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On January 10th, inside the central control room, Peng Zhiguang, an operator from Team 1 of Process Department 1 at Guangdong Petrochemical Company’s refining division, was closely watching the screens in front of him; he could see all the parameters related to the various branches of the atmospheric furnace in the atmospheric distillation unit, as well as the feed to the vacuum furnace and the liquid level at the bottom of the atmospheric tower. “Based on production requirements, I modify the target value here using the keyboard, and this advanced control system will then cause the device to automatically achieve it. ”Peng Zhiguang, who graduated in 2020 and spent over a year working in Xinjiang, is very proud of the advanced intelligent systems available there. As one of the supporting elements that help Guangdong Petrochemicals become a \"green, intelligent, and efficient world-class refining and chemical complex,\" smart factories represent a key means of achieving intrinsic safety and environmental protection, as well as compliant management, while improving efficiency and productivity. At present, the Guangdong Petrochemical Project is in a critical phase of joint commissioning. In this invisible realm, high-tech intelligent systems are providing strong support for this world-class refining and chemical complex, which is set to begin operations soon. According to the personnel in charge of intelligent management at the Technology Development Department of Guangdong Petrochemical Company, 34 intelligent systems are already involved in all aspects of the company’s operations, from production and management to financial affairs. Guangdong Petrochemical’s 600,000 tons per year alkylation unit is currently the largest alkylation production facility in China, with its two main circulation processes brought online on December 11, 2022. Wang Heng, production manager of Refining Production Department 2, explained: \"To address issues such as inaccurate flow meter calibration and instrument malfunctions that often occur during the initial stages of trial production, we utilized the PRD technology of the full-process intelligent control system, which successfully solved the problem of enabling automatic control even when the flow rates are inaccurate.\" ”On the large screen in the dispatch control center, dispatchers are using the production control system to monitor in real time the balance of energy sources such as water, electricity, and gas throughout the plant, the operating conditions of the 9 flares, as well as the performance metrics of the production facilities in use, including the crude oil tanks within the plant and those in commercial storage facilities. Moreover, this system brings together key data from various business areas such as planning, storage and transportation, production, energy, safety and environmental protection, as well as equipment, thereby providing effective support for production scheduling and command. Intelligent systems are everywhere in the 920-hectare plant area. The storage and transportation logistics automation system establishes a closed-loop management system for storage, sales, transportation, loading, measurement, and shipment processes, with process control as its core element, thereby enabling precise management of the inbound and outbound operations of petrochemical products in Guangdong. Lin Wei, deputy manager of the Storage and Transportation Production Department, explained that the automation system for storage and transportation logistics has established an information link between the sales company and the refineries. It also enables the use of a unified card system for refined oil at the sales companies, reducing the need for staff to create cards on-site and for drivers to replace their cards, thereby greatly improving work efficiency and accuracy. At the same time, through drivers’ scheduled appointments, the system effectively distributes vehicles, reducing the waiting time for drivers outside the plant, and thus successfully solves the problem of traffic congestion on the roads leading to the refinery. With the careful organization and thorough planning by Guangdong Petrochemical Company, as well as the practical efforts and efficient execution by the general contractor Kunlun Digital Intelligence Company. By the end of December 2022, the production and operation systems had integrated the entire plant’s planning and scheduling processes as well as production control processes. A plant-wide production operation platform centered around MES was established, and initial models such as \"shift-based tracking and daily balancing\" as well as \"top-down integrated management for production coordination optimization\" were put in place. An enterprise management platform centered around ERP was also developed; currently, the ERP system supports tasks such as requirement planning, purchase order management, and inventory management. The electronic billing function of the storage and logistics automation system facilitates the outbound processing of products such as liquid argon. Infrastructure elements such as data center facilities, network systems, network security, and cloud platforms are operating stably and efficiently, and an IT infrastructure platform based on the industrial internet architecture has been initially established.