From "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing"—a single sheet of paper is leveraging a billion-yuan industrial cluster in Laibin, Guangxi.

2025-11-19 Source: China News Service

Pulp processing, papermaking, slitting, packaging, and warehousing—every step is handled by fully automated operations. Intelligent machinery moves flexibly back and forth, neatly wrapping rolls of paper for seamless transportation and storage. Derived from forest resources, these specialty paper products are transformed into versatile materials: they become facial mask sheets, decorative papers for furniture, and even serve as essential substrates in high-end manufacturing fields like aerospace and high-speed rail technology.

The photo shows the production base of Guangxi Xianhe New Materials Co., Ltd. Photo by Zhai Liqiang

In recent years, Laibin has leveraged its abundant resources of forestry materials, bagasse, bamboo forests, and more, empowering the traditional papermaking industry to undergo a high-end, intelligent, and eco-friendly transformation through "AI+."

“We are targeting the specialty paper sector, which features high technological content and high added value—products widely used in areas such as food packaging, medical packaging, and commercial printing,” said Jiang Liyong, Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Xianhe New Materials Co., Ltd. The company is focusing on an integrated approach to smart and green development, striving to全面提升 production efficiency across the board.

In the central control room of Guangxi Xianhe New Materials Co., Ltd., massive electronic screens display real-time production data spanning the entire process. Operators simply click a mouse to remotely manage this extensive production line. At the core paper-making stage, an intelligent quality-control system is employed, continuously monitoring and automatically adjusting critical parameters such as moisture and ash content. As a result, the company’s production lines have achieved 100% automation. "This not only minimizes errors that could arise from manual operations but also effectively reduces the impact of various unpredictable factors during process adjustments," said Jiang Liyong.

From "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing," we're continuously enhancing the value of "a single sheet of paper." "Ordinary cultural paper sells for around 5,000 yuan (RMB, same hereafter) per ton, while high-performance electrolytic capacitor paper can fetch prices as high as hundreds of thousands of yuan per ton," says Huang Tong, an employee at Guangxi Xianhe New Materials Co., Ltd. This incredibly thin electrolytic capacitor paper—so delicate it resembles a cicada's wing—is widely used in industries such as televisions, computers, power systems, automation, and automotive technology, making it an indispensable key material driving the growth of high-tech industries.

Guangxi Xianhe New Materials Co., Ltd.'s specialty paper industry is a microcosm of Laibin City's efforts to build a hundred-billion-level industrial cluster focused on high-performance paper and fiber-based advanced composite materials. In Laibin City's industrial park, Guangxi Lülian Biotechnology Co., Ltd. leverages "AI+" technology to efficiently convert resources like sugarcane and bamboo wood into biodegradable, eco-friendly tableware, which is now exported to overseas markets such as Europe and America.

The photo shows workers from Guangxi Lülian Biotechnology Co., Ltd., producing eco-friendly tableware. Photo by Lin Xin

“Overseas customers place particular emphasis on environmental standards. Our pizza boxes and meal containers, produced specifically to meet the demands of international markets, have already generated export revenues exceeding 16 million yuan from January to August this year,” said Zhu Min, Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Lülian Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Currently, the company boasts an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons of eco-friendly, biodegradable plant-fiber tableware products, with its offerings directly supplied to numerous well-known domestic and global brands.

In recent years, Laibin City has actively attracted a number of leading enterprises, including Xianhe New Materials, Lülian Bio, Guangxi Huabao, Fospai, and Zhihu Yunshang, to build an integrated, circular industrial chain for "bagasse—pulping—pulp-molded products." Eucalyptus wood —Pulping—High-end Paper Products” and “Eucalyptus Wood—Pulping—Composite Fiber” fully integrated, high-value-added industrial chains; as well as the comprehensive utilization chain of “Bamboo—Pulping—Pulp Molding & High-end Paper Products.”

The industrial agglomeration effect is accelerating. By 2024, Laibin City has already seen 28 large-scale paper-making enterprises, forming a complete industrial chain that spans pulp production, eco-friendly tableware, and machine-made paper products. Data shows that from January to September 2025, the sector achieved an output value of 6.98 billion yuan, representing a substantial year-on-year increase of 55.8%. For the full year of 2025, the industry aims to reach a total industrial output value of 10 billion yuan.

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