Zhejiang Mengna Socks & Hosiery Co Ltd, based in Yiwu, recently became the first company in the city to be listed as part of the second batch of provincial future factories in Zhejiang in 2022.

Since 2019, the company has invested 215 million yuan in the construction of its future factory project and the digital future factory transformation of its original workshop, including digital design, intelligent production, green manufacturing, efficient management, smart supply chains and high-end production.

The project is expected to increase production efficiency by 35 percent, improve product quality by 1.5 percent, reduce labor costs by 45 percent, and reduce energy consumption by 17 percent.

In May 2022, the company was included on the provincial list to pilot future factory cultivation.

Zhejiang issued a trial plan for the construction of future factories in August 2020.

A future factory is a modern plant that widely applies Internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, industrial internet and other technologies in its digital design, intelligent production, intelligent management, collaborative manufacturing and green manufacturing processes.