Digitalization transformed
The goal of the 10 year plan “Made in China 2025” is to move the perception of products from being “Made in China” to “Made by China.”
$150 billion in government funding aims to make China more competitive and the global leader in manufacturing in ten key industries, including robotics, information technology, aerospace, railways, and electric vehicles.
Instrumental to success are advanced technologies like cloud computing and big data, localization of production, moving Chinese companies up the value-added ladder in production and innovation networks, and to boost international brand recognition. The nation’s experts are already among the top performers in the world in computers, DNA research, big data analytics and 5G mobile technology. China’s investment in the 10 key industries will create increased business potential for both domestic and international companies.
Depending on how well China succeeds in the adoption of digitalization and intelligent manufacturing, Chinese and multinational companies will be able to collaborate much easier domestically and elsewhere. In this transition, multinational firms will be crucial to supply key components, technology and management. Today China is ranked as the world’s largest robot market, in fact, the International Federation of Robotics expects the country, by end of 2016, to have more installed robots than any other country.
The move from being the world’s source of low-cost labor to the leader in innovation and quality will offer huge opportunities for both domestic and multinational companies. China’s IoT market could reach $127.5 billion already by 2020. New Internet applications might account for up to 22 percent of the country’s GDP growth through 2025, leading to close to $2.1 trillion in annual GDP. China’s take on the Internet of Things, “Internet Plus”, is part of “Made in China 2025”. ”Internet Plus” aims to integrate the nation’s mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and IoT initiatives for application in IT and smart technologies.
The development is expected to be fueled even further by initiatives like the colossal “IoT Demonstration Zone”, the 220 square kilometer district of Wuxi, West of Shanghai. Here hundreds of companies with over a hundred thousand employees are working relentlessly on IoT related projects. The ongoing digitalization provides Chinese companies with an opportunity to improve their productivity, to collaborate in new ways, and expand their reach worldwide via e-commerce. China is without a doubt at the threshold to the Factory of the future.
A good example of ABB’s commitment to digitalization is its Connected Services offering, which is built on ABB’s experience in Remote Services going back nearly a decade with over 5,000 connected robots. The efficient and reliable factory of the future is unlocked by taking advantage of more sensors and better communications to make actionable intelligence available anytime, and anyplace. This can help manufacturers prevent up to 25% of incidents and speed issue resolution and response times by up to 60%.
Learn more on Connected Services here.