Midea's factory in Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone. [Photo/WeChat ID: hefeigaoxinfabu]

The Hefei-based factory of Midea Group, a Chinese home appliances giant, has been included in the Global Lighthouse Network of the World Economic Forum (WEF), according to an announcement by the WEF on March 30.

The Global Lighthouse Network is a community of production sites and value chains that are leaders in the adoption and integration of cutting-edge technologies of the fourth industrial revolution.

The company's washing machine factory in Hefei, which is aimed at domestic high-end product segments and overseas market expansion, uses artificial intelligence and internet of things (IoT) technologies across end-to-end value chains to create a faster, more responsive and highly efficient supply chain, resulting in a 56 percent reduction in lead time.

Zhang Zhimin, general manager of the factory, said IoT and blockchain technologies greatly helped increase efficiency and save logistics costs and the factory will continue to increase investing in digitalization.

The Hefei factory was established in 2016 and is located in Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone in Hefei, Anhui province.