Made in China is now entering a new stage of development, as the country pursues industrial upgrades and intelligent manufacturing. China now dominates the Global Lighthouse Network list, a project launched in 2018 by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with consultancy McKinsey & Co, which is a testament to the country’s growing manufacturing prowess. Formed by more than 130 plants owned by various companies, the Global Lighthouse Network is a community of manufacturers applying advanced technologies to speed up and spread the smart adoption of fourth industrial revolution technologies – a fusion of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing and other technologies – to industries worldwide.
To date, China houses 50 such lighthouse factories, the highest number among any country and accounting for nearly one-third of the world’s total. These advanced factories, built by both domestic and foreign companies in China, offer a glimpse into how “Made in China” is upgrading into smart manufacturing and how the country’s sprawling industrial economy will evolve in the future, officials and experts said. Song Huasheng, Professor at Zhejiang University, said the number fully demonstrates that if China was running behind Western countries in the first three industrial revolutions, the country is now a parallel runner and even a leader in certain sub-sectors in the fourth industrial revolution. The progress came as China’s top leaders attach high importance to manufacturing and the central government unveiled policies to advance industrial upgrades. At the National People's Congress (NPC) meeting in March, President Xi Jinping said the manufacturing industry is indispensable to China and the country should advance new industrialization.
Bai Ming, Deputy Director of International Market Research at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said President Xi’s emphasis on manufacturing showed that a modern industrial system will be key to China’s economic development over the next few years and will have a profound impact. “In the face of growing external risks, Made in China needs to be backed by a stronger industrial system,” Bai said. The lighthouse factories showcase how China will sharpen its edge in high-end manufacturing, an arena where all major economies are ramping up to establish a foothold.
For instance, the No 18 Factory of Sany Heavy Industry, a Chinese machinery company based in Changsha, Hunan province, was recognized as the second lighthouse factory in the global heavy industry sector. In the factory, Sany has used flexible automated production, artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT solutions to establish a digital and flexible manufacturing system of heavy equipment. The cutting and sorting of steel plates are finished by AI robots with a 3D high-definition vision system, of which the accuracy can be increased to 1 millimeter.
BOE Technology Group Co, a leading Chinese display panel supplier, has a factory in Fuzhou, Fujian province, which is also recognized as a lighthouse factory by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Liu Wenrui, Vice President of BOE and General Manager of the BOE Fuzhou factory, said they have adopted digital technologies and advanced analytics in a fully automated production system, with production costs reduced by 34% and output up by 33%.
Midea Group Co, a Chinese home appliances company, has five lighthouse factories, covering smart home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens, which showcase its strength in advanced manufacturing.
British consumer goods company Unilever also has a lighthouse factory in Taicang in Jiangsu province. With a designed daily output of 9 million servings of ice cream, the factory represents Unilever’s long-term commitment to the China market by better satisfying Chinese consumers’ demands with digital and intelligent technologies, said Xu Yucong, North Asia General Manager of Unilever ice cream. “The €100 million factory is the largest investment Unilever has made in the past decade in China, which makes our production intelligent and digitalized,” Xu said. The factory can shorten the period for new product innovation from 12 months to three and enhance the accuracy and efficiency of predicting product demand. It is also more agile than conventional ones, “allowing us to better keep up with the fast-paced consumer demand in China,” Xu said.
U.S. snack manufacturer Mondelez International has a plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, which joined the Global Lighthouse Network and became the world’s first lighthouse factory in the global biscuit and snack industry in late January. Joost Vlaanderen, President of Mondelez Greater China, said, “With China entering a new era of green and innovation-led growth, the country will continue to open up for foreign investments and provide a more favorable business environment.”
Jin Zhuanglong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said China will make more efforts to speed up the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, which play a vital role in building a modern industrial system, and move the manufacturing sector toward higher-end, smarter and greener production. “The industrial economy is the field with the most innovative activities, the most abundant results and the strongest spillover effect in innovation,” said Jin. Amid increasingly fierce international competition, it is necessary to build a modern industrial system and improve the resilience and security of China’s industrial and supply chains, Jin added, as reported by the China Daily.
