A workshop on industrial internet engineering application was held at Nanhai Park in Foshan Hi-tech Zone (FHZ) on Sept 9. Hosted by the zone's management committee, the event attracted participation from major industrial internet service providers, platform providers, operators and local enterprises. 

Striving to be a forerunner in digital transformation

A document issued by Foshan in July on propelling the intelligent transformation of the manufacturing industry said 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) will be invested over three years to support the digitalized transformation of enterprises. With this in mind, the FHZ has initiated a series of workshops on internet engineering application in a bid to speed up digital transformation for enterprises in the zone. The workshop debuted in Nanhai Park and will also take place in the other four parks in the zone.

Recognizing that digital and intelligent transformation is not only a significant opportunity for the FHZ's development, but also the only way for enterprises to grow bigger and stronger, the zone has been proactively working on this topic over the years and conducted explorations of application scenarios, tapping industry potential and improving industrial ecology. 

The zone has yielded a group of benchmarking enterprises in digital transformation with years of efforts, such as Midea, YIZUMI, WAYES, and LESSO. 

Midea's kitchen and washing appliances sector was named as a pilot demonstration project for "5G+ industrial internet" at national level. The Midea microwave plant in Shunde district became the first lighthouse plant in Foshan. Two of the three lighthouse plants in Guangdong province come from Midea Group. 

In the first half of this year, 2,365 enterprises included in the statistical declarations under the China Torch Program in the FHZ yielded revenues of 258.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of nearly 37 percent. Six pillar industries have been developing rapidly, among which equipment manufacturing, smart homes, and new energy have seen a 50-percent year-on-year increase in their total industrial output value and revenue. 

Giving play to the exemplary role of leading enterprises

By launching pilot demonstrations of cutting-edge technology application scenarios, the FHZ management committee has developed a group of typical cases and nurtured a positive atmosphere for enterprises to embrace their transformation. 

The workshop's participants visited Yuan Tian, a bed machinery company in the zone, and learned about the company's digital transformation experience.

The company uses a MES system that includes functional modules such as production planning, production monitoring, logistics distribution and warehouse management. It is seamlessly integrated with an ERP system and will automatically schedule production when it receives orders. 

Next, the FHZ will work unswervingly on the in-depth integration of the digital and real economies and propel the application of cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain and cloud computing in the zone.