanism and evaluation mechanism, the quality awareness of enterprises has been continuously strengthened. The reporter learned during the visit that in order to eliminate the wrong posting, reversal and other situations in the process of publication processing, Hualian Printing innovatively proposed a solution of "machine labeling, visual inspection, scanning and verification" for key processes, and achieved zero errors in the labeling process. This plan has been adopted and promoted by publishing houses to improve the printing security level of major theme publications from the source. Not only that, Hualian Printing also simulates extreme environmental changes from extreme heat to severe cold through high and low temperature cyclic tensile tests to ensure the binding quality of books.
A book can also be printed
Can a book be printed? Yes, you heard it right. In the context of digital intelligence technology, Beijing printing enterprises have been able to achieve it easily and freely.
Workshop production line of Beijing Jianhong Printing Co., Ltd.
"In our workshop, there is no traditional printing equipment, all digital printing equipment. This is also very rare in the country", in the face of the reporter's curious eyes, Wang Zhiqiang, deputy general manager of Beijing Jianhong Printing Co., Ltd., introduced, "We serve the small batch and customized needs of users." A newspaper can print dozens of copies, a book can be printed in one copy, and the books on the assembly line can be different." It turned out that the company used the latest technologies such as the Internet, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things to combine with digital publishing, and independently developed a full set of software systems to open up data links with publishing houses and e-commerce platforms, making it possible to publish on demand, sell first and then print new book retail.
The digital workshop with the blessing of digital intelligence technology has already broken through everyone's imagination. Walking into Beijing Shengtong Printing Co., Ltd., Chairman Li Yanqiu told reporters, "We now focus more on the information process of the whole factory, strengthen data connectivity, data collection, data analysis and use, and further realize data-assisted decision-making." Based on the Shengtong publishing service cloud platform, the company has opened up eight major production bases in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shanghai, integrated ERP, MES, APS and other systems to realize the digital management of the whole process of order processing, production scheduling and quality control, "Our order processing speed has increased by 30% and the production cycle has been shortened by 20%. Li Yanqiu said.
According to the relevant person in charge, Founder Injie is currently promoting the popularization and development of the latest generation of inkjet technology in the printing industry, providing a strong domestic alternative for the industry. "In the field of inkjet technology application, domestic brands have a high market share and have become a powerful promoter of the digital transformation of the printing industry." The person in charge said.
Invest 10 million yuan every year for green technology transformation
"The green environmental protection construction of Beijing's printing industry has been systematically going through more than ten years, and the environmental protection standards we implement are even higher than those of foreign countries." Walking into Beijing Lianxing Shengye Printing Co., Ltd., General Manager Xu Xianshun gave such an answer to reporters' questions.
Dingjia Century Printing Co., Ltd.
The photovoltaic power generation system at Dingjia Century Printing Co., Ltd. is truly spectacular. Since 2016, the company has constructed a distributed photovoltaic power generation system in three phases, achieving an annual power generation of about 2 million kWh and reducing carbon emissions by over 1,000 tons per year. At the same time, the factory workshops have fully adopted LED lighting and implemented centralized ink, gas, and humidification management, as well as intensive measures such as circulation cooling for fountain solution and ink rollers. "Currently, the company invests more than tens of millions of yuan annually in green technology upgrades," said a relevant person in charge.
By promoting low-ink-level design, reducing the use of plastics, adopting simple binding methods, minimizing unnecessary processes, and developing green products… after more than a decade of exploration, Beijing Hualian Printing Co., Ltd.'s full-chain green management model has injected strong momentum into the company's development.
In recent years, Beijing's printing industry has continuously improved its green development policy system, coordinating efforts to reduce carbon emissions, pollution, expand green space, and promote growth. Beijing has specifically established the "Beijing Publishing and Printing Enterprise Green Development Incentive Fund" to focus on supporting the green and intensive development of publishing and printing enterprises in the city. The number of environmental governance performance A-level enterprises, which represent the leading national standards, has increased from 12 in 2023 to 17 in 2024, a year-on-year growth of 41%.