Technological Transformation Project of Key Cigarette Factory to Go Into Operation

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 09/08/2010

A costly project of technological transformation of the Golden Bridge cigarette production line of Xiamen Tobacco Industry Co. of Fujian Provincial China Tobacco Industry Corporation in southeast China's Fujian Province - a key Chinese tobacco manufacturer - is near completion and the new production line is to go into operation in September, after intense construction and installation over the past two years. With a total investment of 2.3 billion yuan (338 million U.S. dollars), the project of technological transformation is intended to double the company's annual production capacity and further upgrade its technological level. When the project of technological transformation is completed, the new Golden Bridge production line will have become the world's first-rate blend-type cigarette production line capable of producing 20 billion Golden Bridge brand cigarettes (400,000 cases) annually and generating over 2 billion yuan (286 million U.S. dollars) in annual taxes and profits. The project of technological transformation of the Golden Bridge cigarette production line is a provincial-level priority industrial project. It is also a major point of economic growth, finance, taxation and employment for Xiamen City. On December 19, 2008, a ceremony was held to lay the cornerstone for starting the technological transformation of the Golden Bridge production line. Xiamen Tobacco Industry Co. spent less than two years completing the project of technological transformation after overcoming various difficulties, including arduousness of the task, shortness of the construction stage and complicatedness of the environment. Lying on the western side of Xiamen Tobacco Industry Co., the new Golden Bridge production line covers an area of 333 mu (22.2 hectares), with the total construction area reaching 110,000 square meters. The extraordinarily large joint workshop building of the Golden Bridge production line has a total floor space of 90,000 square meters, with its single span reaching 48 meters. It is the largest single workshop building for the tobacco industry of Fujian. At the leaf tobacco cutting and cigarette making workshops, the installation of many sets of gigantic production equipment has been completed, and workers are busy conducting test runs. "On June 29, the leaf tobacco cutting facility of the production line successfully underwent test batch charging. On August 11, the new production line successfully turned out a first batch of Golden Bridge brand cigarettes on a trial basis. The whole production line is expected to go into full operation by the end of September," said a deputy general manager of Xiamen Tobacco Industry Co. It was reported that in the fulfillment of the project of technological transformation of the Golden Bridge production line, Xiamen Tobacco Industry Co. imported technological equipment and technologies from Italy, Germany, the United States and other countries that are the most advanced in the world so far, including a drum-type burley curing unit that has been the first ever installed in a cigarette factory in China, and that applies the first-rate technology in the world. Golden Bridge is not only a key player of the tobacco industry of Fujian in its drive to develop high-qualify and famous cigarette brands, but is also one of the three representative Chinese-style blend-type cigarette brands of China's tobacco industry as a whole. Enditem