China announced a five-year plan for smart manufacturing, vowing that large manufacturers will basically achieve digitalization by 2025. The plan, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and seven other departments, came as countries such as the U.S., Germany and Japan are also boosting intelligent manufacturing. The White House in 2018 released a “Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing” to ensure the leading position of the U.S. in advanced manufacturing. In 2019, Germany presented the final version of its “National Industry Strategy 2030,” under which the first pillar is to “improve the framework conditions” for Germany as an industrial location.
By 2025, more than 70% of large-scale Chinese enterprises should be digitalized, and more than 500 demonstration manufacturing facilities will be built nationwide, according to the plan. The technical level and market competitiveness of intelligent manufacturing equipment and industrial software should be significantly improved, with market satisfaction rates exceeding 70% and 50% respectively. Currently, satisfaction regarding intelligent manufacturing equipment reaches 50%. According to the plan, research on key technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and edge computing will be strengthened. “The development of intelligent manufacturing is related to the global position of China's manufacturing industry in the future,” said the MIIT in a statement. Compared with leading countries such as the U.S., Germany and Japan in intelligent manufacturing, China still needs to catch up in software and industrial infrastructure, Zhang Xiaorong, Director of the Beijing-based Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute, told the Global Times. “The industrial software, operating systems and equipment used in China are mainly from foreign brands. Foreign countries are advanced in related hardware and all kinds of production tools. China is lagging behind in core components like chips,” Zhang said.
MIIT also released a five-year plan for the robotics industry. China's robotics industry will become a global center of technology innovation, manufacturing and application. The quality of complete robots and key components should reach leading international standards, the plan stated. China will establish three to five robotics industry zones and double robot output. The annual growth rate of the sector's revenue should exceed 20%. China's robotics industry has witnessed a boom in development in recent years, and China has been the world's largest consumer of industrial robots for eight consecutive years. Industrial robots are used in 52 industries, including automobiles, electronics, metallurgy, light industry, petrochemicals and medicine, the Global Times reports.
