Big efforts made by Hefei – capital of East China's Anhui province – to boost the core competitiveness of its manufacturing sector and develop the industrial internet are widely said to have injected new impetus into its sustainable economic growth.

Not a worker in sight: Industrial robots swing into action at Midea's industry 4.0 Factory in Hefei. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Digitalization has driven the transformation of business processes and increased efficiency. The washing machine factory of Chinese home appliances giant Midea Group Co Ltd in the Hefei high-tech zone has, for example, achieved goals that include shortening the delivery order cycle by 56 percent and the abnormal quality shutdown rate by 55 percent.

What's more, Hefei has invested 90 million yuan ($12.76 million) every year to support the development of the industrial internet in terms of new infrastructure and key platforms.

Unlike traditional infrastructure – such as railways, roads and water conservation – new infrastructure refers to major facilities based on information technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, the industrial internet and the internet of things.
As a result, remarkable results have been achieved. Hefei has installed more than 16,700 5G base stations and the numerical control rate of key process manufacturing equipment in the city has reached 59.4 percent, exceeding the average level of cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

Moving forwards, plans are for Hefei to give full play to the advantages of the industrial internet, promote digital transformation and continue to improve the quality of its economic development.