All sampled intelligent toilets manufactured in Taizhou meet national standards. [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

The Intelligent toilet sector in Taizhou has seen rapid improvements in quality, technological innovation and market expansion in 2019.

The percentage of sampled intelligent toilets manufactured in the city that meet national standards rose to 100 from 92.9 in 2018, said a report.

The city now is home to over 300 companies in the sector, including several well-known brands such as Orans and Coma, and has an annual capacity of 2.5 million units.

In the past, Taizhou had to purchase ceramics from elsewhere in the country to make its toilets, but it is now able to use homegrown materials developed in 2019 by two local sanitary fixture companies – Orans and Coma.

Liu Rizhi, president of Coma, said that the company plans to expand its business presence in Taizhou by constructing a highly automated factory.

The factory, with a planned area of 80 mu (5.33 hectares), is expected to have an annual capacity of five million units within three years, with more than 50 percent of the work being done by robots, Liu added.

The National Quality Supervision and Inspection Center for Intelligent Toilets in Taizhou has also been designated a lab for Intertek, a global leader in quality testing, in late November last year.

In the past, intelligent toilets produced in the city for export had to be sent to Hangzhou or Shanghai for testing, but the new lab will reduce testing time and costs by 50 percent.

The toilet testing center in Taizhou is Intertek's first authorized lab in the intelligent toilet sector in China.