Beijing: Chinese companies are speeding up efforts to develop industrial Internet platforms and build more lighthouse factories.

This is part of a broader push to advance new industrialisation, enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing globally and bolster industrial upgrades, industry experts said.

Zhou Yunjie, chairman and chief executive officer of Chinese home appliance giant Haier Group, said the industrial Internet has become a new engine driving high-quality development of the digital economy, and will play a bigger role in deepening digital transformation in manufacturing, operational management and marketing services.

“As the country is making efforts to build itself into a manufacturing powerhouse, more efforts are needed to promote the innovative application of the industrial Internet and fully unleash the value of massive data resources, which are key to advancing new industrialisation,” he said.

The industrial internet refers to a new type of manufacturing automation that combines advanced machines, Internet-connected sensors and big-data analysis, while boosting productivity and reducing costs in industrial production.

According to the Industry and Information Technology Ministry, the country has nurtured over 340 industrial-Internet platforms that have strong regional and industry influence, with more than 96 million units of industrial equipment connected to the platforms, which have served more than 400,000 enterprises covering over 40 key industries.

The revenue of China’s core industrial-Internet industries reached 1.35 trillion yuan in 2023, the ministry said.

Haier has invested heavily in developing its industrial-Internet platform COSMOPlat, which allows companies to customise products quickly by collecting and analysing data from consumers, suppliers and factories with Internet-connected sensors, while boosting productivity and cutting costs.

Powered by COSMOPlat, eight factories owned by Haier have been included in the Global Lighthouse Network, an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with market consultancy McKinsey & Co in 2018 to identify the most innovative leaders in manufacturing.

So far, a total of 153 lighthouse factories have been selected around the world, and China owns 62 such factories, accounting for more than 40% of the global total and ranking first worldwide.

Boasting high efficiency, intelligence and sustainability, lighthouse factories represent the highest level of global intelligent manufacturing.

Haier’s air conditioner factory in Hefei, Anhui province, is among the newly selected lighthouse factories.

The factory has increased energy efficiency by 33% and labour productivity by 49%, while cutting unit manufacturing costs by 22%, after applying advanced algorithms, digital twins and other cutting-edge technologies.

BOE Technology Group Co Ltd, a leading Chinese display panel supplier, is doubling down on the intelligent manufacturing segment and leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies to empower the digital transformation of traditional enterprises.

Based on rich experience in intelligent manufacturing capacities, BOE has established an industrial-Internet platform, which provides digital transformation services for manufacturing companies across the nation and helps them improve productivity.

 - China Daily