By Zhao Yongjin

on 22 April, the Decathlon Global Packaging Digitalization Conference was held at Qianxiduo (Nantong) Packaging Products Co., Ltd. in Hai’an, Nantong. More than 30 packaging experts and chief technology officers from the CCS team of Decathlon, including the packaging director, Éric Moriaux, visited the enterprise.

The Decathlon Packaging Digitalization Conference is a professional conference whose core topic is ‘digitalization’ held for packaging business sector in the global supply chain system by Decathlon Group.

What has attracted Decathlon in an enterprise that produces cardboard boxes?

Walking into the materials storage center of Qianxiduo, it was hard to see any worker, there was only the low hum of machines. It is the ‘heart’ of the factory. All the cardboard is distributed from here.

The ASCOT system of the fully automatic cardboard feed hopper was operating efficiently. The workers clicked on the operation panel to retrieve order, and the information including the number of the order, the quantity and the destination was clearly displayed. After the system received the command, it could automatically and precisely catch the required cardboard from thousands of materials, and transport it to the equipment of the next process including die-cutting machines and gluing machines by conveyor belts.

‘The fully automatic cardboard feeder is domestic equipment. Its core advantage is that it can achieve automatic feeding of materials with software technologies.’ said Zhang Naiwei, the general manager of Qianxiduo (Nantong) Packaging Products Co., Ltd. 1,000 to 2,000 types of materials with extremely high similarity are stored in the warehouse. In the past, workers had to carry the sheets, search and check in between the storage racks, and move them with a manual pallet jack. It took at least half an hour. Now, no manual intervention is required throughout the entire process. ‘The efficiency has been increased by 10 to 20 times. When it’s nighttime, unmanned operations can be achieved here, which is the “lights-out factory” that we often talk about.’

Qianxiduo (Nantong) Packaging Products Co., Ltd. was founded in May 2018. The company invested 30 million US dollars to build a 27,000-square-meter factory, and invested 120 million yuan to purchase manufacturing equipment. It mainly works on design, manufacturing, processing and sales of packaging and printing products, and retail and wholesale of packaging materials and related equipment. The annual sales can reach 150 million yuan.

Going to the colour printing and carton workshops, several AGVs moved back and forth in an orderly manner, like well-trained porters. Relying on navigation technology, they move freely, deftly avoid obstacles, and deliver materials precisely to designated workstations.

Since 2025, Qianxiduo has gradually introduced 6 AGVs, successfully connecting all the manufacturing processes. Zhang Naiwei said, ‘the 6 vehicles have replaced the workload of five to six workers, and the error rate is extremely low, making the connection between various manufacturing processes precise and smooth.’

If automation and flexible manufacturing have allowed Qianxiduo to achieve an efficiency revolution, then the full integration of data is now driving an even deeper transformation — a revolution of trust.

Zhang Naiwei said that in the future Qianxiduo will integrate all the present systems, comprehensively collect production data across the entire process, enabling data interoperability and seamless connectivity at every stage — from raw material warehousing and production scheduling to equipment operation and finished product outbound dispatch. At the recent Decathlon Digitalization Conference, Qianxiduo shared this digital development blueprint in depth with the attending client teams.

‘After the digital chain is fully connected, customers can check in real time which process their order is at, how the equipment is running, when it is expected to be shipped, and when it will be delivered,’ said Zhang Naiwei. ‘This is what we have worked for, transparent manufacturing and trust-based manufacturing. Customers don't need to send anyone to follow up on orders, nor do they need to keep calling to chase deliveries. They just open the system and see everything at a glance.’

It was the second time that Éric Moriaux, the person in charge of the CCS team and packaging director of Decathlon, visited Qianxiduo. He said, ‘We have seen many advanced intelligent designs at Qianxiduo, especially the innovation in front-end applications. These are all the fields that we wish to explore together in the future. This gives us great confidence in our future cooperation.’

‘When many enterprises talk about digitalization, they like to talk about big screens and the number of robots.’ An expert who has organized industrial investigations many times said that what touched Decathlon were those ‘invisible things’ —— how data is transmitted, and how trust is built. Qianxiduo has shown us a truly rare ability.

【背景阅读】

迪卡侬全球包装数字化大会选在南通一家“黑灯工厂”举行

仟禧多的纸箱里装了什么秘密

4月22日，迪卡侬包装数字化大会，在位于南通海安的仟禧多（南通）包装制品有限公司举行。30多名来自迪卡侬CCS团队的包装专家、技术总监，包括其包装总监蒂埃里·莫尼亚克斯，走进这家企业。

迪卡侬包装数字化大会是迪卡侬集团在其全球供应链体系内，针对包装业务板块举办的、以“数字化”为核心议题的专业会议。

一个做纸箱的企业，凭什么吸引迪卡侬？

走进仟禧多的物料仓储中心，难见工人身影，只有机器的低鸣声。这里是工厂的“心脏”，所有纸板的调度都由此发出。

全自动纸板进料仓ASCOT系统正在高效运转。工作人员在操作界面轻点调取订单，订单号、数量、目的地等信息清晰呈现。系统接收到指令后，自动从数千种物料中精准抓取所需纸板，通过传送带输送至模切机、糊箱机等下一道工序的设备旁。

“这套全自动纸板进料仓是国产设备，它的核心优势，是依靠软件技术实现物料的自动投喂。”仟禧多（南通）包装制品公司总经理张乃伟介绍。仓库里存储着1000到2000种相似度极高的物料，以往工人拿着单子，在货架间来回寻找、核对，再用手动叉车搬运，至少耗时半小时。如今，全程无需人工干预。“效率提升了10到20倍。到了夜间，这里可以实现无人化作业，就是我们常说的‘黑灯工厂’。”

仟禧多(南通)包装制品有限公司成立于2018年5月，该公司投资3000万美元建设2.7万平方米厂房，并投入1.2亿元购置生产设备，主要从事包装印刷制品的设计、生产、加工和销售，以及包装材料及相关设备批发、零售，年销售额1.5亿元。

来到彩印车间与纸箱车间，多台AGV小车有条不紊地穿梭往返，像一个个训练有素的搬运工。它们依靠导航技术自由行走，灵活地避开障碍物，将物料精准送达指定工位。

自2025年以来，仟禧多陆续引入了6台AGV自动搬运小车，成功串联起了所有生产工序。张乃伟说，“这五六台小车，已经替代了五六个工人的工作量，而且出错率极低，各个生产环节的衔接变得精准顺畅。”

如果说自动化和柔性制造让仟禧多实现了效率革命，那么数据的全面打通，则正在推动一场更深层次的变化——信任革命。

张乃伟透露，未来仟禧多将打通现有的所有系统，全面采集全流程生产数据，实现从原材料入库、生产排程、设备运转到成品出库的每个环节数据互通、无缝衔接。在此次迪卡侬数字化大会上，仟禧多将这一数字化发展蓝图与参会的客户团队进行了深入交流。

“数字链条彻底打通后，客户可以实时查看自己的订单在哪个工序、设备运转状态如何、预计什么时间起运、什么时候交付。”张乃伟说，“这就是我们追求的透明制造、信任制造。客户不用派人来跟单，也不用反复打电话催货，打开系统就一目了然。”

迪卡侬CCS团队负责人、包装总监蒂埃里·莫尼亚克斯已是第二次到访仟禧多。他说：“我们看到了仟禧多诸多先进的智能化设计，尤其是在前端应用方面的创新，这些都是我们未来希望共同探索的领域。这让我们对双方未来的合作充满信心。”

“很多企业谈数字化，喜欢讲大屏，讲多少台机器人。”一位多次组织行业考察的专家表示，打动迪卡侬的，恰恰是那些“看不见的东西”——数据怎么流动，信任怎么建立，仟禧多向我们展示了一种真正稀缺的能力。