CIIF 2026 Product Highlights: Equipment Maintenance and Automated Sample Preparation

Equipment maintenance and laboratory sample preparation were two practical applications featured at China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2026. The O3 maintenance platform addressed how equipment information supports maintenance decisions; the PrepXbot sample preparation system brought several operations before laboratory analysis onto an automated platform. Together, they showed how industrial technology connects with work on the factory floor and in the testing laboratory.

CIIF 2026 took place on October 12–16 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai). Both exhibits were featured in our report on new product debuts. These examples offer a closer look at what was exhibited and where each solution fits into an industrial workflow.

Two exhibits, two stages of industrial work

O3: connecting equipment information with maintenance decisions

Shanghai Zhanwan Information Technology Co., Ltd. introduced its O3 Intelligent Equipment Operations and Maintenance Service Platform at CIIF 2026. The platform was designed for automotive components, equipment manufacturing, shipbuilding and chemicals. The problems it targeted were specific: isolated equipment data, the loss of experienced staff’s knowledge and heavy reliance on manual maintenance work.

Making equipment data usable together

For maintenance teams, collecting information is only part of the task. A reading becomes more useful when it can be understood in relation to the equipment, its operating condition and the problem being investigated. Information held in separate systems can make that connection difficult, particularly when the explanation depends on an experienced colleague.

The O3 exhibit addressed this challenge through industrial ontology-based semantic understanding: giving industrial information a shared meaning within the application. Its other stated capabilities were rapid engineering deployment, reasoning by digital employees, and closed-loop operation through integrated hardware and software. These were presented as product capabilities supporting maintenance work.

Supporting the next maintenance action

The practical connection is between understanding a condition and deciding what to do about it. In an equipment-maintenance workflow, that can mean relating an abnormal condition to a possible cause, deciding whether an inspection is needed and using the findings to plan maintenance. Each decision needs information from the preceding step: an alert needs context, an inspection needs a defined purpose, and a maintenance plan needs findings that the team can act on.

Moving toward predictive maintenance

At CIIF, O3’s stated direction was proactive predictive maintenance. The aim is to use equipment information to support intervention before a failure disrupts work. For a maintenance team, this means bringing the condition of an asset into the planning process alongside scheduled work and inspection findings. The practical question becomes whether the available information gives a useful reason to investigate or intervene earlier. Prediction accuracy and the value of that intervention depend on the equipment, available data and operating conditions.

O3’s exhibition presentation described capabilities intended to support this shift. Any reduction in downtime or maintenance cost remains a deployment-specific outcome to be measured against an established baseline, rather than a result demonstrated simply by exhibiting the platform.

PrepXbot: automating the work before analysis

Presented by Xiyu Smart Supply Chain, the PrepXbot series of fully automated, multifunctional sample preparation systems made its first CIIF appearance in 2026. The system was presented for high-throughput sample preparation in testing food, agricultural products, animal-derived foods and pharmaceuticals.

Here, the work begins before an analytical instrument produces a result. A sample may need several treatments before it is suitable for analysis. The exhibit focused on coordinating those treatments, including QuEChERS pretreatment and operations ahead of chromatographic analysis.

QuEChERS is a sample preparation approach widely used in residue analysis. Agilent’s explanation of QuEChERS distinguishes sample extraction from subsequent cleanup, with the cleanup approach selected for the method and sample matrix. This helps explain the work behind the PrepXbot exhibit: several treatments may be needed to obtain an extract suitable for the next analytical stage.

How the preparation operations connect

PrepXbot’s exhibited functions included reagent dispensing, shaking, centrifugation and liquid-layer separation. In a preparation method, dispensing introduces the required liquid, shaking mixes the sample and reagents, and centrifugation assists separation. Taking the required liquid layer forward connects that separation step with the next treatment. Automating these handoffs addresses repeated physical work between operations.

Further preparation functions included spiking, nitrogen blowdown concentration, endpoint determination, volume adjustment, filtration and collection into chromatography vials. These address further preparation tasks: adding a known amount of a substance where the method requires it, concentrating an extract, controlling its final volume and preparing the liquid for transfer to a vial. The required sequence and parameters depend on the analytical method, so the preparation workflow must be matched to the sample and intended analysis.

The design objective was to reduce manual intervention and variation between batches. In a batch of samples, repeated transfers and treatments make consistency a practical concern: each sample needs to receive the preparation specified by the method. Bringing those operations together addresses that coordination problem. Actual throughput and consistency improvements need to be established for the laboratory’s own workload.

Where sample preparation ends

Collection into a chromatography vial marks the handoff to subsequent analysis. The prepared sample still needs the appropriate analytical procedure, instrument measurement and interpretation. PrepXbot automates work upstream of that measurement; sample preparation alone does not complete the full testing and analysis process.

Industrial applications made visible at CIIF

These two CIIF 2026 exhibits put specific work at the center of the technology discussion. O3 connected equipment information with maintenance judgment and planning. PrepXbot connected physical preparation operations before laboratory analysis. Their relevance comes from those identifiable tasks: keeping industrial equipment in service and preparing samples for testing. Each illustrates a different part of the industrial application content presented at the fair.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of industrial solutions were showcased at CIIF 2026?

Examples included Zhanwan’s O3 equipment operations and maintenance platform and the PrepXbot automated sample preparation system presented by Xiyu Smart Supply Chain. They addressed equipment-maintenance workflows and preparation before laboratory analysis, respectively. These were two examples within the wider CIIF 2026 exhibition.

What applications did the featured maintenance and sample-preparation systems address?

O3 targeted equipment data integration, maintenance decision support and a shift toward predictive maintenance. PrepXbot targeted high-throughput sample preparation, coordinating operations such as dispensing, shaking, centrifugation and filtration before subsequent analytical testing.

How was the O3 platform intended to support predictive maintenance?

O3 combined industrial information understanding, reasoning by digital employees, and integrated hardware and software to support proactive maintenance. Its aim was to help teams use equipment information to investigate conditions and plan intervention before failures disrupt work. Prediction accuracy depends on the equipment, data and operating conditions.

Which sample preparation steps did the PrepXbot exhibit cover?

The exhibited functions included reagent dispensing, shaking, centrifugation, liquid-layer separation, spiking, nitrogen blowdown concentration, endpoint determination, volume adjustment, filtration and collection into chromatography vials. The required steps, sequence and parameters depend on the sample and analytical method.

Does automated sample preparation complete the entire testing process?

No. The featured PrepXbot system prepared samples for subsequent analysis. Collection into chromatography vials marks a handoff: the laboratory still needs the appropriate analytical procedure, instrument measurement and interpretation to obtain and assess test results.

What should teams evaluate before adopting these systems?

For equipment maintenance, teams should assess the available equipment data, operating conditions and fit with existing inspection and maintenance workflows. For sample preparation, laboratories should assess the sample types, analytical methods, required preparation steps and workload. Performance should be evaluated under the intended operating conditions, including maintenance outcomes or sample throughput and consistency, as applicable.

When and where is CIIF 2027 scheduled to take place?

CIIF 2027 is scheduled for September 20–24, 2027, at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), China. The product exhibits discussed in this article were presented at CIIF 2026; participation in the next edition has not been established for these products.