China’s economic restructuring espoused by "Made in China 2025," or China's version of "Industry 4.0," a 10-year plan for manufacturers to shift into greener, more intelligent processes that emphasize quality over costs, can be done by integrating new technologies with old industries, Wang Haizhong, head of China Brand Strategy Research Center, said.
According to Wang, the "Made in China" label often associated with cheap goods and low technological content has resulted in low revenue for many local businesses that have no independent brands, independent design or independent core technology.
Wang added that upgrading low value-added domestic products will become even more necessary as the manufacturing sector weakens, with manufacturing activity in September dropping to a 78-month low.
Li Beiguang of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said that China has to change if it wants to move up the global industry chain. He said that processing goods is no longer enough for the manufacturing industry, but instead has to develop its own independent technological edges.
On the other hand, Miao Wei, MIIT minister, said that the shift from "made" to "created" to "intelligently manufactured" would require competitive equipment, industrial robots, digitally controlled machine tools and 3D printing.
Miao said that the industries that MIIT plans to prioritize include aerospace, oceanic engineering and shipping, advanced rail equipment, new energy vehicles and medicine. He added that the use of cloud computing, big data and the Internet of Things will also have roles in the plan.
According to Li, intelligent manufacturing will require new core technology, better use of human resources and more funding, adding that it is necessary for the government to create the ideal environment for innovation, provide more financial and fiscal support, train more talent and strengthen information security.
The Ministry of Finance and the MIIT spent in June at least 11 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) to support intelligent manufacturing programs, the report said.