The 2025 AB InBev and HFZC ZEC Technical Workshop on Bottle Washing and Pasteurization Equipment was successfully held at HFZC ZEC.

The pulse of innovation beats strongly, and the sparks of ideas ignite the energy of mutual progress.
In this wonderful season, the 2025 AB InBev–Hefei Zhongchen Light Machinery Bottle Washer & Pasteurizer Technical Forum was grandly held at Zhongchen Light Machinery from October 13 to 15, 2025.

The three-day forum focused on the key technical challenges and bottlenecks of bottle washers and pasteurizers, sharing cutting-edge insights, promoting technological advancement, driving standardization, and exploring expansion into related fields such as filling.

Mr. Zha Zhengwang, Party Secretary and Chairman of Zhongchen Light Machinery, delivered the welcome speech.
Mr. Sun Shibo, Maintenance Director of AB InBev Asia-Pacific, attended and addressed the forum via video link.
Mr. He Sheng, General Manager of Zhongchen Light Machinery, gave a keynote sharing.
The forum was moderated by Mr. Sun Zhongzhen, Deputy Maintenance Director of AB InBev Asia-Pacific, with around 25 technical experts from both AB InBev Asia-Pacific and Zhongchen Light Machinery participating together.

Welcome Speech by Mr. Zha Zhengwang

Mr. Zha Zhengwang stated that in recent years, Hefei Zhongchen Light Machinery and AB InBev have maintained multi-level and frequent exchanges, mutual visits, and in-depth discussions. The foundation of cooperation between the two sides has been continuously strengthened, and remarkable results have been achieved. The Liquid Food Equipment Management System jointly promoted by both parties has been certified by the China National Light Industry Council, which has not only elevated the cooperation between the two sides to a new level but also provided an important reference for the industry’s standardization efforts.

He pointed out that this forum focuses on the fields of bottle washers and pasteurizers, and the topics brought by AB InBev experts precisely target the pain points, difficulties, and bottlenecks of the industry. These issues are not only key breakthroughs for industry development but also important directions for Zhongchen Light Machinery to optimize technology and enhance service quality.

For Zhongchen Light Machinery, this forum is both a valuable learning opportunity and an important occasion to identify key work priorities and areas of focus.

He encouraged the Zhongchen team to cherish this opportunity for communication, take the initiative to engage deeply with AB InBev experts, and learn from their advanced experience and technical insights. He emphasized the need to establish systematic and forward-looking thinking, focus on solving practical problems, break through technical bottlenecks from the root causes, and overcome operational challenges.

He firmly believes that if both parties work together, they will not only be able to solve existing problems but also create new highlights and open new paths for the industry, promoting higher-quality development across the entire sector.

Speech by Mr. Sun Shibo

Mr. Sun Shibo highly praised Zhongchen Light Machinery for its recent development and progress, expressing his sincere appreciation for the company’s innovation vitality and industry leadership. He noted that the cooperation between the two sides under the VSA/VPO framework has yielded fruitful results, and both parties are moving forward hand in hand toward a broader and brighter future.

He particularly emphasized that at the 2025 Drinktec International Exhibition in Munich, Germany, Zhongchen Light Machinery, as a leading enterprise in the industry, demonstrated its strong sense of national responsibility and excellence in innovation. Its outstanding performance attracted global attention. The exhibited can filling and sealing equipment ranked among the world’s most advanced, fully showcasing the solid strength of China’s high-end equipment manufacturing. This achievement earned high recognition and praise from AB InBev’s global headquarters and various regional divisions.

He expressed his hope that Zhongchen Light Machinery and AB InBev Asia-Pacific will further deepen their cooperation, taking this forum as an opportunity to focus on user pain points and practical needs. By adopting a forward-looking perspective and innovative thinking, both sides can thoroughly explore the common challenges in the practical applications of bottle washers and pasteurizers, effectively addressing real production difficulties on site. The goal is to develop actionable and regionally applicable solutions that truly help AB InBev’s breweries solve real-world issues, driving simultaneous improvement in both quality and performance. Moreover, he hopes that the best practices and successful experiences from the Asia-Pacific region can be promoted globally, enabling both sides to play a leading and exemplary role within the industry.

He Sheng Shares Cooperation Achievements

Mr. He Sheng emphasized that AB InBev, as a global leader in the beer industry, has long stood as a highly influential and respected benchmark enterprise—thanks to its profound industry heritage, advanced development philosophy, and outstanding overall strength.

He shared his impressions from attending the 2025 Drinktec Exhibition in Munich, Germany. During the event, Zhongchen Light Machinery engaged in in-depth discussions with AB InBev’s global and Asia-Pacific executives and experts on various aspects of beer and beverage liquid food packaging production lines. At the same time, the exhibition provided a valuable opportunity to benchmark against international technological achievements and industry-leading developments.

He noted that many of the technological directions and practical innovations being advanced globally have already been successfully applied in AB InBev Asia-Pacific’s project practices. This strongly demonstrates AB InBev Asia-Pacific’s robust capabilities—achieving world-leading quality and performance while adopting a high proportion of domestically manufactured equipment. Such achievements are both remarkable and offer valuable insights for the broader industry.

Mr. He expressed his hope that the Zhongchen Light Machinery team will maintain a humble attitude, actively seek guidance and exchange ideas with AB InBev’s leaders and experts, and continuously enhance the technological level of China’s equipment manufacturing to reach higher levels of application. At the same time, he emphasized that mutual trust should serve as the cornerstone of cooperation, enabling both sides to contribute jointly to the sustainable development of China’s high-end equipment industry, driven by technological innovation and green environmental protection.

On-Site Technical Exchange Between Both Parties

At this high-level technical exchange forum, experts from AB InBev’s breweries shared insights from a global perspective, engaging in open discussions on real-world equipment performance and exploring common challenges such as operational efficiency and energy consumption management.

Technical experts from Zhongchen Light Machinery delivered a comprehensive and systematic presentation on the cutting-edge technologies of core equipment including bottle washers and pasteurizers, showcasing a series of major technological breakthroughs and innovative achievements in the field of high-end equipment manufacturing.

Participants unanimously agreed that these issues are of great practical importance and must be addressed through deeper collaboration and joint innovation.

Throughout the entire forum, an atmosphere of unity, cooperation, and shared development prevailed. The event not only sparked the collision of ideas and wisdom but also fostered a strong consensus on future growth and technological advancement.

Workshop Visit

During the forum, the AB InBev expert team visited Zhongchen Light Machinery’s digital production workshop, high-end equipment joint laboratory, and aseptic laboratory.

The experts gained an in-depth understanding of Zhongchen’s ongoing manufacturing projects, including multiple models of bottle washers, pasteurizers, and filling machines. They inquired in detail about the overall equipment architecture, core internal components, working principles, and performance parameters. Zhongchen’s technical team provided thorough explanations and conducted live demonstrations on-site.

Through this visit, the experts gained deeper insight into Zhongchen’s innovative practices in integrating industry, academia, research, and application. They highly commended Zhongchen Light Machinery for its ability to integrate diverse innovation resources and promote the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, recognizing it as a strong driving force for advancing the high-end equipment manufacturing sector.