Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture · Industrial Robot Technology Services

Aba's modern industry started late. In 1952, county-owned state-run enterprises in machinery, food, leather, tailoring, papermaking, printing and electric power were established across the prefecture one after another, ending its history as "a blank sheet of paper for modern industry". By 1982 the prefecture had 141 state-owned enterprises covering 14 categories including food, leather, papermaking, coal and machinery, producing more than 30 products such as dairy products, traditional Chinese patent medicines and cement. In 1986–1988 it proposed "taking hydropower development as the driver to pull along a batch of high-energy-consuming industries" and established the cycle of "forestry nourishes water, water generates power, power invigorates industry, industry promotes agriculture", building the Huaxi Electrometallurgical Plant, the West Sichuan Permanent Magnet Materials Plant, the Minjiang Electrolytic Manganese Plant, the synthetic crystal plant, the Aba Aluminum Plant, a ferroalloy plant and a cement plant; metallurgy, electric power, building materials and leather developed rapidly. From 1991 it implemented an "industry-strong prefecture" strategy, building a structure led by hydropower and supported by high-energy-carrier industries, natural pharmaceuticals and green food processing. The Aba Aluminum Plant was a key enterprise built during the 7th Five-Year Plan under the approach of "developing industry in ethnic regions with hydropower as the driver"; completed and put into operation in April 1991, it was wholly acquired by Chongqing Bosai Group in September 2006 and resumed production on December 12, 2008 after the Wenchuan mega-earthquake. In addition, since 2009 the prefecture has jointly built the Cheng'a and De'a enclave parks with Chengdu and Deyang.

In 2025, Aba Prefecture's GDP reached 60.119 billion yuan, up 5.5%; total industrial value added was 12.290 billion yuan, up 4.8%, with an industrialization rate of 20.4%; there were 165 above-scale industrial enterprises. Above-scale industrial value added within the prefecture grew 2.5% (up 9.5% for January–November on the basis that includes the "enclave" parks), with a product sales rate of 96.0%. By industry, metal products value added grew 23.4-fold; liquor, beverages and refined tea manufacturing grew 60.4%; non-metallic mineral products 42.0%; agricultural and sideline food processing 33.1%; non-metallic mining and dressing 22.8%; pharmaceutical manufacturing 11.5%; and electricity and heat production and supply 10.3%. Among main products, beverage output grew 8.2-fold, commercial concrete 40.6%, feed 28.1%, fresh and chilled meat 26.0%, primary aluminum (electrolytic aluminum) 13.4%, electricity generation 13.3% and cement 10.4%. Above-scale industrial enterprises' operating revenue was 24.304 billion yuan, up 1.7%, and total profits and taxes 3.160 billion yuan, up 48.2%. Clean energy added 2.047 million kW of installed capacity, for a total of 8.8095 million kW; the full lithium-battery industry chain achieved an output value of 31.862 billion yuan; industrial investment reached 21.324 billion yuan in January–November, up 32.1% and ranking 2nd in the province; the Cheng'a, De'a and Mian'a enclave parks are expected to post a full-year combined industrial output value of 63 billion yuan, up 11.6%.

Aba's manufacturing is small in scale; its industry is dominated by hydropower, electrolytic aluminum, lithium mining and dressing, green building materials, and agricultural and livestock product processing. Automation retrofits consist mainly of energy-saving technical upgrades and partial digitalization, and full-line robot applications have not yet taken shape. Representative projects: the safety, environmental protection and energy-saving technical upgrade of the Aba Aluminum Plant's 200,000-ton electrolytic aluminum and 150,000-ton aluminum alloy capacity saves 38.7 kgce/t of comprehensive energy consumption after the retrofit — at an annual output of 200,000 tons, that is 7,740 tce of comprehensive energy savings per year; its core equipment, the electrolytic cells, has reserved interfaces and installation space so that digitalized electrolytic-cell technology can be rolled out once mature, enabling real-time online monitoring and "transparent management"; and Sichuan Minjiang Electrochemical's comprehensive energy-saving retrofit of its lime kilns. At the broader level, in 2024–2025 the prefecture completed online smart-upgrading-and-digital-transformation diagnostic assessments for 66 above-scale industrial enterprises and offline diagnostics for 3, and applied for 3 provincial-level manufacturing smart-upgrading-and-digital-transformation projects, receiving 20.23 million yuan in special subsidies; in 2025 it completed digital assessment and diagnostics for 130 enterprises, covering 80% of all above-scale enterprises. By industry, feasible robot scenarios are concentrated in high-temperature, dusty and heavy-labor processes such as aluminum ingot casting and palletizing, spodumene beneficiation, cement and building-material truck loading, and yak slaughtering and cutting. No authoritative statistics on the prefecture's industrial robot stock, annual new installations or robot density were found through public channels (to be verified).