Promote High‑end, Intelligent and Green Development of Manufacturing

At present, China^’s manufacturing industry has entered a new era featuring greater high‑end, intelligent and green development. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed to accelerate the advancement of new‑style industrialization, foster and expand advanced manufacturing clusters, and promote the high‑end, intelligent and green transformation of the manufacturing sector. During the 14th Five‑Year Plan period, the construction and development of China’s advanced manufacturing clusters gathered full momentum. In the first half of this year, the value‑added of national above‑scale equipment‑manufacturing enterprises rose by 10.2 % year‑on‑year, while that of above‑scale high‑technology manufacturing enterprises increased by 9.5 %. From 2020 to 2024, China’s total industrial value‑added grew from 31.3 trillion yuan to 40.5 trillion yuan, and manufacturing value‑added expanded from 26.6 trillion yuan to 33.6 trillion yuan. The increment of manufacturing value‑added over the entire 14th Five‑Year Plan period is expected to reach 8 trillion yuan, contributing over 30 % to the growth of global manufacturing.

Traditional manufacturing constitutes the mainstay of China’s manufacturing industry and serves as the cornerstone of the modern industrial system. Promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing is a strategic option for proactively adapting to and leading the new round of scientific‑technological revolution and industrial transformation. It represents an important measure to strengthen the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains, as well as an inevitable requirement for advancing new‑style industrialization and building a manufacturing‑power country, bearing on the overall development of the modern industrial system. Among other things, advancing the high‑end, intelligent and green transformation of manufacturing helps to continuously bolster the core competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, drive quality improvement and brand building, and push industries toward the medium‑to‑high end of the value chain.

For a long time, Chinese manufactured goods have gained global market access relying on cost advantages, yet they are mostly confined to low‑value‑added processing and assembly links. To break away from this path‑dependence, we must strive to climb toward both ends of the smile curve, and realize independent core‑technology development, domestic production of high‑end products, high value‑added export commodities, and upgraded industrial structure. Since the advent of the new era, China has achieved remarkable progress in the high‑end development of manufacturing: industrial scientific‑technological innovation capacity has improved substantially, emerging industries are thriving, and the industrial structure keeps optimizing. To unswervingly advance the high‑end development of manufacturing, we need to consolidate industrial foundations, achieve breakthroughs in key core technologies, reinforce brand building and raise value‑added, so as to sustain industrial‑structure optimization and steadily elevate our position in the global value chain.

Meanwhile, intelligence‑driven transformation has injected robust momentum into Chinese manufacturing. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the scale and sophistication of smart‑manufacturing applications in China have leapt forward. Notable achievements have been made in the intelligent transformation of manufacturing, which has continuously propelled industrial technological change and upgrading, brought fundamental shifts to manufacturing industrial models and enterprise forms, and strongly underpinned the high‑quality development of the industrial economy. In some advanced Lighthouse Factories, digital‑twin technology enables engineers to conduct product testing and production‑line commissioning in a virtual environment, greatly shortening time‑to‑market for new products. Industrial‑Internet platforms connect all links of supply chains, enabling information collaboration among upstream suppliers, factories and downstream customers. This facilitates flexible production responsive to market demand and drastically cuts inventory and resource waste. At the same time, new requirements are placed on the workforce. Simple repetitive manual jobs are declining, while a new cohort of skilled blue‑collar technicians proficient in data analysis and the operation and maintenance of smart equipment are emerging as key players on the workshop floor, bringing about an optimized labour structure.

Green development has likewise become a defining feature of China’s manufacturing transformation. In recent years, China has consistently advanced energy conservation and carbon reduction in industry, with relevant energy‑consumption indicators trending downward. The Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Green Transformation of the Manufacturing Industry sets out specific targets for manufacturing’s green transition: by 2030, notable progress shall be secured in the green and low‑carbon transformation of manufacturing; green development will serve as a solid foundation for new‑style industrialization, and the output value of green factories will account for more than 40 % of total manufacturing output value. By 2035, endogenous drivers for green development in manufacturing will be significantly strengthened, and green development will become a prevailing pattern of new‑style industrialization. Across the country, substantial strides have been made in manufacturing’s green transformation, and a green‑manufacturing system is taking shape. To date, Beijing has built 161 national‑level green factories and 30 enterprises implementing green‑supply‑chain management, alongside 51 municipal‑level green factories and 6 municipal‑level green‑supply‑chain‑management enterprises; 18 national green data centres have been established. In Shanghai, the Shanghai Action Plan for Accelerating Green and Low‑Carbon Transformation (2024‑2027) highlights major application scenarios as the traction force, technological breakthroughs as the core, and institutional‑mechanism innovation as the guarantee. It speeds up the cultivation of key green and low‑carbon industries, provides policy support for manufacturing’s green‑low‑carbon shift, underpins green‑economic development models, and lays a solid foundation for the sustainable development of manufacturing.

The high‑end, intelligent and green transformation of manufacturing are interrelated, mutually reinforcing and form an integrated whole. This profound transformation not only raises the intrinsic value of “Made in China”, but also delivers more high‑quality, high‑tech and eco‑friendly products to global consumers. It injects steady Chinese impetus into the sustainable growth of the world economy and offers valuable Chinese experience for global industrial transformation and upgrading.

Source: [Guangming Daily]