Intelligent equipment industry of Nantong [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The intelligent equipment industry is one of Nantong’s three most important emerging industries. In 2017, the output value of the industry reached 215.4 billion yuan ($31.84 billion), a 9.8 percent year-on-year growth. Nantong has formed carriers such as Hai'an Robot Industry Base and Haimen Intelligent Equipment Industrial Park, and gathered a batch of backbone enterprises, including Nantong Sci & Tech, Guosheng Machine Tools, Jianghai Machine Tools, Nantong Metalforming Equipment, Nantong Tongji Co Ltd, Jiangsu Dongyuan Elec'l Group Co Ltd, Nantong Square Cold-Chain Equipment Company, and Nantong Zhenkang Welding Electromachinery Co Ltd.

It has also developed a product system featuring high-end CNC machine tools, key robot components, smart grids, intelligent forging equipment, and intelligent production lines. A succession of science and research institutes has been established, including Nantong Industrial Technology Institute of Intelligent Equipment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Autonomous Robot Lab Hai’an Branch Institute, Hai’an Research Institute of Advanced Robotics of Soochow University, Qidong Photoelectric Remote Sensing Center of the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science, and the Industry-university-research Demonstration Base of Construction Robots and Intelligent Equipment co-founded by Zhongnan Group and Soochow University. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), Nantong’s intelligent equipment industry will continue to contribute by accelerating its transformation with a goal of “increasing varieties, improving quality and creating brands”.