GUANGZHOU, July 7 (Xinhua) -- In a production hall in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, rows of television sets move along an automated assembly line. At one workstation, a robotic system precisely connects signal and interface ports on each unit, a task that once relied on manual operation.
Powered by 3D vision and artificial intelligence (AI), the system has helped TCL, one of China's leading consumer electronics makers, achieve a product pass rate of 99.8 percent since it was introduced last year, according to Lei Dengsi, a senior engineer with TCL Industry.
The scene reflects a broader transformation taking place across China's manufacturing sector. The world's largest manufacturing base is moving beyond traditional advantages of scale and labor, using computing power, data and AI to build smarter and more flexible factories.
At TCL, this shift has progressed from automation to digitalization and now to intelligent manufacturing.
"In the past, production management relied heavily on workers' experience and fragmented systems, which made it difficult to respond quickly to problems," said Chen Zhanyuan, deputy general manager of TCL Industry's smart display business unit.
With intelligent manufacturing systems, factories are becoming more connected, data-driven and flexible, Chen said.
China has been the world's largest manufacturing country for 16 consecutive years. With traditional manufacturing still making up much of its industrial base, the transition toward smart manufacturing has become a key step in the country's industrial upgrading.
China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), the nation's core blueprint for economic and social development, places intelligent transformation, digitalization and network connectivity among the key priorities for manufacturing, encouraging wider adoption of smart manufacturing and industrial internet technologies.
Across Guangdong, a premier manufacturing hub, companies are already putting these technologies to use.
At Dongguan Moldbao Smart Technology Co., robots move through a digital workshop where electrodes of different shapes and sizes are stored in automated racks and delivered precisely for molding.
"Molds are the foundation of industry," said Wang Sheng, the company's vice president. "As consumer products become more diverse and are updated faster, manufacturers need higher precision, stability and flexibility."
Smart factories, he said, allow manufacturers to respond to these challenges by using data and AI to improve production.
Behind these factories is a growing foundation of computing power. Industrial internet systems collect massive amounts of real-time data, while computing resources turn that information into decisions, from optimizing production processes to improving AI-based quality inspections.
China's computing power has grown to rank among the world's largest, with AI computing becoming an increasingly important force behind this growth. Advances in computing power have reduced costs and made it easier for factories to deploy AI algorithms.
"As algorithms become more closely integrated with real industrial processes, and as automation expands across production lines, they can continue to improve by learning from vast amounts of real-world production data," Wang said. "This will enhance their accuracy, stability and ability to adapt to different industrial scenarios."
The rise of intelligent manufacturing is also creating new opportunities for companies that produce the technologies behind computing.
Guangzhou-based CanSemi Technology, a manufacturer of advanced chips, sees industrial intelligence as a growing market opportunity. At the same time, the company's own production processes generate large amounts of data that can be used to further improve factory intelligence.
Guangdong Fenghua Advanced Technology Holding Co., Ltd., which produces electronic components including high-end multilayer ceramic capacitors used in computing servers, has introduced AI-assisted research systems and high-throughput laboratories to accelerate innovation.
"The next step is to connect data across the entire value chain, from demand and research to production and delivery," said Cao Xiuhua, the company's vice president.
AI is also modernizing traditional crafts.
At Haday's soy sauce factory in Foshan, Guangdong, an ancient Chinese soy sauce-making tradition has been given a digital upgrade. An AI vision system can identify more than 13,000 soybeans per second, while an intelligent filling system ensures highly precise packaging. Another AI-based technology can distinguish more than 170 aroma profiles.
International financial technical analyst Daryl Guppy said that the changing nature of work is beginning with "a quiet revolution on the factory floor," as Chinese factories upgrade at remarkable speed. He described China as becoming the "Smart Factory of the Future" amid a broad industrial transformation.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, one of China's major computing hubs, is becoming a testing ground for integrating computing resources with manufacturing.
In Jiangmen, Guangdong, a local industrial technology institute and Sun Yat-sen University have partnered to establish a branch of the National Supercomputer Center, bringing supercomputing resources directly to manufacturers. The platform provides computing power to help local industries advance engineering innovation, develop new products and digitally upgrade production lines.
"We encourage and support the expansion of computing resources to small and medium-sized manufacturers," said Dong Yinghu, deputy director of Jiangmen's science and technology bureau. Public cloud and intelligent computing platforms can help reduce adoption costs, Dong said.
Foshan-based Yizumi, a maker of advanced molding equipment, began its digital transformation in 2018. Its intelligent injection molding machines and large-scale die-casting machines are used by electric vehicle manufacturers to produce components such as motors, batteries and dashboards.
Last year, the company introduced its first AI-enabled die-casting machine, which can automatically adjust process parameters based on detected defects.
"When we began building smart factories, we did not anticipate that computing power would advance so rapidly," said Zhou Jun, the company's chief technology officer. "We will now adjust our technology roadmap to make better use of the opportunities created by computing power." ■
