In recent years, Qingdao has used the industrial internet as a key engine to drive the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, facilitate the development of the digital economy, and has continuously developed and improved the policy system for related industries.

An intelligent factory of Haier Group empowered by cutting-edge internet technologies in Qingdao, Shandong province [Photo by Zhang Jingang/People's Daily]

In 2015, Qingdao released an action plan to boost the industrial internet. The plan contains standards for the identification of industrial internet platforms, intelligent (interconnected) factories, digital workshops and automated production lines so as to upgrade the city's traditional industries and fuel emerging sectors.

Qingdao has since continuously improved the industrial internet policy system, issuing special plans to boost emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, 5G, ultra-high definition video and virtual reality, and created an institutional system that empowers traditional manufacturing with the new generation of information technology.

A lighthouse factory of Tsingtao Brewery. Lighthouses are demonstrating how digitally infused operations go beyond productivity improvements to create sustainable, profitable growth. [Photo/People's Daily]

At present, Qingdao has built and renovated 41 smart factories, 111 digital workshops and 299 automated production lines in key industries such as home appliances, rubber, rail transit equipment, clothing and power equipment.

For years, Qingdao has made concerted efforts to develop the industrial internet, for which it aims to become a global hub. The city has nurtured 11 industrial internet platforms to date.

Haier Group's COSMOPlat industrial internet platform is a large-scale customization platform that allows users to engage in many stages of the industrial process, from design to sales.

With 340 million users and 3.9 million ecosystem partners, COSMOPlat has emerged as one of the top industrial internet platforms in the world.

The platform developed by Sailun Group has 3,380 suppliers, more than 2,100 dealers and nearly 60,000 retail stores, realizing an extensive connection between tire design, production, sales and after-sales.