Case Study: Unmanned Bidirectional Weighing System for a New Energy Company in Zhangzhou
A new energy manufacturer in Zhangzhou came to us with a staffing problem more than a scale problem. Their existing weighbridge needed two operators working shifts just to keep the booth staffed, and during peak traffic hours, manual license plate logging and paperwork errors were common. Month-end reconciliation with drivers frequently turned into disputes over numbers that didn't match. They wanted a system that could record everything automatically, without someone watching the booth around the clock.
Project Overview
· Location: New energy manufacturing facility, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China
· Scale specifications: 3×16 meters, 100-ton capacity
· System type: unmanned bidirectional weighing with single-code vehicle ID
· Contractor: Fangda Weighing (Fujian Fangda), truck scale manufacturer
· Scope: civil works, scale installation, system commissioning, software integration, maintenance
Why an unmanned bidirectional system
Raw material trucks and finished goods trucks share the same access route on this site, which made staffed weighing hard to manage consistently in both directions. The single-code system assigns each regular vehicle a digital ID. Empty inbound weighing and loaded outbound weighing both happen automatically — no manual entry in between — and the system calculates net weight on its own and pushes it straight into the company's material tracking records.
System components
The deck is 3×16 meters, sized for the trucks and occasional semi-trailers that regularly use the site. The 100-ton capacity was set based on actual loaded weights of the company's raw material and finished product vehicles, with some headroom but not excessive overbuild.
The system combines automatic license plate recognition, ground-loop vehicle detection, barrier gate integration, weight data capture, and voice prompts for drivers. A vehicle enters the platform, gets identified by plate and ID code, and the gate releases automatically once weighing is complete — drivers never have to get out of the cab or wait on a staffed booth.
Installation and integration
The existing ground was standard reinforced concrete — structurally fine, but the drainage slope wasn't sufficient, and the site would pool water during heavy rain. We reworked the drainage channels as part of the foundation work. Load cells were rated for humidity and corrosion resistance, and both the instrument enclosure and cameras got waterproof housings.
Software integration actually took longer than the physical installation. Syncing weighing data, license plate recognition data, and the company's existing ERP system required several rounds of adjusting the data interface to make sure vehicle records, weight data, and timestamps matched up automatically — without duplicate or missing entries showing up on either side.
Results after going live
The system has been running for a little over two months now. The company no longer needs 24-hour booth staffing — headcount dropped from two rotating shifts down to periodic checks. Traffic through the site moves noticeably faster than it did under manual operation, and queue buildup during peak hours has largely gone away. Because weight data is automatically tied to plate number and timestamp, the month-end disputes between drivers and the company over mismatched numbers have essentially stopped.
