GEEKBAR, a vape technology brand, is taking intelligent manufacturing to new heights by investing more than £120m into setting up a futuristic production facility, as part of its growth plans in the UK and to continue to be a leading vape brand of choice amongst British retailers.
The two-year-project will see some of the most hi-tech machines ever seen on a vape production line brought on stream to ensure the very highest of quality and safety standards. The whole process will be highly efficient as the entire assembly is 90% automated using the very latest hardware and software to provide the highest levels of precision and performance.
In addition, the fully digitised ‘lean and clean’ manufacturing processes will ensure the highest standards in testing and production, while sophisticated QR-coded packaging will reinforce anti-counterfeiting efforts.
In fact, so much emphasis has been placed on quality control, that GEEKVAPE, owners of GEEKBAR, say they will come close to achieving a 100% fault-free production process. It is estimated that the new industry park venture, an ambitious collaboration with atomisation technology group QISITECH, will boast a 99.8% yield rate.
The intelligent manufacturing complex will be located within the Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development District in China’s Guangdong province.
The announcement comes as the Office for National Statistics says vaping has played a ‘major role’ in UK smoking rates dropping to an all-time low of just 13.3%, while the number of vapers is at an all-time high. The ONS says there were now 6.6 million smokers in the UK, compared with 4m vapers.
In addition, the independent Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has revealed that the aggregate value of the UK’s flourishing vape industry was £2.8bn in 2021 and that the sector was directly responsible for adding £310m to the Exchequer through tax revenues in 2021 as well as saving the NHS more than £320m-a-year.
GEEKBAR production is already benefiting from the introduction of full digitisation, all the way through to tamper-proof packaging and warehousing for despatch to specific overseas markets.
More than two hundred sets of automated devices, in areas such as assembly, packing, testing and laser engraving, combine to achieve intelligent production and manufacturing for GEEKBAR.
The whole project is scheduled to be completed within two years. QISITECH’s involvement covers research and development, manufacturing and distribution of electronic atomisation equipment, alongside clean, dust-free facilities for trial production, assembly, preparation for liquid filling and packaging.
The new industrial park will be more than 15 times bigger than the company’s current 14,000 square metre facility at Zhuhai, where it has three standard workshops, with more than 80 production lines.
Allen Yang, CEO of GEEKBAR, said: “Digitisation and smart manufacturing will offer great benefits, not just in production volume and efficiencies, but also in assuring retailers and consumers in the UK and around the world that our products are made to consistently high-quality standards and can be enjoyed safely.
“The integrated packaging technology and three-level QR coding introduces a higher level of traceability to defeat counterfeit and illicit sales.”
GEEKBAR will use ‘intelligent detection technology’ during key stages of the manufacturing process so that products can be traced throughout the entire journey from factory to customer. This means that retailers and consumers can be confident that they are getting genuine GEEKBAR products and makes it harder for the counterfeiters to pass off inferior fake products as the genuine article.
The entire product journey can be tracked across warehousing, shipping, sales and after-sales and only authorised GEEKVAPE employees will have access to this data.
Allen Yang added: “It is of vital importance that we can trace products in this way using the information stored in each batch to ensure confidence that consumers are getting genuine GEEKBAR products.
“We will continue to make the best use of technology to ensure that retailers can be confident that only genuine GEEKBAR products get onto their shelves.”
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