Northeast China, once nicknamed the country's "eldest son," is where the nation's industrialization began, and Liaoning Province in this industrial heartland has long been a key production base of equipment and machinery.

Thirty-eight-year-old Chi Guiyi mastered metal plate skills when he began his career at Brilliance Auto plant, a Chinese car manufacturer headquartered in the capital city of Liaoning Province. 

Assembling a car and checking its surface for flaws used to be an important skill, and to master that skill, Chi, a model worker, ran his hands over hundreds of vehicles. He said it's all about using his spare time to delve into production techniques and practice again and again to do the job well. 

The glory of these Chinese-made cars used to lay on diligent shoulders. But in recent years, Liaoning's status has faced stern challenges. The region – now often referred to as China's rust belt – is seeking to make changes to regain the shine of its pillar industry, and many believe innovation is the key to revitalizing the province. 

The Chinese automotive manufacturer is moving into a new era of digitization. At Brilliance Auto's smart assembling and welding plant, over three-quarters of its production lines are now automated. Workers closely monitor and work with some 150 robots.

And over one-third of the smart welding robots are from SIASUN, a local tech company in Shenyang, which makes a diverse type of independently developed robots that are gaining a bigger market both at home and abroad. 

It has taken this latecomer in the field decades to develop from scratch, go big and then go global. Wang Yupeng, vice president of SIASUN's mobile robot department, said they are driven by not just the market but also technological research and development in their DNA. 

The remarkable growth of SIASUN also lies in efforts to unleash its full innovation potential. And it is now ushering every industry into the smart technology era. "It is our large R&D team and years of technology accumulation that enable us to lead in the sector," Wang said. 

The shift to smart equipment manufacturing in Liaoning is also accelerating the nation's speed of advance. At a Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry factory, four years of designing, testing and manufacturing has given birth to the feedback source supporting system for FAST, the largest and most sensitive radio telescope on earth. 

Wei Xufeng, vice president of the enterprise, said many of the national projects are actually their first attempts when they are striving towards a smarter and cleaner future. 

"How can we make it? I think the key is our existing advantages in traditional equipment manufacturing that we can take from and a solid talent team of incremental strengths," Wei explained. 

Back at the car factory, the reinvigoration of the enterprise in turn boosts people's well-being. Chi Guiyi feels proud of having his own national-brand Brilliance car that he created himself. Meanwhile, the revolution in the old manufacturing model has also impacted his career path, pushing the automakers to adapt to their new roles. 

Chi said he has benefited a lot from the programs that BMW carried out in their factory in terms of improved management and techniques. "We still have a long way to go compared to this 100-year-old manufacturer. But I look forward to the day that we make our brand the BMW of China."

(Cover: Brilliance Auto's smart technology production line. /CGTN Photo)