Dongguan leverages AI to upscale manufacturing

As a major manufacturing city in Guangdong province, Dongguan has launched an initiative to promote the integration of artificial intelligence within traditional manufacturing, aiming to drive the deep application of cutting-edge technologies in the industrial sector.

The city plans to develop at least three large-scale foundational models for manufacturing, with more than 135 industrial small models with high precision and stability, industrial apps, and industrial intelligent bodies by the end of 2027.

In the latest move, an AI big model center was launched in the city in late March, marking the establishment of the nation's first prefecture-level big model center focusing on the manufacturing sector and accelerating the overall process of intelligence across industries.

The center is located in the Songshan Lake area, a high-tech industrial base in Dongguan. Built and operated by Dongguan Digital Group, a State-owned enterprise, it positions itself as the city's AI application base for the manufacturing sector.

Leveraging robust hardware and software infrastructure of Chinese technology company Huawei, the center offers three types of services to enterprises including computing resources, open models and AI engineering capabilities, helping local companies to quickly enhance model accuracy with minimal data and low costs, and accelerate their journey toward intelligent upgrades.

Huawei plans to establish a city-level AI infrastructure in Dongguan resembling a power plant, aiming to address the issues of expensive computing power and algorithms for small and medium-sized enterprises, and provide inclusive AI computing power and algorithm services.

"We are making efforts to make the intelligent capabilities of large models as accessible and convenient as electricity, available for immediate use whenever companies need it," said You Peng, president of big data and AI at Huawei Cloud.

The deployment of AI in Dongguan's industrial enterprises is by no means accidental but stems from a strong foundation in its strength in the digital and intelligent manufacturing sector.

Out of 14,000 industrial enterprises above a designated size in Dongguan, 120 intelligent factories or workshops have been officially recognized, with 8,448 enterprises successfully undergoing digital transformation, according to the local government.

Dongguan Moldbao Smart Technology Co, one of the companies recognized for its intelligent factories, has established a benchmark intelligent factory in the Songshan Lake area, covering over 15,000 square meters in the mold industry, equipped with dozens of fully flexible automated production lines.

"The core of AI integration in manufacturing lies in companies having real industrial scenarios and corresponding structured data," said Wang Sheng, vice-president of Moldbao.

Building upon the company's profound foundation in digital manufacturing with a history of over a decade, AI has been integrated to achieve intelligence throughout the entire process, according to Wang.

"Each product is different, and producing it efficiently involves a multitude of industrial knowledge, processes and technologies, including materials, industrial software, precision machining, testing and various other dimensions," said Wang.

Since 2023, the company has been exploring AI applications and continuously experimenting with multiple models, according to Wang.

"In some scenarios, efficiency has even been increased by around 5-10 times," he said.

Currently, the company has achieved initial closed-loop processes with AI applications in specific scenarios such as mold quoting, mold scheduling and quality inspection.

"The workshop is more like a super industrial supermarket — when customers come in, they can immediately understand what we can do and choose the solutions that suit their needs," said Wang.

To further push the AI initiative, Dongguan plans to select and release 10 AI-enabled new industrialization typical application cases each year for demonstration.

A reward of up to 1 million yuan ($137,000) will be given to those successfully included in national typical application cases, the local government said.