As the oil and petrochemical industry enters a critical phase of high‑quality development, green transformation, decarbonization and intelligent upgrades have become the core drivers of innovation. Against the backdrop of China’s ongoing “dual‑carbon” strategy and ever‑growing demands for safety and efficiency, the China Refining & Chemical Enterprise Technology Exchange Conference convened in Beijing on July 24, 2025, bringing together leading petrochemical companies to explore technological innovation and future pathways.

Invited as a premier smart‑logistics integrator and high‑end equipment manufacturer, EFORK presented “Applications of Intelligent Warehouse & Logistics Systems in Petrochemicals.” Focusing on core pain points—hazardous‑chemical management, safety and control, high‑density storage and efficient handling—EFORK illustrated industry challenges and transformation needs through typical case studies.

From a product‑type perspective, petrochemical materials fall into two main categories—liquids and solids—with distinct packaging, storage methods and logistics workflows:

• Liquid products (e.g. base oils, lubricants, chemical solvents) are stored in tanks or drums. Their logistics process covers automatic packaging, intelligent palletizing, intermediate buffering, inbound management, storage monitoring, outbound operations and shipment scheduling, all under stringent requirements for leak prevention, corrosion resistance and explosion safety.

• Solid products (e.g. pellets, powders, resins) are typically bagged and handled on pallets. As production scales and management becomes more refined, solid‑product storage is rapidly shifting toward smart AS/RS (automated storage and retrieval systems) that integrate conveyors, stacker cranes and RGV/AGV to achieve high‑density storage and swift turnover.

To address the petchem industry’s diverse storage forms, strict safety requirements and high efficiency demands, EFORK leverages big data, IoT and AI to build a fully automated, intelligent logistics system spanning inbound → storage → transfer → outbound → dispatch:

• For liquids, EFORK deploys intelligent palletizers, automated conveyors and drum/tank inbound lines, with explosion‑proof robots, temperature‑humidity monitoring and intrinsic‑safety sensors to ensure end‑to‑end safety and control.

• For solids, EFORK’s smart warehouse solution uses AS/RS, stacker cranes, conveyors and RGV/AGV to deliver high‑density storage, rapid turnover and batch‑flexible in‑out operations, helping clients overcome space constraints and boost warehouse efficiency.

Integrated WMS, WCS and EFMS platforms provide real‑time monitoring, intelligent scheduling and collaborative optimization across multiple sites—achieving data‑driven, visualized operations and enhancing safety, control and supply‑chain synergy for petrochemical enterprises.

1. Safe Storage & Compliance of Hazardous Chemicals
– Project: AS/RS for hazardous chemicals at an optoelectronics company

– Representative scenario: Intelligent storage and compliant management of Class A/B hazardous chemicals

– Overview: Focusing on one of petrochem’s core pain points—safe storage and compliant operation of hazardous chemicals—EFORK delivered a T4‑rated explosion‑proof stacker‑crane AS/RS. Features include automated retrieval, explosion‑monitoring, environmental control and intelligent scheduling. Fully aligned with dangerous‑goods regulations, the system minimizes risk and establishes a “low‑manpower, visualized, intelligent” management model, elevating safety levels and response speed.

2. Smart Storage for Bulk Raw Materials
– Project: Zirconia & white corundum AS/RS for a leading refractory manufacturer

– Representative scenario: High‑density intelligent storage of heavy solid raw materials

– Overview: Addressing heavy, large‑volume, multi‑variety solid petrochemical materials, EFORK deployed two high‑density AS/RS units to automate the full cycle— inbound → storage → outbound → dispatch. Through space‑optimized design, automated stacking and efficient scheduling algorithms, the system breaks site limitations, increases storage density by ~12× and substantially cuts operating costs, enabling lean management and capacity release.

3. Multi‑Category Titanium Material Coordination
– Project: Leading sponge‑titanium producer

– Representative scenario: Coordinated storage of heavy and light materials across multi‑tier supply chains

– Overview: Covering diverse petrochemical materials (titanium ingots, titanium powder, auxiliaries), EFORK built two AS/RS modules—heavy‑load pallet and light‑load tote systems—each tailored to specific material types. An intelligent scheduler links both modules for resource matching, path optimization and synchronized operation, greatly improving space utilization and in/out efficiency. A benchmark in multi‑category material management.

4. Integrated Packaging & Drum‑Storage Automation
– Project: Major photovoltaic‑adhesive chemical manufacturer

– Representative scenario: Automated packaging and smart warehouse integration for liquid drums

– Overview: Liquid products in drums face manual handling, low efficiency and data gaps. EFORK’s solution integrates automatic packaging and labeling, empty‑drum conveyance and AS/RS storage to create a seamless “line‑to‑warehouse” workflow— from filling → packaging → auto‑inbound → inventory management. The result: significantly faster throughput, reduced labor dependency and a flexible, standardized, digital management system.

Looking ahead, as the petrochemical sector accelerates its green and intelligent transformation, digital upgrades in warehouse logistics will be key to competitive advantage. Building on strengths in systems integration, smart equipment and proprietary software, EFORK will continue to deliver safer, smarter, more efficient and agile solutions—empowering the petrochemical industry’s leap from automation to true intelligence and driving high‑quality development across the value chain.