You may have heard of “Lighthouse Factories,”

An honor reserved for the world’s most advanced manufacturing facilities,

With only 189 recognized globally,

Names like Bosch, Johnson & Johnson, and Siemens,

Represent the pinnacle of industrial excellence.

On January 14, 2025,

The list welcomed 17 new members,

Including Foshan Gaoming Factory, owned by Haitian Food,

The first and only soy sauce brewing company worldwide to earn this prestigious title.

Soy sauce,

A term first documented in Shanjia Qinggong during the Southern Song Dynasty,

Has evolved from a mystical Eastern condiment,

Into a symbol of Chinese culinary culture.

Founded in 1955,

Through the merger of 25 traditional breweries in Foshan,

Haitian has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

Today, its production base

Spans 600,000 square meters, featuring sunlit fermentation pools,

Stainless steel tanks towering dozens of meters high,

And stereoscopic warehouses with a storage capacity exceeding 5 million tons.

Annually, it produces seasoning products worth over 20 billion RMB.

Behind these staggering numbers,

Lies AI’s transformative role.

How does cutting-edge AI technology enhance

The production of soy sauce?

Every soybean entering Haitian

Undergoes “AI Bean Screening”

Where it is inspected alongside 2.5 trillion peers,

To weed out defects.

After continuous pressing and fermentation,

An “AI Electronic Nose,”

Trained on over 100 aroma profiles,

Ensures flavor consistency through smart olfactory analysis.

The final product,

Flows through food-grade pipelines to windowless workshops,

With all-time real-time monitoring via an “Online NIR Spectroscopy”

For quality assurance.

An “AI Precision Filling System”

Bottles 52,000 units hourly,

While an “Intelligent Warehouse”

Ensures freshness with climate control,

Achieving dispatch times as fast as 120 seconds.

The digitalization of this century-old craft

Is more of a necessity than a choice.

In January 2025,

Haitian’s Hong Kong IPO filing

Revealed challenges:

Declining gross margins, revenue dips, and digital marketing hurdles.

Market volatility

Has forced legacy brands to innovate.

Traditional industries like brewing

Must adopt tech to survive and thrive.

In recent years,

The Guangdong government has launched policies to drive digital transformation,

Tailored to the unique needs of various industries.

By 2024,

Guangdong had digitally transformed over 10,000 manufacturers,

With industrial tech upgrades growing at double-digit rates for 24 consecutive months.

Equipment renewal investments hit a 9-year high,

Revitalizing traditional sectors like Haitian

And solidifying their role as pillars of

Guangdong’s economic resilience.

A single soybean journeys from field to kitchen

Through countless processes,

Just as traditional industries require relentless refinement,

To sprout new growth.