AIMStek Showcases Smart Manufacturing and Intralogistics Solutions at National Printing Managers Conference

The 2026 Printing & Packaging Industry Economic Forum and National Printing Managers Conference was held in Hefei, Anhui, on September 10-11. Under the theme “Strengthening the Foundation, Unlocking New Growth,” the event brought together leaders from printing companies, industry experts, and representatives from across the printing and packaging value chain to explore new paths toward high-quality growth as China enters the first year of its 15th Five-Year Plan.

National Printing Managers Conference

As a leading smart manufacturing solutions provider with extensive experience in the printing and packaging industry, AIMStek was invited to attend the conference for the third consecutive year. The company showcased its integrated solutions for intralogistics and manufacturing operations, highlighting how intelligent material handling can work in close coordination with production planning, execution, and shop-floor operations.

Intelligent Intralogistics: Making Material Flow More Precise and Efficient

Printing and packaging operations involve a wide range of material formats, including paper rolls, film rolls, sheets, and corrugated board. With storage areas often distributed across different locations, manual material handling can lead to low efficiency and inaccurate inventory visibility. At the shop floor, this can result in either material shortages that disrupt production or excessive line-side inventory that takes up valuable space.

Internal Logistics – Warehousing Logistics – Row Paper Warehouse

AIMStek provides end-to-end intelligent intralogistics solutions covering warehousing, shop-floor logistics, and plant-wide material handling.

For warehousing, intelligent storage solutions support multiple types of material storage areas, while the Warehouse Management System (WMS) enables centralized inventory management and coordinated material scheduling.

At the shop-floor level, automated material transfer between processes, together with the Logistics Execution System (LES), connects line-side buffering with precise material delivery to production lines, helping prevent both supply interruptions and material accumulation.

At the plant level, intelligent logistics enables material movement across warehouses, workshops, and buildings, supporting coordinated material handling across the entire site.

Manufacturing Operations: Making Production More Transparent and Controllable

AIMStek integrates APS-based production planning and scheduling, MES-based production execution, and a digital foundation into a connected manufacturing operations framework.

Manufacturing Execution System

The Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system coordinates orders, production capacity, and material availability, enabling rapid rescheduling in response to urgent orders and production changes.

The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) provides real-time visibility into process and machine status, while enabling timely alerts and responses to equipment downtime, production delays, and quality issues.

The digital foundation supports equipment connectivity, data acquisition, and data standardization, providing accurate and timely shop-floor data for manufacturing operations.

Together, these capabilities create a connected loop from planning to execution. Production scheduling becomes more data-driven, shop-floor execution becomes more transparent, and operational issues can be identified and addressed more quickly—helping manufacturers move from experience-based management toward data-driven manufacturing operations.

Equipment Intelligence: Connecting the Final Link in Smart Manufacturing

The value of smart manufacturing ultimately depends on what happens on the shop floor. Production equipment serves as a critical connection point between production, logistics, and data.

Machine Intelligent Upgrading

For mainstream printing and packaging equipment—including printing presses, die-cutting machines, and laminating machines—AIMStek develops customized intelligent equipment solutions based on specific processes and production requirements.

By integrating automated loading and unloading systems, high-precision sensors, communication modules, and other technologies, AIMStek enables automated material handling and equipment-level data connectivity. This creates a seamless data and operational link between equipment, logistics systems, and manufacturing execution systems, allowing individual machines to become part of an integrated manufacturing operations environment rather than operating as isolated production units.

Intelligent Film Roll Handling for Flexible Packaging

In flexible packaging applications, for example, AIMStek has developed an automated film roll loading and unloading system designed specifically for the handling requirements of film materials.

Intelligent Film Roll Handling for Flexible Packaging

The system combines a flexible plate-chain conveyor with a rigid-chain lifting mechanism to automate the entire material handling process, from loading and conveying to pallet exchange and unloading.

Given the high handling precision and surface-protection requirements of film materials, the system reduces manual handling and minimizes the risk of film surface damage associated with conventional conveying methods. It also shortens changeover time and reduces reliance on manual labor during production transitions.

From intelligent warehousing and shop-floor logistics to production planning and execution and intelligent equipment transformation, AIMStek continues to connect logistics, production, and equipment through integrated data and operational workflows.

By bringing together material flow, production flow, and information flow, AIMStek helps printing and packaging manufacturers build more efficient, transparent, and connected manufacturing operations—supporting higher productivity, greater operational agility, and more sustainable growth.