China - October 25, 2024

China claims most spots on World Economic Forum's latest "lighthouse" manufacturers list

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China continues to shine as the country with the most lighthouse factories in the world, an honor bestowed by the World Economic Forum to factories with the highest level of intelligent manufacturing at scale.

The WEF recently announced 22 new lighthouse factories, 13 of which are in China. One of them is SANY Renewable Energy a wind power company from central China's Hunan Province.

As the only lighthouse factory making wind turbine blades, SANY uses robots for blade surface grinding, painting and materials distribution which help reduce product defects by 20 percent and shorten delivery times by 30 percent.

Meanwhile, AI cababilities let staff monitor production in real time using a tablet.

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Peng Haibing, Manager, wind turbine blade factory, SANY Renewable Energy:

"From the tablet computer, we can see the parameters of each production unit, from temperature and humidity to torque, and to the grinding fineness of the blades. All the data are provided to us in a comprehensive way to enable us to conduct real-time monitoring and delicacy management."

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Peng Haibing, Manager, wind turbine blade factory, SANY Renewable Energy:

"This is a pioneering technology in our industry, which turns the 80,000-square-meter physical factory into a virtual one, with data about the overall structure and all the details of the factory. It is a benchmark technology in the wind turbine blade manufacturing sector."

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There are currently 172 lighthouse factories in the world, of which 74, or 43 percent are located in China.

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