Despite some harsh dice defeats (not on my side), late nights and early alarms, a fun time was had in Ningbo visiting the Haitian HQ facilities and four of the 12 factories.
haitian
The trip started looking promising when I was offered an ice cream by the team, who, at first, seemed to validate my passion for Italian food, until one of them (privacy first) proceeded to claim that Greek food is better. Shocking is the only word that applies here, but nobody’s holding a grudge…
After crossing the second-longest sea bridge in the world (the first being also in China – shocking seems right here, too) and being welcomed by an impressive skyline of skyscrapers, we were met with the most beautiful hotel hall I’ve ever seen. Settled and ready to go, we enjoyed the warm Chinese hospitality – special mention to Alexis Shen and Hu Zesong for being the best, most professional tour guides! – and a buffet to remember for a lifetime. While I’d love to tell you all about how I discovered a very promising career in dice, it’s time for me to focus on the real reason behind this review.
The first stop on our Haitian itinerary was the headquarters, which are pretty hard to miss. The building itself is quite the sight, not to mention the beautiful water fountain. The HQ brimmed with visitors as it welcomed the Open Days 2026 under the theme ‘Level Up! Your Advantage’ – a staple across the different displays – and the inauguration of the Haitian Machinery Global Application Centre as the company marked its 60th anniversary. The show floor welcomed visitors to a wide range of machinery and technologies, including IMM of all types like fast cycling, fully electric, servo-hydraulic and vertical solutions. It also presented a range of ancillaries, such as pallet trays, die casting and CNC equipment, alongside their applications from automotive, packaging and consumer goods to logistics and medical. The scale of automation was evident throughout (and not just because of the humanoid that gave us heart eyes when we hugged it), and this became even clearer as the day progressed.
The next stop on our tour was the Jupiter factory, home to Haitian servo-hydraulic, twin-platen machines, with models ranging from 450 tonnes up to 8,800. These are mainly used for automotive, pallet manufacturing and logistics applications, and are known for delivering large clamp forces within a comparatively small machine footprint.
What was impressive about this site, just as much as the others, was not only the level of automation (yes, the machines slide up and down a railway-like system) but the level of cleanliness throughout. As you walk across the aisles, you can’t tell where the stock starts and ends, but you can tell there’s not even an inch of dust – an injection moulding paradise if you will.
The highly automated system works like a Swiss clock, with trays being taken across and dropped wherever they need to go, limiting human mistakes and optimising resources. Which is what Haitian is all about – making each process as efficient as it can be. And I must say, they are nailing it.
After a refilling lunch at the Haitian park restaurant, we headed towards the Hilectro robotics factory, which meant robots, robots and more robots as far as my eyes could see. And if you know me a little by this point, you’ll know I was pretty excited. Once again, the facilities were spotless, and the robots shone through the way they deserved. Haitian’s smart solutions took centre stage here, from advanced servo manipulators and intelligent injection moulding workflows to servo manipulators with intelligent compact designs.
The last stop on our Ningbo Haitian’s facilities tour was the Zhafir machinery factory, where Haitian’s all-electric and hybrid IMM are produced. These are commonly used for medical, high-speed/thin-wall components, electronics and other high-precision applications, and are known for their great accuracy, energy efficiency and clean operation. Every component is assembled in-house and trialled for long periods before becoming available. This ensures customers only get the highest-quality products, which sums up Haitian’s modus operandi in a nutshell: nothing is released to market unless it’s 100% future-proofed.
You can’t leave China without saying you’ve hopped aboard a self-driving car, so after this unexpected turn of events and a bigger rush of adrenaline than expected, we made our way back to Shanghai. Our Haitian factory tour concluded in Suzhou by visiting the new Medical Application Technology Centre, which showcased the company’s strengths in precision clean moulding and high-standard turnkey solutions for the medical sector.
That Haitian is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in manufacturing wasn’t a secret. But seeing the automation magic happen in person has given it a whole new dimension. So, thank you to for having me!