Dalian leads smart manufacturing in NE China

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By CGTN’s Luo Yu

The World Economic Forum's Summer Davos has concluded in the coastal city of Dalian in northeast China, where smart manufacturing was one of the key discussion points.

In Chinese, ''black science and technology" is a slang phrase that means disruptive yet fancy technology that shakes up the industry and changes our lives.

You can find a lot of that technology in Dalian, a city that has become a regional leader in smart manufacturing.

For example, a simulator developed by Dalian Minzhi Wisdom Co., Ltd. can connect a lab in Dalian to real machine tools located in Harbin and Tianjin, cities several hundred kilometers away. By linking the real world and virtual space, data can be collected simultaneously, and machines can be monitored and repaired much more easily.

A simulator that can remotely control machine tools in other cities./CGTN photo

Dalian has nurtured more than 600 start-ups in recent years, with angel investment worth more than 40 million US dollars. The main focus of the start-ups has been on serving the real economy.

Zhao Boyuan, a student entrepreneur with a start-up incubator in Dalian, is working on a robot that can aid millions of miners in northeast China. The real world application of the robot is to dig coal, iron ore and other heavy metal mines effectively, without endangering people's lives or harming the environment.

''What I'm going to do is to build a robot to use artificial intelligence in engineering to reduce human hazards,'' Zhao told CGTN.

Apart from tech start-ups, well-established manufacturing giants also are spearheading smart manufacturing in areas such as numerical control machines and refrigeration equipment. Their products are competing with other domestic and global leaders.

Robotic design in Dalian’s start-up incubator / CGTN Photo

''The ultimate goal of smart manufacturing is to make products with the lowest possible cost and the highest possible quality," said Dr. Chen Hu, general manager of a leading producer of numerical control machines based in Dalian.

Dalian Bingshan Group is the biggest manufacturer and contractor of refrigeration and air-conditioning facilities in China. Its chairman Ji Zhijian said "by incorporating and analyzing data from operations via the Internet of Things, we can get inspiration in design and plenty of new opportunities in the market."

Smart manufacturing is crucial to upgrading China's manufacturing sector, especially in northeast China, traditionally the country's manufacturing base.

The city of Dalian is demonstrative of China's ambitions to upgrade its traditional industries and boost economic restructuring.

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