Nigeria Times

By Wang Haonan, People’s Daily

From AI-powered geological analysis and industrial design review to more efficient cross-border data services, digital and intelligent technologies are rapidly reshaping China’s service sector and creating new growth drivers for economic growth.

In Beijing’s Chaoyang District, companies are turning long-dormant data resources into productive assets. New digital platforms are enhancing service efficiency across diverse industries, including engineering, healthcare, manufacturing, and international data exchange. . The result is a more agile, innovation-driven service economy powered by digital intelligence.

Data once locked away in archives is now generating new value.

At Beijing Urban Construction Survey and Design Institute, rows of filing cabinets hold decades of geological survey materials, including yellowed blueprints, handwritten reports and aging hard drives collected over nearly 70 years of work. 

According to chief engineer Gao Tao, the archives contain surveying data from more than 50 cities and hundreds of subway lines, totaling over 12 million linear meters of investigation records.

“In the past, we were sitting on a gold mine of data but had no practical way to use it,” Gao said.

Today, the institute has transformed itself from a traditional geological surveying enterprise into a participant in data trading and artificial intelligence (AI) development.

After organizing and digitizing its paper-based geological data, the company built a cloud platform for survey data. Through procedures including data rights confirmation, compliance review and desensitization, previously dormant archives were turned into usable digital assets. The company eventually obtained a data asset registration certificate from the Beijing International Data Exchange and started close cooperation with a research institute.

“We’re not just selling data; we’re providing services,” Gao said. 

Drawing on decades of accumulated geological information, the company independently developed a large AI model for the geotechnical surveying industry. The model can retrieve geological information and predict urban groundwater levels, among other functions.

“In the past, predicting groundwater level changes in a specific area required collecting monitoring data from multiple institutions and spending significant time on modeling and analysis,” Gao explained. “Now, users can simply input a location and obtain visualized results within minutes.”

Making data valuable also requires making it flow more efficiently.

For years, cross-border data transfer remained a major obstacle for many businesses due to complicated compliance procedures, lengthy approval processes and high costs.

In October 2024, Chaoyang district launched an international cross-border data service platform, supported by the local government and invested in by Jingmin Digital Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. The platform can intelligently classify and identify enterprise data based on official industry data catalogs and standards, automatically determine filing pathways and generate application materials with a single click.

One early beneficiary was Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, affiliated with Capital Medical University. The hospital needed to transfer ultrasound imaging data overseas for international scientific research cooperation.

“Through our services, the client met filing requirements on its first submission,” said Huang Wendan, director of the data elements center at Jingmin Digital Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. “The filing process was shortened from seven working days to five.”

Since its launch, the platform has improved overall efficiency in cross-border data services by more than 40 percent.

Beyond activating existing data resources and removing bottlenecks, companies are also equipping data systems with what many describe as a “smart brain.”

At the Universal Business Park in Chaoyang district, Lei Jian, vice president of Beijing Ling-Y Innocenter Technology Co., Ltd., demonstrated the company’s “Yangmei” industrial platform. After importing a design drawing for an automobile part, the system quickly generated a detailed analysis report showing whether the design complied with industry standards and identifying potential problems.

Industrial drawings serve as a crucial link between design and manufacturing. A standard passenger vehicle may involve thousands of component drawings. “Traditional manual review is time-consuming, labor-intensive and heavily dependent on experienced experts,” Lei said.

The platform can not only “understand” various types of industrial drawings but also operate continuously around the clock, he added.

The system has already integrated more than 1.6 billion pieces of industrial data covering 41 major industrial sectors of the national economy. 

“By embracing open-source collaboration, our more than 12,000 registered users have developed over 1,000 industrial intelligent agents,” Lei said. “Each intelligent agent is essentially a digital service that can be subscribed to, called upon and customized.”

Digital and intelligent technologies are helping China’s service sector expand capacity and improve quality, while the sector’s high-quality development is also attracting more leading enterprises and institutions.

Entities including the Beijing Digital Economy Computing Power Center, the Beijing International Data Exchange and Beijing Data Group have all established operations in Chaoyang district. On March 30 this year, the World Data Organization also chose to locate there.

In the first quarter of this year, Chaoyang district’s service sector generated an added value of 231.18 billion yuan ($34.02 billion), up 5.3 percent year on year.

By Cheng Yuanzhou, People’s Daily

Shenzhen homeowner Chen Zishun experienced a surprise during a recent scheduled housekeeping visit. Alongside the human cleaner arrived an unusual new : an AI-equipped robot featuring a long mechanical arm.

This innovative service stems from a collaboration between Shenzhen-based company X Square Robot and a major domestic service platform, 58.com Inc. The partnership has launched intelligent home-cleaning services in Shenzhen, where robots now work alongside human cleaners.

The new service soon gained great popularity, with reservations fully booked for half a month. Chen successfully booked a service order amid high demand.

When the cleaning work started, the robot was tasked with garbage removal and table arrangement in the living room and dining room, while human cleaner went straight to tidy up bedrooms.

In the living room, the robot moved slowly while skillfully avoiding obstacles. It accurately picked up scattered items and put them in order by category, then wiped tables with cleaning cloths. The movements were deliberate and somewhat slow, but orderly and methodical.

Li Ziwen, Shenzhen city manager at 58.com Inc., explained that under the current human-machine collaborative cleaning model, robots mainly handle repetitive, labor-intensive tasks such as sorting tabletops, arranging sofas and organizing shoes. Human cleaners handle more complex, fine-detail deep-cleaning work instead, including scrubbing hard-to-reach corners, polishing countertops, thoroughly sanitizing kitchens and bathrooms, and carrying out disinfection. The two sides follow a clear division of labor.

These robots are continuously learning. After each job, anonymized data on their perception and actions feeds into a training platform to refine their model. Initial tests showed slow progress (e.g., taking over 10 minutes to pick up a towel), but rapid improvement followed. Within a week, the robot mastered table wiping, and it has since learned skills like cleaning up after pets and folding clothes.

During an on-site demonstration, People’s Daily observed that the robot could accurately classify medicines simply by examining packaging, and could even identify and separate expired snacks on its own. For safety reasons, however, the robot is not yet used in water-related cleaning tasks, and its movements are intentionally programmed to remain relatively slow.

About three hours later, the human cleaner had finished the remaining rooms, while the robot completed organizing the living and dining areas. Traditionally, standard cleaning for a 130-square-meter apartment like this would usually take four to five hours.

So what does the future hold for smart home-cleaning robots?

Market response has strengthened Li’s confidence. On the online platform of 58.com Inc., bookings for intelligent cleaning services have surged. Only eight appointments are released each day, and reservations are already scheduled more than two weeks in advance. Prices are the same as traditional housekeeping services: around 140 yuan for a three-hour standard cleaning session ($25.26). Recently, X Square Robot and 58.com Inc. launched intelligent cleaning services in Beijing.

Across the sector, the household scenario is widely regarded as the “last mile” for physical AI applications. Even so, intelligent cleaning robots still face significant challenges. The range of cleaning scenarios robots can currently handle remains limited; the efficiency of human-machine collaboration still needs improvement; robots must become better at adapting to complex home environments; and customer acceptance remains relatively low.

“Household robots need to respond to unexpected situations with adult-like capability,” explained Wang Jiashen, an application engineer at X Square Robot. Unlike repetitive industrial tasks, home-service robots demand greater adaptability and intelligence. To achieve this, the company developed the WALL-B foundation model, enabling robots to adjust in real-time and quickly correct operational errors.

According to Wang, the development team is now focused on improving robots’ ability to adapt to home environments, optimizing navigation and obstacle avoidance so the machines can better “understand” the home while remaining stable and reliable in real-life settings. 

On the human-machine collaboration side, engineers are also refining workflow standards to reduce waiting time and repetitive tasks, making cooperation smoother and services more standardized.

So far, the robot cleaners of X Square Robot have already served hundreds of households in Shenzhen and Beijing.

In the feedback section after the service, Chen wrote: “Maybe in the not-so-distant future, hiring a robot cleaner to work alone at home will become just as commonplace as robot vacuum cleaners or self-driving cars are today.”

By Zeng Yichen, People’s Daily

At the Longshou Mine operated by Jinchuan Group Co., Ltd. in northwest China’s Gansu province, 5G-powered driverless electric locomotives are now transporting ore through tunnels hundreds of meters underground. Backed by an intelligent dispatching system, these unmanned trains operate entirely underground without on-site human drivers.

Tasks that once required locomotive operators and track workers deep underground can now be managed remotely from an intelligent control center above ground, improving both safety and efficiency in one of mining’s most demanding environments.

Inside the mine’s smart control room, real-time operational data from underground locomotives flashes across large digital screens. Former locomotive driver Mei Songbo, now an operator, monitors the status of rail switches remotely. As a train approaches a junction, the corresponding virtual switch icon on the screen automatically turns green and changes track settings in sync.

“Before, changing rail switches required precise coordination between the locomotive driver and track workers underground,” Mei said. “Now it can all be done remotely with a control handle and buttons.”

For years, underground locomotive operation depended heavily on skilled manual driving and constant, intense focus. Seeking to enhance safety, working conditions, and efficiency, Longshou Mine began exploring autonomous driving technology for mining workflows in 2018.

Driverless electric locomotives were soon introduced underground. However, ensuring their reliable and safe operation proved far more complex than simply getting them to move.

At the time, the mine relied on WiFi communication, which suffered from short transmission distances, limited bandwidth and severe signal loss inside winding underground tunnels. Video feeds transmitted back to the surface experienced delays of up to one or two seconds.

“Even a one- or two-second lag is enough for a locomotive to drift three to five meters off course with no human intervention,” said Zhao Peng, director of the transportation section at Longshou Mine. “The safety risks were unacceptable.”

The growing number of underground sensors and video monitoring points placed even greater demands on communications infrastructure. Real-time video transmission, instant command delivery and the simultaneous operation of multiple locomotives quickly exceeded the capabilities of traditional WiFi systems.

In March 2020, Longshou Mine’s technical team joined forces with communications technology companies to begin developing a new solution.

“At that time, 5G wireless communication was just beginning to be applied in industrial settings,” Zhao said. “Gansu’s industry and information technology authorities were collecting use cases for 5G applications across the province, and its low latency and high bandwidth matched our mining needs perfectly.”

Yet standard consumer-grade 5G systems initially struggled to perform underground.

Consumer 5G networks are designed mainly for downloading data, such as streaming videos to smartphones. Underground mining operations, however, required the opposite: large amounts of upstream data, including real-time video feeds and vehicle control signals sent from locomotives back to the surface control center.

After rounds of field testing, network redesigns and fine-tuning of on-board terminals, the technical team reallocated uplink and downlink bandwidth and created dedicated communication channels for the locomotives. By the end of 2020, the mine launched trial operations of its first locomotive equipped with a 5G communication system.

Removing people from underground operations made the trains run faster. 

“When locomotives pull ore cars underground, they can only move forward and can’t reverse direction on their own,” Mei explained. “In the past, after reaching a loading or unloading point, the driver had to walk to the other end of the locomotive to continue operating it. Just loading and unloading added another 10 minutes to each trip. Now the system can automatically switch the powered end of the locomotive, improving efficiency by 20 percent.”

Technology is transforming mining operations: workers no longer need to descend with heavy machinery but can monitor and control processes remotely from the surface.

Starting with the first “5G + driverless locomotive,” Longshou Mine has since turned its communications platform into a broader incubator for intelligent mining solutions.

Beneath the surface, “5G + AI” image recognition enables precise docking between ore loaders and mining cars. Above ground, a 5G-enabled digital twin platform visualizes and monitors the mine’s entire operational process in real time. 

The mine’s heating system can now be adjusted on demand across the entire site through the 5G network, while intelligent inspection robots have also been deployed.

What began as a single autonomous driving application has evolved into an all-in-one intelligent platform supporting mine safety, equipment maintenance and dispatch management.

The digital tansformation has also created new career paths for veteran miners like Mei and his coworkers. Years of hands-on underground experience have become invaluable in bridging the gap between new technologies and real-world operational scenarios. Some former drivers now work in control rooms overseeing dispatch systems, while others help maintain equipment and optimize technical parameters.

“Our years of underground experience help these new technologies adapt perfectly to real mining conditions,” Mei said. “And the new technologies are improving our working environment as well. I truly believe smarter, digital mines will bring a better future for every worker here.”

By Wu Kai, People’s Daily

Chinese robotics exports experienced significant growth in the first quarter of this year. Customs data reveals that exports reached 11.32 billion yuan ($1.66 billion), reaching 148 countries and regions.

A key driver of this expansion is the cleaning robot sector, newly classified in trade statistics this year. These robots accounted for 7.75 billion yuan in exports, representing nearly 70 percent of China’s total robot exports. Their prominent position reflects strong global recognition, earned through technological sophistication.

These household  appliances incorporate sophisticated core technologies. Integrated with LiDAR, AI-powered vision systems, autonomous navigation and semantic recognition, they can independently map indoor spaces, avoid obstacles in real-time, and efficiently clean diverse areas like yards, window ledges, and pool surrounds.

China’s enormous domestic market provides an ideal environment for continuous product refinement. Diverse usage scenarios and instant user feedback push manufacturers to polish core technologies including navigation algorithms, obstacle avoidance systems and cleaning performance. 

The robots can remember household cleaning preferences and deliver tailored services over time. Their flexible wheel-leg design enables smooth movement upstairs, while built-in flight modules allow them to reach high areas. Close alignment with actual user needs and rapid technical iteration keep making these products more competitive internationally.

Booming overseas sales of Chinese cleaning robots are no isolated trend.,Instead, they signal an ongoing structural improvement in China’s foreign trade.

Chinese exported products are growing smarter and more eco-friendly. In the first four months, exports of high-end, high-value-added electromechanical products rose 17.6 percent year on year. Green and low-carbon items including electric vehicles, lithium batteries and wind turbines saw export growth of 68.1 percent, 43.2 percent and 40.7 percent respectively. 

China’s foreign trade now prioritizes quality over sheer volume, effectively meeting global market demand for eco-friendly and sustainable consumption.

China is also steadily expanding the reach of its global trade. Its total trade volume with Belt and Road partner countries hit 8.28 trillion yuan in the first four months, up 13.5 percent year on year. Continued market diversification and deeper industrial and supply chain cooperation help bring richer options and better-quality products to consumers worldwide.

Exported products are designed to improve the life quality of the users. The global popularity of Chinese cleaning robots shows how advanced technologies are turned into practical, everyday tools. It highlights how large-scale domestic application refines product strength and how integrated industrial chains facilitate overseas market penetration. Besides, It is also a typical reflection of optimized structure in China’s foreign trade sector.

Through constant upgrading, Chinese manufacturing will keep delivering practical Chinese-designed solutions to improve quality of life across the world.

By Li Junjie, People’s Daily

Inside a bamboo factory in Chizhou, east China’s Anhui province, an intelligent production line hums at full tilt, churning out bamboo straws.

The numbers tell a striking story. Annually, the city produces 2 billion bamboo straws distributed across China and over 40 countries worldwide. This output replaces approximately 6,000 tons of plastic products while reducing carbon emissions by 36,000 tons.

Bamboo’s rapid growth and carbon sequestration capabilities make it an ideal green alternative to single-use plastics. However, traditional processing methods historically utilized only 30 percent of the moso bamboo plant, leaving 70 percent as waste (shavings, powder, and offcuts) that was typically burned, discarded, or sold unprocessed.

In 2024, Anhui Hongye Group Co., Ltd. (Hongye Group), a leading bamboo enterprise in Chizhou, introduced the country’s first complete set of full-bamboo resource pyrolysis equipment — a technology-driven move to turn bamboo waste into treasure and make full use of the plant.

The bamboo straw’s green credentials extend well beyond the finished product. The manufacturing process itself has gone low-carbon from end to end.

Step inside Hongye Group’s pyrolysis workshop, an intelligent monitoring screen shows it all in real time: bamboo waste is automatically conveyed through sealed pipelines into a pyrolysis furnace, where it undergoes conversion in a high-temperature, oxygen-free environment.

After pyrolysis, bamboo shavings, powder and offcuts are transformed into combustible gas and biomass charcoal powder, said Wu Gang, head of the company’s safety and environmental protection department, gesturing at the real-time data flickering on a display. The combustible gas is burned to generate steam heat, which is then piped to drying chambers to dry bamboo — fully replacing the conventional use of natural gas. The biomass charcoal powder, with a purity exceeding 98 percent, can be further processed into premium activated carbon or used as a negative electrode material for sodium-ion batteries, extending the bamboo industrial chain with high added-values.

The technological upgrade has delivered tangible ecological and economic benefits. “Waste used to be a burden on production has transformed into a renewable resource,” said Yang Dezhen, deputy general manager of Hongye Group. The company can now process 50,000 tonnes of bamboo waste annually in an environmentally sound manner, replacing approximately 4.8 million cubic meters of natural gas and directly cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 7,500 tonnes. The equipment has pushed the company’s overall bamboo utilization rate from 30 percent to more than 95 percent, bringing open-air burning and indiscriminate disposal to a complete halt.

Chizhou has established a circular chain running from bamboo waste to clean energy and advanced new materials.

Step out of the pyrolysis workshop, the deep-blue photovoltaic panels stretching across the factory rooftops catch the eye immediately, converting sunlight into clean electricity for each production workshop across the factory.

“Photovoltaic power generation serves as a key ‘green engine’ for the factory,” said Zhang Jinfeng, office director of Hongye Group. Leveraging its 240-mu (16 hectares) industrial park, the company has built a distributed solar power station spanning more than 46,000 square meters. The station generates 5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, meeting nearly one-third of the facility’s power needs and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 5,000 tonnes each year.

“The clean electricity now flows through every stage of production, from bamboo processing and precision finishing to final packaging, powering every step as we steadily move toward energy self-sufficiency on site,” Zhang said.

At 5:00 a.m., villager Shu Rengui in Languan village, Hengdu town, Shitai county, Chizhou, is already deep in the hills harvesting moso bamboo.

In the past, Shu had to hire a vehicle just to haul his bamboo to the county seat — a costly undertaking. Today, he needs only to deliver it to the village-level processing plant barely a kilometer away. Short-haul transport and local processing have not only put green earnings within easy reach of rural households, but also reduced the carbon footprint during the transportation process to some extent.

Chizhou now has more than 20 such moso bamboo processing plants, which together with circular industrial parks for the bamboo industry form a production system featuring tiered processing, efficient utilization and closed-loop emission reduction.

At the upstream end, village-level processing enables low-carbon collection and distribution, trimming emissions from transportation; in the middle stage, pyrolysis technology converts waste into resources; at the downstream end, photovoltaic power supply and intelligent management systems work in tandem to continuously reduce industrial energy consumption.

Chizhou’s low-carbon circular production model has also been replicated across other bamboo-rich regions of China, with 21 distributed circular industrial parks signing agreements to adopt it so far.

Chizhou is applying a low-carbon approach across the entire bamboo industrial chain to forge a pathway that links natural resources, ecological benefits, industrial development and people’s livelihood.

By Luo Shanshan, People’s Daily

Recent data from China’s Ministry of Commerce highlights a significant shift: foreign companies are significantly increasing their research and development (R&D) activities within China.

Two key figures underscore this trend: First-quarter foreign direct investment (FDI) in China’s high-tech industries surged by 30.7 percent year-on-year; In 2025, FDI in China’s scientific research and technical services sector accounted for nearly one-fifth of the national total, marking its seventh consecutive year of growth.

Market developments further underscore the trend. 

Earlier this year, multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced plans to invest more than 100 billion yuan ($14.72 billion) in China before 2030, further expanding its footprint in pharmaceutical production and R&D. 

In March, Siemens held its first Real Meets Digital summit in Beijing, launching 26 products developed locally in China. 

At the China Development Forum 2026, the chairman of Louis Dreyfus Company revealed plans to build a second R&D center in China. 

From official data to corporate actions, the momentum behind “R&D in China” is becoming increasingly evident.

More importantly, foreign-funded R&D centers in China once mainly served local market needs. Today, however, more and more cutting-edge technologies and core iterations of global product lines are being developed in China and then introduced to international markets. 

This reflects a broader shift: multinational companies’ manufacturing bases in China are evolving into sources of innovation, while their R&D centers are upgrading from localized support facilities into key nodes in global innovation networks.

So why is this shift from “made in China” to “created in China” taking place?

One important reason is China’s comprehensive industrial system, which provides strong support for turning innovation into reality. 

Research and development cannot exist in isolation; it requires an entire chain linking laboratories with commercialization. China possesses the world’s most complete industrial system and the broadest range of industrial supporting facilities. This means innovators can find partners across every stage of the process, from design and prototyping to testing and mass production.

At the China International Import Expo last year, for example, French multinational corporation Schneider Electric showcased its dual “power + cooling” innovation solution, which was designed and developed by its China-based team and validated and delivered through collaboration with local supply chains. 

The highly efficient coordination among R&D, pilot testing and mass production — the ability to move swiftly from research to manufacturing — is a unique strength that many other economies struggle to match.

Another major advantage lies in China’s vast and diverse application scenarios, which provide fertile ground for innovation. 

China’s enormous population, combined with steadily rising incomes, has generated strong and diversified demands, fostering vibrant consumption scenarios in digitalization, green development and intelligent technologies. Massive demands in areas such as healthcare, intelligent manufacturing and smart cities have created natural “testing grounds” and “training arenas” for new technologies.

“Many things happen first in China,” said Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG. “When we bring innovations to market, China is often the first place where they are launched and implemented.” Robust market demand, in turn, feeds back into the R&D process, making the journey from concept to commercial product faster and more efficient.

A continuously improving policy environment has also strengthened confidence in innovation investment. Policy stability is a critical factor for multinational companies making long-term strategic decisions, particularly because R&D investment requires a high degree of continuity, stability and predictability.

Since the beginning of this year, China has further increased policy support for foreign-funded R&D centers. For example, a new version of the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment, which took effect on February 1, added more encouraged categories in areas such as innovative drug development and digital creative technology research. 

In February, China’s Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce and other departments jointly issued a notice continuing tax exemptions on imported scientific research equipment and supplies for foreign-funded R&D centers, including exemptions from import tariffs, import-related value-added tax and consumption tax.

Strong policy support combined with attentive government services has further reinforced the confidence of foreign investors to keep returning and expanding their investment in China.

The intensifying R&D efforts by foreign companies in China reflects deeper changes in the drivers attracting foreign investment to China and highlights the growing vitality of the country’s innovation ecosystem. 

Looking ahead, China will continue leveraging its combined strengths in industry, market and policy support to attract more multinational companies to locate their R&D operations in China and share in the opportunities created by the country’s innovation-driven development.

By Li Yanan, People’s Daily

At the Lianghe High-end Manufacturing Technology Industrial Park in the Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone (Toutunhe District) in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, steel plates move swiftly through intelligent production lines. Here, they are transformed into essential components for trucks and heavy machinery, such as cargo boxes and subframes.

This facility operates differently from traditional factories. It utilizes a “shared manufacturing” model. In this setup, multiple companies consolidate their orders and share access to factory space, equipment, and production lines — a strategy designed to boost efficiency and reduce costs.

Recent years have seen strong demand in Xinjiang for trucks, dump trucks, and mining vehicles, alongside rapid growth in equipment exports. However, the prevalent “small-batch, multi-variety” production model in the region’s equipment manufacturing sector has led to budget constraints and low equipment utilization for many businesses.

To address these challenges, Xinjiang Dadao Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. partnered with Urumqi Economic and Technological Development Zone Construction and Development State-owned Capital Investment & Operation (Group) Co., Ltd. to jointly invested in building the shared factory.

“Xinjiang’s equipment manufacturing industry covers four major sectors: commercial vehicles, special-purpose vehicles, construction machinery, and agricultural machinery, supported by ten key enterprises,” explained Yang Sen, Chairman of Xinjiang Dadao Industrial. “Yet, high transportation costs and insufficient local parts supply have severely limited production capacity.”

The shared factory for medium- and heavy-plate vehicle components officially began operations in October 2025. So far, it has secured orders worth 1.457 billion yuan (about $215 million) and established partnerships with eight vehicle manufacturers and two construction machinery companies across five Central Asian countries. Orders this year are expected to exceed 3.5 billion yuan.

Previously, the Xinjiang branch of Shaanxi Automobile Group mainly relied on either shipping vehicle parts to Xinjiang for assembly or transporting assembled vehicles to Xinjiang for domestic sales and transit exports. Logistics costs significantly squeezed profit margins.

“Take heavy-duty truck cargo compartments as an example. By producing them through the shared factory, we can save several million yuan in transportation costs each year,” said Yang Xiaolong, director of the operations center at the Xinjiang branch of Shaanxi Automobile Group.

Beyond reducing costs, the shared factory has improved production efficiency. The facility includes one laser cutting line, one plasma cutting line, three uncoiling and leveling lines, six welding lines, and 55 welding robots. Estimates suggest that independently building an intelligent production line would increase heavy-asset investment by about 60 percent, while pushing equipment payback periods beyond 15 years.

“Through the shared model, more companies can operate with a lighter financial burden. We plan to build eight shared factories in total. The shared factory for medium- and heavy-plate vehicle components and the stamping mold shared factory are already in operation, while additional shared factories for machining, cotton picker spindle manufacturing, and other processes are expected to come online this year. Together, they could generate an annual output value of more than 20 billion yuan,” said Yang Sen.

Going forward, the company plans to work with enterprises through three cooperation models: order-based production, customized R&D and manufacturing, and collaborative development based on shared big-data resources and digital models, Yang Sen added. These efforts are expected to raise the local sourcing rate in Xinjiang’s equipment manufacturing industry from less than 10 percent to 70 percent.

Attracted by the shared-factory ecosystem, more than 30 vehicle and modified-vehicle manufacturers have already established operations in the Lianghe High-end Manufacturing Technology Industrial Park.