Evolution of Anhui's manufacturing sector
Inland province has emerged as one of China's fastest-rising production centers
From scale to systems
Together, Lucky, Heli and Nio show three different layers of the same industrial shift.
At Lucky, competitiveness has moved deeper into materials. At Heli, it has moved into data and industrial software. At Nio, algorithms are entering decisions once made sequentially by production engineers, quality inspectors and line managers.
That shift matters beyond Anhui.
Wang Peng, a researcher of Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said: "China remains under pressure to move beyond a manufacturing model identified primarily with low costs, scale and fast replication. At the same time, other economies, including India, the United States and European countries, are spending heavily to build or rebuild advanced manufacturing capacity.
"The next contest is therefore not simply over who owns the most factories. It is over who develops the materials that go into them, who writes the industrial software, who can turn factory data into usable knowledge, and who can organize increasingly complex supply chains without losing speed or quality," Wang said.
Contact the writers at chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn
