The Resilient Growth of Colibri New Energy under the VUCA era

2023.11.30

In 2023, the lithium battery industry underwent a significant transformation from supply shortages to severe structural overcapacity, leading to increased demands for “quality” and “price” within the industry. This has prompted stakeholders along the supply chain to seek diversified solutions to address the changing landscape.

For equipment enterprises, the urgent quest is to regain sources of business growth amid the challenges of large-scale manufacturing, cost reduction, efficiency enhancement, and industry reshuffling. On Nov. 21st to 23rd, the 2023 GGII Annual Conference, themed “Resilient Growth Through the Cycle”, was held at the JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen Bao’an.

During the cutting-edge technology session, Albert Li, General Manager of Colibri New Energy, delivered a keynote speech titled “Resilient Survival of Equipment Enterprises under the VUCA era”, sharing insights on how Colibri New Energy, as a pioneer in the mid-to-late stage equipment sector of lithium battery production lines, navigates through the new development cycle and thrives with resilience.

Keep it simple to handle complexity in VUCA era

The VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) era, refers to a highly variable and uncertain environment, which happens to be in line with the current state of the lithium industry.

In the VUCA era, lithium industry is facing many challenges—technical and commercial complexity makes the involution intensified, while geopolitical and cultural conflicts pose significant obstacles to international expansion for enterprises. However, to some extent, the VUCA era also brings opportunities for the industry, forcing it undergo upgrades and enhancing core competitiveness.

Albert Li emphasized that for equipment enterprises, the key strategy in the face of fluctuations and contradictions in the new cycle of the lithium battery industry is perseverance. Only by persistently cultivating core business areas, focusing on technological innovation and upgrades, and becoming experts in the field can enterprises significantly increase their chances of not being eliminated in the industry reshuffling.

Regarding how to become an “expert”, Albert Li proposed five suggestions.

Firstly, as an equipment enterprise, it is necessary to achieve full coverage of business scenarios in two or three proficient processes.

The production of lithium batteries is a complex and intricate process involving over 50 procedures, leading to increasingly complex business scenarios. If each business scenario is divided into three-dimensional coordinates of process, cell specification, and time, equipment enterprises need products and technologies to cover each dimension.

Secondly, it is crucial to lead in terms of cost-effectiveness and match customer demands. In the industry’s increasingly price-sensitive competitive environment, equipment enterprises need to ensure a balance between product performance and cost, while maintaining at least a one-third quantitatively.

Facing industry-wide price wars, Albert Li particularly advocated for equipment enterprises to reduce costs through technological upgrades and process innovation, ensuring the sustainable development of the industry.

Thirdly, maintaining industry-leading core processes is essential. Based on market demand orientation, equipment enterprises must ensure rapid development of processes and technology updates, continuously investing in research and development and collaborative innovation.

Fourthly, ensuring excellence in delivery is paramount. As lithium battery equipment becomes more complex and precise, enterprises face more challenges in product delivery. Therefore, more stringent control measures are required in terms of process control, debugging and verification, and technical training to ensure smooth delivery and installation.

Lastly, embracing globalization in service provision. Albert Li stated that the lithium battery industry has the capability to lead the entire industry and has globally localized facilities. Through extensive technical support and rich customer experiences, lithium battery equipment enterprises have broader opportunities in overseas markets.

Front-runner in the field of mid-to-late stage equipment

As a pioneer in the mid-to-late stage equipment sector of the lithium battery industry, Colibri New Energy has been deeply involved in the manufacture of battery cells for over a decade.

Albert Li emphasized that cell manufacturing, cell assembly, formation capacity, and post-formation processes are the four areas in which Colibri New Energy has continuously focused its efforts, with high-quality products serving as the “hard power” supporting the company’s development.

In terms of cell manufacturing systems, Colibri New Energy boasts a product matrix with multiple processes and technologies, such as cell cutting, stacking, winding, and pressure forming machines, and master four mainstream stacking processes like Z-stacking, pull-stacking, multi-sheet stacking, and thermal bonding stacking. It has independently developed whole-machine vision and intelligent control systems, and exclusively realized mass production applications of autocal (automatic correction compensation) function for precision error and closed-loop control of sheet size.

In terms of aluminum foil cell assembly systems, Colibri New Energy’s products can be used for high-speed assembly lines of 16PPM blade cells and 24PPM large-capacity large-size cells. At the same time, Colibri New Energy incorporates intelligent, digital, informational, and networked technologies into lithium battery assembly, realizing real-time online monitoring of equipment operation status, significantly reducing the need for maintenance personnel.

In terms of formation capacity systems, Colibri New Energy is the only manufacturer in the industry with design and mass production experience in chamber negative pressure equipment, ensuring consistent negative pressure for all cells in the same box, leading to excellent product performance. It is also the first in the industry to adopt GaN device-based power supply solutions and ship in bulk, with smaller size (-50%), higher efficiency (92%), and more upgrade potential.

In terms of post-formation processes, Colibri New Energy adopts standardized and modular design and manufacturing, with short delivery cycles (exceeding the industry average by 10%) and rapid production at customer sites (exceeding the industry average by 15%). The products are continuously optimized and iterated, with performance superior to peers, with a yield rate≥99.5%, higher than the industry average of 99.2%, and DT ≤2%, lower than the industry average of 3%.

In terms of soft power, Colibri New Energy supports product development through technological research and development, constructs a global organization and service network centered on customers, and has smart manufacturing centers in Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Suzhou, Chengdu, Thailand, etc. Through project cycle management, it ensures high-quality and efficient delivery.

As a pioneer in the mid-to-late stage equipment sector of the lithium battery industry, Colibri New Energy, with its excellent reputation, has established long-term cooperation with benchmark lithium battery enterprises at home and abroad, becoming a trustworthy provider of integrated lithium battery manufacturing equipment solutions and a force for smart manufacturing in the sustainable energy industry.

Connecting the World for a Shared Future——Colibri Technologies presented at the first China International Supply China Expo (CISCE)

Colibri Technologies shines at the NEPCON ASIA