Inside the main assembly workshop of Weichai Group's No. 1 plant in Weifang High-tech Zone, industrial robots move at high speed while automated guided vehicles shuttle back and forth. The facility boasts an automation rate of 99 percent, with a diesel engine rolling off the line every 85 seconds on average. In the global wave of industrialization, engines serve as the heart of modern industry. In recent years, Weichai Group has deeply integrated technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital twins to build a leading edge in diversified power solutions spanning traditional energy, clean energy, and new energy. In 2025, the company's total operating revenue exceeded 350 billion yuan, and its high-end engine smart factory based on digital-intelligent lean management was named among the first batch of 15 pilot leading-level smart factories jointly announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other departments.

Advancing the deep integration of artificial intelligence and manufacturing is a key pathway for cultivating new quality productive forces and accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system. Ren Guangxue, director of the Weifang Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, said that in recent years, Weifang has positioned AI as the core engine of industrial transformation, implementing an "AI plus manufacturing" initiative to reshape the industrial foundation through digital-intelligent integration. The city is using real-world scenarios to test the effectiveness of transformation, accelerating the upgrade from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing and continuously injecting new momentum into high-quality industrial economic development.

Smart factories are the core carriers for the implementation of next-generation intelligent manufacturing, while digital infrastructure such as 5G serves as the hard foundation. At the intelligent production line of Shandong Kangmai Machinery Co., Ltd. in Weifang's Changyi City, robotic arms move flexibly to precisely grasp metal blanks and feed them into processing machines, with a finished brake drum soon coming off the line. Kangmai Machinery built a fully 5G-covered smart factory in 2024 and completed a full-process digital transformation. "With 5G and the integrated command center, we have achieved intelligent production. The entire process of the brake drum production line—loading, processing, online measurement, and unloading—is handled by robots, greatly improving production efficiency," said Li Yongshuai, the company's IT manager. In the first half of this year, the company achieved output value of 350 million yuan, with orders exported to North America and Europe totaling 200 million yuan.

Ren Guangxue noted that Weifang has achieved full 5G network coverage in key industrial parks and core production areas. Nineteen companies in the city have been recognized as 5G factories by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and 16 computing centers have been completed, providing a strong core computing foundation for "AI plus manufacturing."

The deep embedding of digital-intelligent technology has become a key driver for solving pain points in traditional industrial models, promoting product iteration, and improving cost efficiency. A digital transformation official at Weichai Group said the company has built a fully digitalized system covering research and development, manufacturing, operations, and sales services. Through digital simulation technology, AI models have been established to shift physical testing to virtual verification on platforms, improving R&D efficiency by 20 percent. Intelligent flexible production lines enable rapid changeovers and lean just-in-time production, increasing production efficiency by 10 percent. A vertical large model for engine health management provides remote diagnostics and reminder services for every engine sold.

To address the transformation and upgrading needs of enterprises and industries, Weifang has built intelligent manufacturing systems around workshops, factories, and supply chains, carrying out multi-scenario, full-chain, and multi-level application demonstrations to promote the widespread adoption of intelligent manufacturing. Currently, the digital transformation coverage rate of industrial enterprises above a designated size in the city has reached 95.4 percent.

Intelligent manufacturing has become an important tool for securing orders and stabilizing markets. Recently, at the intelligent processing workshop of Honglu Intelligent Technology (Shandong) Co., Ltd. in Weifang High-tech Zone, 100 large five-axis machining centers ran continuously for nine hours to produce 80 sets of 180-kilowatt three-dimensional flow impellers. Within six hours, they were assembled into high-power air-flotation aerators and shipped to large freshwater aquaculture bases across multiple southern provinces. "This summer, due to several consecutive days of high temperatures, many freshwater aquaculture ponds in the south urgently needed high-power aerators to solve problems like fish and shrimp surfacing and pond turnover. We integrated market information and technological innovation data into the manufacturing execution system to develop an intelligent bottom aeration device that significantly increases dissolved oxygen levels in water. It saves more than 35 percent of energy compared to traditional aerators, and the product has been well received by the market," said Liu Dongqing, chairman of Honglu Intelligent Technology.

Driven by the digital engine and lined with smart factories, Weifang has now cultivated one leading-level smart factory, five excellence-level smart factories, 54 advanced-level smart factories, and 321 basic-level smart factories, forming a four-tier echelon of smart factories that are developing in tandem. In the first half of this year, the added value of industrial enterprises above a designated size in the city grew by 8.3 percent year-on-year.