Nation makes impressive strides in smart manufacturing sector

China is transforming from the "world factory" to a new smart manufacturing powerhouse, as the nation's smart manufacturing market is expected to exceed 220 billion yuan ($32 billion) by 2020, according to a new report.

The nation, the world's largest smart manufacturing market, has enjoyed 18.4 percent year-on-year growth in the domestic smart manufacturing systematic solution sector, and the market hit 106 billion yuan in 2016, according to the latest China annual intelligent smart manufacturing development report released by the China Center for Information Industry Development.

The report, released last Friday at the opening ceremony of the World Intelligent Manufacturing Summit in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, shows that China has been the world's largest industrial robot market for five consecutive years. In 2017, China produced over 130,000 industrial robots with a 68.1 percent year-on-year increase, accounting for one third of the global market.