Qingdao Haier-Carrier Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. (Haier Carrier) recently celebrated the opening of its new intelligent manufacturing facility. With a larger footprint and upgraded production lines and labs, the new facility houses manufacturing, development, testing, quality inspection and office operations, and allows a 45 percent increase in production capacity over the previous location. Haier Carrier is a joint venture established in 2001 by Haier Group and Carrier.
Mr. Xuhaijie, Deputy Director of Qingdao International Economic Cooperation Zone Management Committee, Mr. Qin Yuming, the secretary general of China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing Cold-chain Logistics Specialized Committee, and Derek Lu, managing director, Haier Carrier, made the opening remarks.
“This new manufacturing facility marks the official implementation of Haier Carrier’s important focus areas for the China segment, including new retail, catering and Chinese consumers,” said Lu.
2019 Cold Chain Industry Forum
In conjunction with the opening ceremony, Haier Carrier hosted the 2019 Cold Chain Industry Forum, with support from the Qingdao International Economic Cooperation Zone. Senior executives of both online and offline new catering and retail businesses and supply chains participated in the forum, where they discussed how China's cold chain industry could better serve the upgrading of new retail and catering industries and how to meet consumer demand for fresh, higher quality food.
Keynote speakers included Professor Liu Shengjun, president, China Financial Reform Institute, Ms. Liu Xiaoling, chief transformation officer, Cargill Food Ingredients China, and John Zhang, executive general manager, Papa John’s USA.
Zhang noted how Papa John’s actively participates in the wave of new catering, which requires food to have greater transparency throughout the process from source to table, and the new retail online and offline omni-channel integration model, which is more stringent for food preservation.
“From temperature and origin to tools and management, the nutrition and taste of food is one of the driving forces behind the constant innovation of the food industry,” Zhang said.
In the round-table exchange, Joanne Lu, managing director, Carrier Commercial Refrigeration Asia, joined the three keynote speakers to focus on the cold chain ecosystem.
“Today, new retail and food concepts are reshaping the people, goods and scenarios in traditional retail and pushing cold chain logistics to take the lead in making changes,” Lu said. “Haier Carrier, with innovations and cutting-edge technologies, works continuously to reshape production patterns in the domestic cold chain industry, bring service to new levels, catalyze transformation of the entire industry and meet consumers’ needs for fresh food delivered fast.
Enter into the Smart Cold Chain 4.0 Era
China’s cold chain logistics took root in the early days after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in 1949. Between 1949 and 1956, the government invested and developed a number of department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives in rural areas. It was not until the emergence of chain supermarkets in major cities and the improvement of the cold chain in retail and food sectors following reform that China’s modern food cold chain became truly viable.
