As a kitchen appliance that is essential in every household, electric rice cookers continue to enjoy robust market demand—global sales reached 300 million units in 2019, with output value exceeding 70 billion yuan. Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai together account for more than 98% of the nation’s total production.

However, behind the boom, electric rice cooker manufacturers are grappling with numerous challenges: Traditional production lines require 19 workers per shift, involving intense labor; labor costs are soaring, and there are significant risks of work-related injuries and noise pollution. The five-step side-punching process demands 10 sets of molds, leading to high equipment investment and slow changeover times. Moreover, production-line efficiency can’t keep pace with the 20% annual growth in demand, while imported robots remain difficult to popularize due to their high costs and poor adaptability.

It is precisely this industry-wide challenge that has made Guangdong Haichuan Robot’s smart manufacturing production line solution for electric rice cookers a “much-needed rain” for many companies seeking to upgrade.

Process and Mold Optimization: Cost Reduction by 60%, Suitable for Multi-Category Production

Haichuan Robotics deeply understands that the core pain points in rice cooker production lie in “heavy reliance on manual labor, high mold costs, and difficulty in flexible adaptation.” Therefore, we’ve developed a full-process customized solution—from process optimization and equipment integration to intelligent management.

In terms of mold and process optimization, Haichuan draws on advanced industry practices and integrates them with its own proprietary technologies to consolidate the traditional five-step side-punching process into a single step. Coupled with a quick-change insert mold design, this approach not only reduces customers’ mold investment by 60%—from 1 million yuan to 300,000 yuan—but also enables “rapid online tool changes,” allowing a single production line to flexibly manufacture multiple models of rice cooker housings and inner pots, perfectly meeting the “small-batch, multi-variety” production demands of the small-appliance industry.

Automation equipment integration is Haichuan’s core strength. For the entire process of rice cookers—from raw material feeding to finished product—Haichuan deploys servo-fed material machines that automatically apply oil, perform dual-material detection, and deliver materials with pinpoint accuracy. Intermediate processes are handled by articulated-arm robots and six-axis robots, which flexibly carry out stamping and forming. Finally, a palletizing robot takes over at the end stage, automatically stacking the finished products, thus creating a “fully automated production closed loop.”

Automation Integration: From 57 People to Just 3—The “Unmanned Revolution” That Doubles Efficiency

This solution completely transforms the labor-intensive model of traditional production lines: what once required 57 workers (working in three shifts) now only needs three people to monitor equipment, reducing annual labor costs from 3.42 million yuan to just 1.8 million yuan. Moreover, production line efficiency has doubled—from 5 units per minute to 12 units per minute—and annual output has surged from 2.628 million units to 5.256 million units, easily meeting growing market demand.

More importantly, the Haichuan solution costs only half as much as imported robots yet offers greater adaptability, avoiding the awkward situation of “buying expensive equipment only to find it difficult to use.”

Smart management capabilities further empower rice cooker enterprises.

Haichuan has deeply integrated industrial internet technologies with the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) to create a seamless connection among production line personnel, equipment, and materials in real time. Through a remote monitoring platform, companies can instantly access operational data from stamping equipment and the status of robotic operations. The TransData server, combined with barcode recognition technology, precisely records production information for each individual product, facilitating easy quality traceability. In the future, the system can be further expanded to include AGV unmanned vehicles and ERP system integration, laying a solid foundation for Industry 4.0 smart factories.

A cooperating rice cooker manufacturer reported that, after adopting the Haichuan solution, the workshop environment has not only transformed from “dirty and chaotic” to clean and well-organized, but also, thanks to data-driven management, the punch press utilization rate has increased from 70% to 95%. Moreover, the product defect rate has been reduced to below 0.5%, completely eliminating the headaches associated with “quality rework and work-related injury handling.”

Hard-power support: Technology and experience make the implementation of the solution more reliable.

Being able to deliver such a “report card” stems from Haichuan’s deep technological foundation and extensive industry experience.

As a national-level high-tech enterprise, Haichuan holds over 100 patented technologies, and more than 50 stamping, palletizing, and welding processes have reached domestically leading levels. Its core technical team boasts an average of over 10 years of industry experience. Moreover, Haichuan has jointly established R&D platforms with research institutions such as the Guangdong Academy of Sciences and Guangdong University of Technology, ensuring that its solutions consistently stay at the forefront of technological advancements.

Previously, Haichuan has provided services to leading home appliance companies such as Midea, Supor, and Joyoung. It consistently ranks first in market share within China’s small-appliance industry base. This wealth of experience has given Haichuan a deep understanding of the intricate manufacturing processes and stringent quality requirements for rice cookers, enabling it to implement solutions more swiftly and achieve more tangible results.

Full-cycle services: We provide end-to-end support for upgrades—from research and analysis to operations and maintenance.

For electric rice cooker manufacturers, choosing Haichuan Robotics is not just about introducing a set of equipment—it’s also about gaining “full-cycle support.”

Haichuan has service centers located in the Pearl River Delta, East China, Central China, and Southwest China. We commit to responding to after-sales requests within 24 hours—providing comprehensive support throughout the entire process, from initial on-site surveys and customized solutions, through mid-term installation, commissioning, and staff training, to later-stage regular inspections and software upgrades. Whether you're a small- or medium-sized factory just beginning to explore automation, or a large enterprise seeking to break through capacity constraints, Haichuan has the right solution for you.

Today, as consumer markets increasingly demand higher functionality and more sophisticated designs for rice cookers, the pressure on manufacturing companies to upgrade is becoming ever more urgent.

Driven by the mission of “Making intelligent manufacturing simpler,” Haichuan Robotics has helped numerous companies achieve their goals of “reducing costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing quality” through its cost-effective and highly adaptable smart manufacturing solutions for rice cookers.

If your business is also struggling with high labor costs, low production-line efficiency, and insufficient flexibility, why not get in touch with Haichuan Robotics? We’ll provide you with a free production-line assessment and tailor-made upgrade solutions to help you gain a competitive edge in the rice-cooker market.