An exhibitor explains a simulated beverage bottling production line using digital twins system at an exhibition of the 2022 Global Industrial Internet Conference in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Nov. 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Yijie)
JINAN, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Shredded pork with garlic sauce and sliced pork with preserved vegetables are the classics of Chinese cuisine and rather difficult to cook.
But, with the availability of ready-to-eat foods, people in China can easily enjoy such delicacies from the convenience of their homes.
Intelligent production at food manufacturing companies is making it easier to meet the huge consumer demand, fueling the burgeoning growth of the prefabricated food industry in China.
Shandong Hifirst Foodstuff Co., Ltd. is among many such companies in China that are cashing in on the market boom. In its manufacturing workshops, ingredients are processed and automatically packaged into prepared dishes.
"We can operate the workshop digitally through real-time data collection of raw materials, equipment, semi-finished products, finished products and energy," said Zang Fangyun, executive vice general manager of Hifirst.
The industrial internet can be credited with the rise of intelligent production. After analyzing the daily sales, the system can even help arrange production plans to cater to the different needs of customers.
The industrial internet is the application and development of new-generation information technology in the industrial sector that provides a viable path for the digital transformation of businesses. An increasing number of industrial platforms are springing up to aid the process.
More than 1,800 5G+ industrial internet projects were under construction in China in 2021, according to a report on China's Internet development.
These projects cover more than 20 key sectors of China's national economy such as iron and steel and electric power, said the report released at the 2022 China Internet Conference which kicked off Tuesday in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. By 2021, there were more than 100 influential industrial internet platforms in China.
As of August, China had nearly 80 million industrial equipment connected to the industrial internet, an increase of over 4 million units since the start of this year, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. This indicates that the manufacturing industry is speeding up its digital transformation.
China's leading heavy equipment manufacturer SANY Group is also riding on the digital transformation wave.
SANY Group has built a digital network for its manufacturing facilities, connecting 17,000 operational equipment and greatly improving the operation efficiency, said Lyu Qinghai, senior vice president and chief information officer of SANY Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., a subsidiary company of SANY Group.
Inspur Group, a leading Chinese cloud computing and big data service provider, has built a new industrial infrastructure based on its industrial internet platform. It has promoted the digital upgrading of many industries including rubber and steel and supported the intelligent production of many enterprises.
Amid the growing need for digital transformation, the industrial internet is quickly integrating with many other non-manufacturing fields including health care, education, transportation and insurance.
Through the sharing of industrial internet data, the insurance industry can provide entities with insurance products that better match their needs as well as offer more accurate pricing, more professional risk management services and faster claims settlement, said Hu Wei, an official with the PICC Property and Casualty Company Limited.
Wang Xiaoyun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that the industrial internet is creating a new type of infrastructure that interconnects people, machines and things.
The expansion of network boundaries amid the rapid development of the industrial internet has put forward higher requirements for security capabilities, she said.
"Efforts should be made to build an independent, innovative and world-class data service platform to support the high-quality development of industrial internet," Wang added. ■
