AI Empowers Wooden Toy Enterprises to Unlock the "New Speed" of Intelligent Manufacturing
On September 16, reporters visited Zhejiang Youbel Toy Co., Ltd. Staff clicked the mouse and dragged a physical photo of a wooden children’s kitchen into the system. Within dozens of seconds, AI automatically decomposed product components for the BOM (Bill of Materials) and generated an optimal material nesting plan for the parts.
According to Liu Lihong, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system administrator of the company, this is a daily scenario after the enterprise implemented digital parsing transformation for components. Zhejiang Youbel Toy Co., Ltd. is an integrated manufacturer engaged in the R&D, production and sales of bamboo & wooden toys, educational puzzle toys, children’s kitchens, children’s furniture, wooden crafts and other products. Boasting a wide product portfolio and reliable manufacturing techniques, the enterprise has built solid market reputation. Nevertheless, the wooden toy industry features tiny scattered parts, diverse specifications and heavy customization, which has troubled the enterprise’s traditional production management.
“In the past, material file creation and BOM entry for new products relied entirely on manual work. Technicians needed to read drawings one by one, manually measure part dimensions and input material information item by item. It was not only time-consuming and labor-intensive with long file establishment cycles, but manual operations inevitably caused data deviations and entry errors, which directly affected product quotation, raw material procurement and production scheduling,” Liu Lihong told reporters. The traditional production management model has long restricted the high-quality development of the enterprise.
To tackle industry pain points and boost production efficiency, Youbel Toy carried out digital parsing transformation for components based on its own production scenarios. AI intelligent tools are deeply embedded in the product information module of its intelligent manufacturing ERP system, integrating four core AI capabilities: photo parsing, drawing parsing, intelligent blanking nesting and optimal nesting scheme generation. It has successfully built a full-service digital workflow of “physical object/drawing parsing – automatic BOM generation – intelligent plate nesting – workshop blanking”, phasing out the traditional manual-led material production management model.
Beyond improved efficiency in material file creation, AI intelligent nesting also acts as a powerful tool to control losses and improve quality. On the screen, one plate is cut into dozens of parts, with scrap areas marked in red. “Manual nesting depends on experience, while AI nesting relies on data,” Liu Lihong explained. Compared with traditional methods, plate utilization is effectively improved and wood waste is greatly reduced. Losses throughout the whole process can be traced and records can be retained.
“Previously, a single order would take most of a day to handle,” Liu Lihong said. The new system is also equipped with an AI intelligent customer service agent, which can answer real-time questions about system operation, data query, process handling and other issues. It further cuts operation and maintenance costs, improves office efficiency and delivers more complete and efficient supporting services for digital production.
From a photo to a BOM, from a drawing to a blanking plan, the deep integration of AI and ERP not only reduces costs and raises efficiency for the enterprise, but also provides a replicable path for the digital transformation of wooden toy factories. Going forward, our county will further promote and empower digital technologies, guide more traditional manufacturing enterprises to embrace intelligent manufacturing, improve quality while cutting costs, and fully drive the iterative upgrading of regional traditional industries to unleash new development vitality.
Source: Fairy-tale Yunhe, Yunhe County Convergence Media Center