Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County · Industrial Robot Technology Services

When the Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County was established on November 18, 1984, industry was virtually a blank: apart from coal and small hydropower stations, manufacturing was essentially nonexistent. That year's gross industrial output was only 28.68 million yuan, consisting of a few handicraft-workshop-style processing operations. To change this, the county successively set up coal mines, lead-zinc mines, a cement plant, a silk reeling plant, a cigarette factory, and a carbon black plant - a batch of state-owned and township enterprises - building food, light textile, and chemical industries from nothing. During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the county pursued the strategy of "ecology-based, opening-driven, industry-strong county"; the 12th Five-Year Plan added "commerce and tourism to vitalize the county" and put establishing an industrial park on the agenda, gradually scaling up industrial output. By 2013, four pillar industries had taken initial shape - materials, energy, machinery and electronics, and pharmaceuticals and agricultural product processing - with annual gross industrial output exceeding 10 billion yuan, 347.7 times the 1984 level and a nominal average annual growth of 22.4%, and 54 above-scale industrial enterprises. In 2023, countywide gross industrial output reached 12.76 billion yuan, 443 times that of 1984; above-scale enterprises numbered 49 with output of 9.43 billion yuan. Recent industrial priorities have shifted to four clusters: clean energy, equipment manufacturing (pumps, valves, and instruments), health and wellness consumer goods, and new materials. With targeted assistance from CNNC Group, the pump and valve industry built 88,000 square meters of new standard factory space and jointly established a valve industry outsourcing base with Chongqing Chuanyi, and Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Ma Yushan serves as industry development advisor. In health and wellness consumer goods, 15 new projects were introduced in 2024, including the Sinopharm Taiji Shizhu industrial park and chili pepper cultivation base construction and deep processing.

In 2024, Shizhu's GDP reached 29.026 billion yuan, up 5.8%, with the three sectors structured at 14.0:27.4:58.6. Industrial value added was 5.542 billion yuan, up 5.4%, or 19.1% of the economy; by category, mining grew 33.1%, manufacturing fell 3.9%, and electric power, heat, gas, and water production and supply grew 32.8%. Above-scale industrial value added grew 4.1%. The county has 52 above-scale industrial enterprises (including two industrial activity units), with above-scale output of 6.963 billion yuan, up 8.0% - mining 91 million yuan, manufacturing 4.046 billion yuan, and electric power, heat, gas, and water 2.826 billion yuan. Key products: electricity generation 4.697 billion kWh (up 10.1%), proprietary Chinese medicines 2,346.06 tons (up 1.7%), commercial concrete 642,800 cubic meters (up 12.2%), and cement 627,300 tons. The four major industrial clusters delivered 6.97 billion yuan in above-scale industrial output in 2024, up 8%, and completed 4.84 billion yuan in industrial investment, up 47.4% - ranking 8th citywide and 2nd in southeast Chongqing. Total installed clean energy capacity reached 989,000 kW, over 58% of the total, including 577,800 kW of grid-connected wind power. On the agricultural side, the "three-color economy" exceeded 4 billion yuan in combined output: coptis covers 72,000 mu in the ground, producing more than 3,600 tons of dried product a year (60% of China's and 50% of the world's total); chili peppers are planted on 100,000 mu with annual output above 80,000 tons; and water shield covers 14,000 mu.

Shizhu's automation investment concentrates on processing agricultural products such as chili peppers and coptis, taking the form of production lines and intelligent sorting equipment rather than industrial robot bodies. For chili processing, 48 automatic hot-air circulation drying lines have been built (other reports say 52 fully automatic natural-gas chili drying lines countywide), giving an annual mechanical processing capacity above 80,000 tons. Leading enterprise Jindongdong's selection workshop is fitted with air separation, gravity separation, X-ray inspection, and ultra-high-definition color sorting, backed by more than 20 foreign-matter removal processes that eliminate stems and leaves, defective fruit, insect residue, and twigs while checking moisture and physicochemical indicators. In deep processing, segmented variable-temperature roasting equipment controls the heat, paired with traditional physical washing equipment; finished products undergo dual treatment - high-temperature flash sterilization and microwave sterilization - before standardized packaging on fully automatic vacuum sealing machines. For coptis processing, mechanization began from early handicraft workshops, and a standardized processing plant of over 7,000 square meters was completed in 2016, lifting annual processing capacity from 150 tons to 450 tons. In 2024, Shizhu's above-scale food and agricultural product processing output grew 15.6%, and first-quarter above-scale food processing output grew 43.1%, the fastest in the municipality. The pump, valve, and instrument industry built 88,000 square meters of new standard factory space, targeting annual production of 21 million valves and 500,000 smart water meters by 2025. No public, authoritative figures exist for Shizhu's industrial robot installed base, annual new installations, or robot density (units per 10,000 industrial workers); all three are to be verified.